Perhaps your thoughts about Japan and its gaming culture are wrong. Written by a Brit who's living in Japan, this might be the truth behind the real "Gaming in ... Japan".

Here's snip from the feature :

It is true that Japan is a gaming Mecca (religiously not Gundam speaking). Video gaming itself has been in the public eye for significantly longer, but it sits along side a number of other game pass times. Pachinko parlors (a peg and ball game similar to bagatelle or Peggle) assault visitors to local train stations with blaring a blaring Euro-pop sound tracks, seedy mahjong clubs sit on back roads and slot arcades (fruit machines) are everywhere. It was on the back of this adult orientated entertainment under which video gaming made its surreptitious advance on Japan.