Coolest Arcade, Boringest Game
Don’t you wish there was somewhere more obscure that was cooler than Taito Hey?
Truth is the Hirose Entertainment Yard is just a great arcade. Despite its fame and hot location, it has a homemade, fan-driven, hobbyist charm:
PC-printed and laminated information cards on the machines
Headphones attached for you to use or swap out for your own
A Darius 2 setup with 2 x 50" widescreen TVs and big floor-standing speakers
A huge inflatable shark hanging over the Darius Burst cabs
And this blue-upholstered office partition next to Densha de GO!, so you can just feel a bit more like you're working as a train driver, without the distraction of the shooter nextdoor.
Photographer and writer covering Tokyo arcade life – the videogames, the metropolis and the people