Dec 15, 2005
Jason had been telling me about a huge arcade center in Chiba where Desi and Rumi had gone earlier to win some Disney stuffed animals and other prizes, so today they took me down there to check it out.
Heath had to stay back at the house to teach his English class, but everyone else piled into the car and headed out to Chiba. I was surprised by the actual size of the place, it was like an arcade mall gone Vegas style. There were three or four seperate gigantic rooms. In the first room were every gambling style attraction that you could expect to find in a Vegas casino. That seemed to be where the men liked to hang out while the women headed over to the center room, which was a huge arcade center full of arcade cranes to tempt the passerby.
The third area was a big restaurant on one side and a small childrens area on the other. Kids ages ten and under could get their pictures taken in the photo booths or play in the fun areas provided there.
I was surprised by how generous the Japanese workers turned out to be. If they saw you trying to win a stuffed animal on the arcade cranes, and you'd put in what they considered the worth of the animal to be (about $2 and up) they'd come over, open the machine,
and either give us the animal or place it dangling on the ledge where we could knock it down the chute in one or two additional tries. We all left with at least one toy and a bag full of candy.
Rumi and Desi decided to stay home, but Shige showed up and joined us for a trip down to a local Ramen restaurant. I was fascinated by the way the workers made the noodles right on the counter so their guests could see the process. The food was delicious.
No comments:
Post a Comment