Japanese arcades not only hang on, but keep getting new games. Here’s why. Arcade game makers own arcades. Some of the biggest corporate arcades in Japan are from Sega, Namco, Taito, and Capcom.

Watch: This Japanese arcade proves to be unlike any other with prizes like fruit, umbrellas, and salad dressing.

I visited several Japanese arcades, aka game centers, in Tokyo’s Akihabara ward. Here’s some advice about how to get the most out of your visit to gamer’s paradise—and which arcade you ...

V isiting Japan without stopping at a game center is like flying to Rome and forgetting to eat pasta. Unlike America, where arcades peaked with that scene in Terminator 2 in which a grown man ...

Now, Japanese arcades are facing a new menace, one that the entire world has been combating: COVID-19. Even pre-pandemic, arcades in Japan were on a downward trend.

Visiting Japan without stopping at a game center is like flying to Rome and forgetting to eat pasta. Unlike America, where arcades peaked with that scene in Terminator 2 in which a grown man stiff ...

Japanese arcades are bustling with unique experiences that are just downright fun to play, and we westerners deserve to play them too. So here are five Japanese arcade games that need to come West.

But the “essence” [shinzui] of Japanese arcades was always different, explains Nakanishi, 46, a former distributor of Konami games and now a regular in an arcade in Tokyo’s shabby Ueno district.

Arcades are better in Japan. It’s that simple. Yes, there are some cherished video game hovels out here in the states, ones that have weathered a brutal storm against an increasingly shrinking ...

Prize games. The arcade I visited in Japan was Taito Station Osaka-nipponbashi.While Taito is an arcade brand that feels dead in the United States nowadays, several arcades bearing the Space ...

Documenting Japan’s classic arcades before it’s too late. We talk to the photographer behind a book featuring 25 classic arcades in Japan. by Matt Leone. Apr 26, 2025, 1:00 PM UTC ...

The arcade I visited in Japan was Taito Station Osaka-nipponbashi. While Taito is an arcade brand that feels dead in the United States nowadays, several arcades bearing the Space Invaders creator ...