COVID-19 threatens 'game over' for Japan's arcades

More than half of a typical arcade's takings are now from claw-crane toy machines

Last updated: February 10, 2021 | 11:27

AFP and Compiled by Christian Borbon, Senior Web Editor

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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.

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Bright, noisy arcades are still a neighbourhood fixture in Japan, but they have been disappearing as business is hit by virus-curtailed opening hours.

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"This is when the place usually starts to fill up," laments Yasushi Fukamachi, a manager at Mikado, whose 250 vintage machines attract nocturnal students and office workers who have just clocked off.

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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.

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Since early January, Tokyo and other parts of Japan have been under a state of emergency to bring down surging virus cases. Businesses are told to close early, with possible fines for those that refuse.

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But unlike bars and restaurants, arcades like Mikado do not receive government cash as compensation for lost income.

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A woman playing a game at the Mikado game centre in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo.

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Several arcades went bust following Japan's first state of emergency last year, which saw most of them close completely for two months, and those that survived are now struggling.

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By late December, as COVID-19 cases soared in the capital and elsewhere, this dipped to around 50 percent.

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Customers stayed away despite anti-infection measures, from plastic barriers between machines to the daily disinfection of 100 yen coins for the slots, he added.

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