Why Japan's Gaming Bars are Fighting for Survival

Thanks to Liam Edwards for the footage, Matt Bloch & Alex Fraioli for the interviews, Evan Stark for the tip.

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[ArchOfWinter]

So, he's now running a used game store that serve alcohol and let's you play unlimited free demos?

[NAM_]

Never miss an opportunity to use that goofy ramen dunking sign thing

[cinnamonnoir]

What strikes me as bizarre here is that video game copyrights are given special treatment that doesn't seem to extend to other creative works (movies, books, etc.). Japanese artists _and_ businesses are notorious for widespread appropriation and repurposing of images from creative works; they have a huge, well-known convention (Comiket) dedicated solely to selling doujinshi, many of which are blatantly based on other copyrighted works. It's a pretty obvious double standard.

Video gaming happens to be one of the few world markets in which Japan is unquestionably preeminent, so that may have led them to make improper concessions to the industry due to overblown fears of losing that distinction. Hollywood certainly has a lot of clout here in the United States, and movies are to us what video games are to Japan in terms of prestige.

Remember when Shinzo Abe showed up at the 2016 Olympics wearing a Mario hat to advertise the 2020 games in Tokyo? That clearly shows how important Japan's government thinks Nintendo is, so they could hardly be neutral on an issue like this.

I can only hope that Japan's consumers ultimately realize how hypocritical this is and put pressure on the government to pass a more reasonable set of copyright regulations. But of course, _we're_ still chugging along with the DMCA after twenty years, so who knows what will actually happen?

[hemangchauhan]

All the best to both of them for their bars in the future.

[MattRoszak]

The more I hear about Nintendo's business practices the less I like them.
But it seems everyone forgets about that stuff as soon as a new Zelda or Smash game comes out.

[VivaZeus]

Between banning game bars and censoring their porn, l’m starting to question Japan’s legal system

[Fopenplop]

damn dude, who would have guessed that corporate power is inherently inimical to community spaces and human needs?

[gldni]

Also fair to point out that Japan's legal system is profoundly corrupt and heavily based on the mentality that if you are arrested, you MUST be guilty so just accept your punishment. It's that mentality that Alex was mentioning in the video, basically "you can't fight the system so just give up."
That helpless mentality is probably the biggest reason I would never want to live in Japan, given the opportunity.

[con]

Ironic that Nintendo started on gray area of the law. With the playing cards that they made. And the strong connections to the Yakuza. And now they are the one of the worst corporation that enforce their copy rights to the people.

[gabrielmcneice]

best of luck to alex and matt, i really hope it all works out for the both of them

[aceman]

Took a trip to Japan in June, and we randomly found Space Station. It was great, one of the best times I’ve had in a bar in ages. A friend played the entirety of TLOF Left Behind DLC, and by the end of the night we had the entire bar, bartender included, in a 8 person Smash Free For All, and boy we were screaming. Pausing mid match occasionally because there was a new customer haha.

It’s sad to hear that shortly after everything was shut down, I had no clue. I recall talking to Matt about how the idea came in place, and how he opened it. With my North American mindset I was dumbfounded that it was so simple. Essentially the way things work there is “You wanna start a business? Okay, just open it.” So to hear they now need various licenses due to copyrights is sad, and the primary attraction is unplayable, unless they cough up a $20 000 fee.

If it wasn’t for them being listed as a bar, I wouldn’t have found them. I searched “Video Game Bar” in Maps, and if I had gone to Japan today, I likely wouldn’t find them.

[Valkbg]

Nintendo is a party pooper wherever they go it seems

[olivercorrodi]

i love how you always show the mechanical ramen thing when you say 'japan' <3

[sena]

how can they justify criminalizing renting games?

[VashdaCrash]

"How american!", they say. I hope they don't end up comparing those practices (asking a lawyer, looking for legal options) with the yakuza, given that is the kind of people (I heard) who do things like that to open pachinko bars.

[christianhansen]

I remember this topic from the Japan restaurant video, glad to see a follow up!

[SpurdoMaltese]

Holy shit George, that's some prime journalism right there. Good job. Loved the video, I hope to be able to visit one of these places when I go to Japan some day.

[wakalantranslations]

I live in Osaka and have been going to Space Station since it first opened in 2011. It's a damn shame to see what has happened to it, especially as Matt is a really nice guy.

[anonysalt]

Sasuga Nintendo. They're not known as the Hanafuda Yakuza for nothing.

[aNerdNamedJames]

George Weidman: The game industry's one and only true hands-on journalist