Welcome to Gaia! ::

ちょっと変わったねー。

　

日本がとても違うって思うでも、合衆国は違いすぎる。

うん。

Yesyes. Le voices. :3 They're so creepy to hear. Instead of like "IKIMASHOUUU" it's like "LET'S PLAY TAIKO!!" but in the same high pitched manner. I saw DDR in a "Futaba Arcade" in a few cities, but you're right - it's quite dead, I remember it being way in the back even :/
I really like the way their sanitation / video games are laid out (i.e. Handwipes on the fighting games, and lower seating with benches heart ) so much nicer...

Koiyuki: heart that's quite good then - It seemed like there were a lot more people in the Japan release than the US too..I may be mistaken on that though.

Over 35 stages are available, including all-new stages and a remade forest stage from Tekken 3. All of the existing stages from Tekken 5 have been set in different times of day, with differing setpieces (Heihachi's Honmaru compound, for instance, is no longer burning, and the secret garden is now strewn with jack-o-lanterns). The prior versions of these stages are still available, but must be unlocked. There are many more customization items for the characters, and for the first time Mokujin and Eddy can be customized as well. All of the items from Tekken 5 are present and you are now able to combine more than 1 customization on a body part. New items include auras which change colours depending how a player ranks their characters. All extra costumes from the PS2 edition of the game are present, and some have been made customizable (Xiaoyu and Asuka's school uniforms). The three animal characters have had their custom color regions expanded/reworked, including color options for Roger Jr. and Panda's fur. The bear characters have more expressive facial animation (mouth movement). Eddy is a standard character, separate from Christie, with his own character select space and items. Armor King is a standard character with moves of his own. All characters have new and balanced out moves as well as some updated move commands. Jinpachi has an altered appearance, with a skin texture like veins of fire or flowing magma, and a glowing white horn protrudes from his forehead and his boss stage has been updated into a volcano. The selection screen and VS loading screen sport new CG renders of all the characters, most featuring new default color settings. Also, pre-release Dark Resurrection is undergoing another revision before it is released to the PSP in 2006. Plus there are two brand new characters in T5: DR, Dragunov and Lili, as well as the returning character Armor King. According to Tekken Zaibatsu [1], "Dragunov is described as a human weapon... with origins tracing back to the frozen tundra" and "Lili is a rich girl from Monaco." Dragunov fights with Sambo and Lili uses her skills in dance to fight in her own "tricky" style.

And, gambling is not allowed in Japan, but Pachinko parlors get around it in a really not so sneaky way.

So like basically you get those metal balls from playing, and then you cash them in and they give you a coupon type slip, then you can exchange them in another building which is basically next door. It's kind of like on those Pokemon games where you'd have to go to a different building to get a prize from the Game Corner. A while back (because my grandpa said it was happening when he last was in Japan in about 1995) I've heard that certain funds from 'ethnic' groups within places like Tokyo have been getting in trouble for funnelling them to places such as N. Korea where they were supporting people back home.
But anyways, all in all, Japan's government doesn't really enforce the exchange of pachinko winnnings for money, but in reality it's just a really out and out way of gambling.