For those of you that don't have a syllabus telling you what this week's topic is Japanese popular culture. As with all of the topics that we have been given, this needs to be narrowed down quiet a bit. So this week I'm going to talk about something that was a big part of my life growing up in the United States but are now becoming relics of the past, like the drive-in movies of a few generations ago; arcades. There are at least two fairly large arcades that I know of around Hirakatashi, a place called Dino Land in the Hirakatashi station and a bowling alley near Makino station. They are both fairly good sized arcades with people in them pretty much all day. There have been articles written on why American arcades have been failing across the country, this http://www.michigandaily.com/content/charles-paradis-death-american-arcade being the best I could find (there were several others that I came across, but they were much more casual and less informative). I agree more or less with what was said, but I believe that he understated the impact that home gaming has had on arcades. As he said, it used to be that the only place to play games with non-standard controls were the arcades. Now it is relatively easy to go and pick up specialty controllers of all kinds. Another factor that I think effects why Japanese arcades are more prevalent is the internet. Online gaming is huge in U.S. and finding someone to play against in a fighting game is as simple as going to an online lobby. However online gaming has never taken of in Japan like it did in the U.S. Therefore to play against strangers in their favorite fighting game the arcade is one of the only options for a Japanese gaming enthusiast. Also the following link provides more (and higher quality) pictures. http://www.japanator.com/elephant/post.phtml?pk=6631