One morning in Saitama (a suburb of Tokyo), Martin and myself woke up early and decided to explore the area. After wandering around for a while we found a huge arcade with a big line of people waiting for it to open. Japan really does love video games we thought, and being gamers ourselves we decided to join the line. As we approached we noticed practically everyone in the line was much older than ourselves, but since it was a weekday and kids would be in school, we didn't think much of it.

Once it opened we went in ready for a serious gaming session. We walked past row after row of pachinko machines, but couldn't find where the video games were. We asked someone who worked there and he informed us that it wasn't an arcade, but a pachinko parlour. We were disappointed, but figured we'd at least try it out. After all, if all these old people could play it and do well, how difficult could it be? Plus, some of the prizes looked pretty cool, there was even a case of beer to win. After the attendant explained how to play the game, we gave it a shot...and failed miserably. We left with our heads down in search of real video games.