One of my favorite things about Japan is the prevalence of arcades. In the United States, we have very few true arcades; places like Chuckie Cheese’s are far more common.

In Japan, however, arcades are everywhere. There were several in Osaka, but the best arcades were in Tokyo, especially in Akihabara. On one of our last days of the trip, we had some free time and decided to go to the giant Sega arcade.

All I can say is that it was unbelievably awesome! I won a Toad (from Super Mario) keychain at a strange version of crane game. Further upstairs, around the fourth or fifth floor, we found the Mario Kart Wii arcade, complete with steering wheel and pedals.

The controls were wild, and I hadn’t played this version before. Nevertheless, my inner gamer saved the day.

The other awesome video game place was a little store off a side street of Akihabara. It was an old-school Nintendo store, and they had everything an 80’s gamer would want. Kyle bought an original Famicon, which was Japan’s equivalent to America’s Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

Side note: Super Mario Bros. 3 is quite possibly the best game of all time.