Aircraft as Arcade

06/02/2002 English German

Edition # 40
San Francisco, 06-02-2002

Japan, Finally Aircraft as Arcade Tokyo Gastronomy Tokyo Fish Market Masks Beverages Beer Paper tissues Shuwattchi! Fashion Safety Technophilia Shinkansen Japanese speaking English Busy Bodies Rambunctious Youth Surveyed by Students Geishas Original and American knockoff Consumer Frenzy Japanese toilets Bicycles in Tokyo Train station in Tokyo Uniforms Taxis To Bow Shoes Off and Shoes On Hiroshima Ryokan Japanese Bath In the temple for AOL Koya-San Cemetery in Koya-San

Aircraft as Arcade

Michael We naturally chose Japan Airlines, JAL. There are horror stories circulating about the limited seat spacing on their planes, as Japanese people are generally a bit smaller than Westerners and therefore require less legroom. However, each seat back is equipped with a small screen, where you can -- even in economy class -- not only watch 10 different movies but also play games like Tetris, chess, Connect Four, and more against a computer. The Japanese are ahead in the entertainment industry! This was also evident during takeoff and landing when the main screen displayed the image from a camera showing the runway from the cockpit, vividly depicting in color where the plane was currently going.

Figure [1]: Video games in the airplane seat

Due to the tight seating rows, we asked at check-in if there were any seats available at the emergency exit, but we were informed that we could at most get so-called bulkhead seats, which are the row in front of the large screen. Fearing that I wouldn't have a Tetris game, I generously declined. (In hindsight, it turned out that the people in the first row, of course, have small screens that come out of the armrest. And the seat spacing was okay.) We then played like gaming addicts, the eleven hours flew by, and the stewardess had a hard time convincing us to disembark at the destination.