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For anyone traveling to Japan, video games and claw machines have been an integral part of the culture. Japan is filled with arcades and they are a must see and should be on your bucket list. The prizes in the claw machines are filled with quality items of popular characters. This isn’t your run of the mill claw machine you would find at some random restaurant or liquor store here in the United States. But if you haven’t heard, Japanese arcades and claw machines are popping up more and more in the US!
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One of the most famous Japanese arcades is Round1, who opened its first US location in the Los Angeles suburb of City of Industry, California in 2010. Now with 32 locations across the country, Round1 keeps growing in popularity. I would always play at Round1 in Japan so when I found out they would be here in the USA I was so excited! The US Round1 claw machines feature prizes just like the ones in Japan. Last time I visited, they had characters from the anime series Cardcaptor Sakura.
Round1 also has karaoke, bowling, purikura booths, and pool. You can spend hours there immersed in the claw machines and photo booths. I know I do.
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There is a new Japanese arcade sweeping the US by storm. Kiddleton Kiosk, which has 12 US locations is a Japanese game machine corner that you can find in Asian supermarkets like Mitsuwa, Tokyo Central, and 99 Ranch Market. Kiddleton Kiosk has a variety of arcade games imported from Japan. The Costa Mesa location has a really fun game for children where you jump on these platforms while pretending to be a bunny or a frog. What I really like about Kiddleton though is their claw machines of course. They have mini and regular size machines where they always rotate their prizes. A lot of their prizes are imported from Japan or from US companies licensing Japanese characters. So you can find a wide variety of prizes featuring many famous anime characters like Sailor Moon.
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Although many of us can’t travel to Japan yet, we can have a bit of Japan in our own backyard. I can’t wait to see more and more Japanese arcades opening up here in the States as well as worldwide.
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『JAPANESE POP CULTURE NEWS THAT YOU MUST KNOW!!!』
Writer: Stephanie Yanez
Instagram @stephachu
Website https://direct.me/stephachu
(4/26/2022)
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