This edition focuses on two giants of the Japanese gaming scene; Nintendo and Sega. As some of you will be aware Nintendo's headquarters are based in Kyoto and I had a chance to go have a look. Meanwhile Sega have a much bigger arcade presence in Japan than here, with numerous Sega-themed arcades and even their own brand of theme parks; Joypolis. This article shall explore my personal experience with these gaming hotspots.

I’m sure many of you have wondered what goes on inside the walls of Nintendo’s offices; the place where Mario was born, Pikmin were plucked out the plotted plants and Miyamoto practiced his conductor skills. I too am still wondering this as unfortunately there’s no way into the building. I was aware of this before making the long walk to have a look but even so, it all felt like a bit of a let down.

My hostel in Kyoto was North of the immense train station known as Kyoto Station (all of the big stations in Japan are definitely big, with some even being so large they have those walking escalators that are commonly found in airports just to help you get round), however the Nintendo Headquarters are South. Google Maps estimates it takes approximately nine minutes to walk from the train station, and if you haven’t spent all day walking around Kyoto and knew the best route it probably would. For my travel companions and I it is certainly much longer than this but we endeavoured in the sweltering heat to find a place we all imagined going to since we were young.

Nintendo’s recent philosophy toward gaming is definitely geared toward ‘fun’, for better or worse depending on how hard your core is. The same can’t really be said for their offices. The building is itself a large white cube surrounded by a high fence that suggest this is very much a place of business, although lord knows what Miyamoto gets up to. We did find the front gate was left wide open but no doubt if we tried to enter we’d only get politely turned away.

Overall I think no matter what I say anyone who really wants to go and see the building will certainly do so but if you have limited time in Kyoto or if you are very much North of the train station there is little point. As stated, its not as if you can go in and play games unfortunately. If you are going it might be best to get the subway to the nearby underground station, we only walked because we were cash-strapped.

If you look really close at a window you can see Miyamoto...perhaps.
More images can be found in the gallery.

Arcades are a yen a dozen in Japan, particularly in Tokyo. While there are several Sega branded arcades dotted around, including ones in ‘young’ hotspots such as Akihabara and Shibuya, Sega have also opened up a chain of what can only be described as a mix between an arcade and mini-theme park. The Sega arcades that I mentioned are like many other arcades and while I did not go into many of them I did find they have a novel concept; a women only section. In regards to the games they are the Sega arcade titles you would expect and a few more based on anime series’ I did not recognise.

There are currently three Joypolis amusement parks open in Japan (after one in Shinjuku had to close for health and safety reasons); one in Odaiba, Tokyo, another in Umeda, Osaka and another in Okayama, Okayama. I did not visit the Tokyo one as it is out of the way a bit and I knew I’d get a chance to visit the Osaka one as it is in the centre of the city. Coincidentally as I got my airport limousine (an absurdly fancy name for a bus) from Okayama to Nagasaki Airport we drove right past the one there. The Osaka branch is, like many things in Japan, in a huge shopping centre, namely on the top two floors of the HEP Five centre near the main Osaka JR train station.

I will have to disappoint anyone who is reading this expecting a thorough account of what you can do in Joypolis (although I believe there are variations in each branch anyway) as it was unfortunately a bit out of my budget. Not only did you have to pay to enter, but also you needed to pay for each ride (or you can purchase a ‘passport’ instead) and of course the arcade games needed more Yen that I simply didn’t have. However a mini-arcade section was open for everyone and I will continue to discuss what is inside for the benefit of anyone who is curious, even if I couldn’t afford to go down the rabbit hole.

The amusement parks feature a variety of rides based on Sega franchises including ‘Virtua Formula”, an enhanced Virtual Racing title, ‘Rail Chase: the Ride’, a rollercoaster in which you shoot targets as you travel, and rather uniquely ‘Astronomicon’, an interactive theatre that reads the audience’s horoscopes. This is just the tip of the iceberg though with many other games based upon popular franchises such as House of the Dead, Prison Break (the TV series) and the Initial D manga. Of course scattered throughout are arcade units, claw machines and of course a gift shop.

Joypolis is definitely a place for big Sega fans, or for theme park enthusiasts. However with any theme park it is pricey and something more enjoyable in groups and seeing as I was broke and alone it wasn’t right for me personally. Although the small Sega arcades are fun too, and offer many of the arcade titles available in Joypolis.

All together now; "Seeeeeeeyga".
More images can be found in the gallery.

Once again I hope you enjoyed this edition of Nihon Go! and I apologise for the lack of new photographs this week. To answer some of the issues that came up in the comments of last week's article; I will be discussing more non-gaming related events from Japan next week. It will still focus on gaming but whereas these two first articles have been on certain locations next week's is more about Japan as a whole. And Mako89 the original Pokémon store did indeed shut down some time ago. And for the few people that asked I'm sure you've noticed I did indeed get a photo of the HQ ;). Until next week, じゃあ, またね!