Japan's Gaming Culture

Japan is known for its crazy food, manga, and strange TV. When I think of Japan I think of games. I am in love with gaming and have been since I was younger, and being in Japan is like the Meccah of gaming. We spent the first few days of this trip wandering around going to temples, and I always on my mind was thinking of where I could find the closest arcade. We finally went to Nishiki Market and right before we left we happened to run across A-Cho one of kyoto's more famous arcades. I was in heaven. I walked in and the first thing that caught my eye was the Taiko Drum game which was incredibly fun and easy to play. The visual culture of these places is incredibly intricate from the bright colors and lights to the black light fighting game area. The games have fun colorful characters and the machines are also quite bright and flashy. When you step into these places its like walking into a different world with the door being the separator. Arcades are so different from American arcades which happen to be dying out quite rapidly, and in Japan they are still going quite strong. In fact we would walk in at night and businessmen were always there playing games and its amazing to me the age range that come into these places. In fact they were not only older, but you were not allowed into these places if you were under 18 after a certain time and in some cases not at all. The players in these arcades are incredibly good at these games that well have been around for a long time and even those that are new. Just walking around in the arcades was awesome and sitting in the huge Gundam pods was an experience all its own. Sitting in these pods made it like you were actually controlling these robots in real life and the actions required are what would be required in real life to operate such machines. In many of the arcades there were girls dressed in Cos-Play as maids, samurai warriors, and even cats. These girls are used to attract the customers and it works very well in most cases. All in all the arcades of Japan are something you have to experience for yourself and its an awesome jaw dropping experience. Arcades are an essential feature in Japan to find out more go to Here

Kawaii Food Fuels The Japanese

American culture uses pseudo Asian meditations and therapy to relax from the stress of who will become the next American Idol. Japan takes a break from the excessive work weeks through Hello Kitty style kawaii culture. Kawaii culture, which is explained in the Graphic Japan ready by Sharon Kinsella as a celebration of all that is "sweet, adorable, innocent, pure, simple, genuine, gentle, vulnerable, weak, and inexperienced in social behavior and physical appearance." To simply put it, its cute things.

At Nishiki market, the kawaii culture can be experienced through the way food is presented. Everything from candy, to rice crackers, to even mochi are transformed from their normal state to flowers, leaves and fruits. The walls of kawaii candy seem to be just as important to the Japanese experience as the tumpura stand next door.The reason for kawaii in food seems a little strange to an American like myself, but it is said that kawaii is used not because it is simply super adorable, but it is a connection to childhood that in a culture where adults are expected to work long hours in intense company groups.

The kawaii food in the specialty shops also had a lot of seasonality, or mono no aware. The rice crackers have pictures of delicate flowers and fish. The candies are shaped into seasonal flowers and fruits in pastel shades. The idea that there are certain things for every season, such as spring, is something that is important to thte culture thing. It was really interesting to see that even something that is really new like kawaii culture, especially when you think about how old the Japanese culture ranges back, has routes in something so importantly Japanese.

If you go to Nishiki market, or any sort of food store in Japan, you really should keep an eye out for the different types of kawaii food and candy you are bound to see.