The Japanese culture is very much beauty and refined custom - but also so much more. What do you think is hiding behind these glass doors?

Pachinko! Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan. It is used as an archade game and for gambling. These parlors are widespread in Japan, and is comparable to slot machine palaces in the West. Althought it has now declined in popularity, in 1994 the sales and revenues from Pachinko parlors contributed 5.6% of Japan's 500 trillion yen GDP and employed 330000 people. (Wikipedia)

Gambling for cash is illegal in Japan, but the popularity has enabled a legal loophole allowing it to exist.

Machines for children wanting toys and candy? We have some quite similar ones here in the West.

In Japan, Karaoke is extremely popular - and maybe posing with pretty girls! This guy posed with paper girls, happily smiling, while his little son ran away from the scene - I wonder why...

I must post a piece of the young Japanese literature and film culture too. Anime. Manga. And a couple of girls dressed in stylish street fashion. (There are MANY styles - from Dolly Key to Genderless)

There's no end to the popularity of these stories and charachters in Japan - you see them everywhere. In Sweden they enjoy massive attention. I know. My daughter and her friends still watch some of those movies, and I have watched a couple of them, because I wanted to understand why youngsters love them. In fact I found them very intricate, well written, and morally and ethically wise. But on the other hand, I haven't seen them all...

Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece Spirited Away teaches friendship, love and bravery in a universal way which made the movie famous world wide. I must say I liked it. It is worth seeing even if you are an adult or an elderly person.