52 - Just In Tokyo
The most popular games seem to be the fighting games. Sega's
Virtua Fighter 4 allow frequent players to carry their statistics with
them on cards. If you're good, get a card from a vending machine
and you can prove yourself in mostly silent matches between men
who don't make fun of each other or seem to talk smack between
matches.
Print Club - "puri kura"
Photo booths are a popular curbside attraction in Japan. A far cry
from simple quick-printed pictures, the state of the art in Japan
includes multiple cameras you can set at any angle and the chance
to review your pictures on a small screen, doodling on your image or
adding a background to fashion yourself floating in space or standing
in a sea of British flag-patterned stars.
These are not machines intended for passport photos, or anything
terrifically useful. Some of these machines are in areas of video
game arcades intended for girls only; single men walking through
might get some strange looks and an invitation to leave. Still there
are so many of these machines, anyone should be able to find a
place to get a little goofy in front of a camera.
The results? A sheet of colorful photostickers. Many locations will
have scissors so you can cut up and distribute stickers to any folks
who might have appeared in your sticker-shots with you. It can be
great fun to have your photo taken with locals, especially if they are
hyper-fashionable, dressed up Tokyo kids. Good luck inviting them
to join you in a small curtained room; patience and an innocent
expression have yielded some great fun souvenier stickers. Be sure
to scissor and share what you have taken! Depending on how you
muddle through some of the on-screen Japanese, your stickers
might appear online. www.mitemite.ne.jp is one such site displaying
photostickers beamed directly from the booths.
Bathing
Japan has a tradition of public bathing. Japanese people travelling
within the country frequent onsen, traditional hot springs.
In the cities where the sulfer mostly bubbles up in nightclubs, you
can still find places to soak in hot tubs and saunas in various neigh-
borhoods. The etiquette is roughly this: sit on a stool in front of one