Dark and dirty game arcade

Lastnight, out of a mixture of curiosity, tiredness and self-suggestibility (I'd mentioned the place to Dave in connection with old video games during the day), I investigated the local game arcade, close to the place I got my first barber cut in Matchington.

It wasn't as shiny as Round One, where I'd been with the Scots on Friday night (albeit pished), and there were huge fans set up at the end of some of the aisles to try and bring down the huge temperature created by all these screens and hidden computers.

I was delighted to see that there really were some old games there (Street Fighter 2 Hyper edition was one of them, and that's got to be at least a decade old, along with some version of Darius), in amongst a bunch of strategy games, a few gambling machines, and a few normal style arcade games.

Strange what catches your attention, though.... most of the machines were at seat level. Helped by the fact that they had seats for the entranced customers. And over at the far end of one of the far aisles was something I'd never seen away from the beach or a club: a shirtless Japanese guy! He was about my age, slim and mildly tanned, wearing suit trousers and shoes, one shin perched on the other thigh, dragging on a fag like it was keeping him alive, with a fag packet and a half-drunk plastic beaker on the console of the machine, completely into the game. I did a double-take because you never see people undressed here, even in the summer (it's considered rough).

I wandered round a bit more, considered playing Darius, then just got out; it was noisy, and warm, and I was tired from the gym and not much sleep the previous night, and just wanted to rest.


Sometimes it's rewarding to follow your instincts, though. I like that side of Japanese life because of what it's in contrast to: it's a little bit seedy and it's always nice to know that there's colour in life...