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ANN/THE JAPAN NEWS – During the final years of the Showa era (1926-1989) and the thriving bubble economy, one could frequently observe professionals and students casually enjoying tabletop video games at coffee shops. The nostalgic tunes from those electronic games have returned, reverberating within the confines of Natsuge Mikado, located in Hakucho Kaikan, Shinjuku Ward, […] ....
The Covid-19 pandemic has hit the Japanese arcade industry hard. With the country closed off to tourism, it might only seem like big city arcades are ....
March 6, 2021 TOKYO (AFP) – Evenings are normally the busiest time at Mikado, a retro gaming arcade in Tokyo, but these days the shutters come down early, leaving Street Fighter fans out in the cold. Bright, noisy arcades are still a neighbourhood fixture in Japan, but they have been disappearing as business is hit by virus-curtailed opening hours. “This is when the place usually starts to fill up,” lamented Yasushi Fukamachi, a manager at Mikado, whose 250 vintage machines attract nocturnal students and office workers who have just clocked off. It is approaching 8pm and a few dozen gamers wearing face masks are fighting it out on joystick classics, eking out their final minutes of fun before being shooed out. ....
The number of such facilities plunged from 22,000 in 1989 to just 4,000 in 2019, and a number of well-known locations in Tokyo have shut for good since late last year. ....