Several months ago, I heard about an upcoming book about Japanese arcades written by Brian Ashcraft, who lives in Osaka and is the night editor at Kotaku.  I have fond memories of arcades of my youth, and it facinates me that arcades are still so prevalent in Japan when they died out here long ago.  So I ordered and got the book, called Arcade Mania: The Turbo-charged World of Japan’s Game Centers, from Amazon this week.

For a flavor of what the book looks like, check out the video review by CheapyD of Cheap Ass Gamer:

I found the book to be really fascinating.  Not to take anything away from the history or interviews in the book, but I think the full color pictures really make it stand out.   I could spend hours just pouring over every detail in the pictures.  It comes in at almost 200 pages and Amazon has it for a great price.  If you have any interest in the subject, I think you’ll find it worth the money.