Japan Documentary

Japanese Arcades (2018x14)

Fecha de emisión: Dic 16, 2018

For 40 year old Germans "Spielhalle" stands for holiday memories of Italy or England. Or one understands by it gambling machines. The 40-year-old Japanese... stands at his favourite machine. You can turn it around as you like, but a new version of the law for the protection of minors in the 80s killed the arcade culture in Germany before it could really unfold. Previously, vending machines such as Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Co. were regarded as new and harmless pleasures that could be set up in swimming pools or at folk festivals. Afterwards they belonged to the gambling machines, admission for young people forbidden. In other countries things went better for the arcades, but first the home consoles and game computers and later the smartphones gradually made dedicated arcades less and less attractive. These effects can also be clearly felt in Japan, yet it is probably the last country where Arcades can be described as an everyday phenomenon and part of mainstream culture, with still thousands of large arcades all over the country. In this episode of Japan documentaries, Jörg looks at various amusement arcades, unusual (the Anata no Warehouse in Kawasaki and the Super Potato Arcade in Akihabara) as well as ordinary ones, and gives five reasons why this form of entertainment - in his opinion - can hold its own so well in 2018 in the Land of the Rising Sun, and against the worldwide trend. Of course, he also puts himself to the test! Please note that we only had permission to shoot in an arcade, so most of the video had to be recorded "undercover".