Pinball Wizard ... 2. 0; Japan's modern video arcades are awesome! But they may be luring the young away from responsibility.

Byline: Brad Stone

One rainy night in a tokyo arcade, a twentysomething teacher who wishes to be known as Momo saved the world from the evil forces of the Principality of Zeon. He was playing Mobile Space 0079, a videogame based on the enduringly popular Japanese anime television series, in which young soldiers wage space combat in giant robot suits. In Japan, "Gundam" practically passes for religion, with conventions, extensive toy lines and libraries of manga comic books. Now it's spawned a popular, networked, multiplayer arcade game.

As the Zeon forces gather, Momo arranges a handful of trading cards (specially purchased for the game) on the flat, magnetic surface of his machine. He physically manipulates the cards to control his robot and weapons on the screen. Firing a few missiles, he deftly defeats the Zeon threat, and adds another win to a remarkable history of 585 victories. At about $2 a game, Momo estimates he's spent $2,000 in the last six months. But it's worth it. "The more you win, the more experience and credibility you gain among other Gundam fans for being an old hand," he says.

Welcome to the arcades of Tokyo. In Asia, and particularly Japan, videogame rooms are thriving. There are 9,500 arcades in Japan with more than 445,000 game machines made by Japanese companies like Namco and Capcom, says Masumi Akagi, publisher of Japan's Game Publisher magazine. In the United States and Europe, arcades are a rapidly dying breed. Although the popularity of home video systems like the PlayStation contributed to the decline, execs at companies like Midway and Atari simply couldn't see the future in arcades and "abandoned the coin-operated business," says Akagi. Yet Japan seems ambivalent about its arcades. As the country faces a looming demographic nightmare, young people who pass the time at arcades are seen as shirking their responsibility to find steady jobs--and pay the taxes that will support a rapidly aging population.

The modern arcade provides a compelling escape. It is exotic sensory overload, nearly impenetrable to neophytes. It is not just a palace of entertainment, but a collection of obsessive subcultures. In the neon-lit Shibuya district, old games like Pac-Man, Donkey-Kong and Centipede are nowhere to be seen. Rows of puri-kura, or print-club machines, are hugely popular with Japanese schoolgirls, who rush into color photo booths to take their ...