A Quieter Time

When I toured Tokyo to play in 20 Sega arcades in one day, I rather enjoyed my stop at  Hi-Tech Sega Kasai.

A bustling cell of the metropolis, it nonetheless felt like a sleepy backwater compared to Shibuya, Ueno, Shinjuku… places playable as racer stages or neocowboy battlegrounds.

In those centres of attention, a beautiful turn-of-the-century Sonic signboard would have been ripped down – and the rec replastered with the standard-issue Sega insignia.

Here, Sonic still smiles.

A clutter of pushbikes on the ground and a highball upstairs for ¥188. That’s less than 2 credits!