September 25: Comments on this week's readings

On 'Pachinko Nation'

One of the most interesting points made in this article is the reference to pachinko parlours as being a place to zone out, to achieve “a kind of cut rate zen”. This would seem to demand some international comparisons. For instance, South Korea, China and Taiwan would seem to have similarly intense personal pressures – why hasn't pachinko proved exportable? Do the Internet Cafes in these regions fulfill a similar role?

In addition, and in connection with last week's topic, it might be asked whether pachinko is a 'game'. It is in some sense interactive, and there exists a goal that the player aims toward; yet, as the author points out, skill has essentially no bearing on the outcome. Associated with this would be the trend of introducing electronics in pachinko machines, and investigating whether 'gamification' has become an important part of keeping the device relevant.

On Print Club Photography in Japan

My immediate thoughts about this article were on how anachronistic the 'print club' machines appear in the modern context – much like Polaroid cameras. In an environment of ubiquitous digital cameras, and considering Japan's own dominance of the handheld camera market, the idea of a booth-sized machine printing stickers seems dreadfully old-fashioned.

This might be another example of Japan, once a paragon of high tech, slipping behind in the last few years. The New York Times ran an article earlier this year explaining the continued reliance on fax machines in Japan, long after the technology had been eclipsed elsewhere ⁱ. One can't help but wonder if 'Print Club' (or arcades in general for that matter) is an example of the same trend.

I Martin Fackler, “In High-Tech Japan, the Fax Machines Roll On”, New York Times, February 13, 2013, accessed September 23, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/world/asia/in-japan-the-fax-machine-is-anything-but-a-relic.html?_r=0