In Britain, arcades have largely died out: we play at home, on Xboxes and PlayStations.
As you go down past the Turkish-style mosque and the city widens towards the sea, the arcades, passages and the streets are constructed with the geometric precision to be found in any French town.
One of the few places I did want to spend money was in the arcades.
Given this environment – herds of itinerant otaku wandering the streets – the continued survival of games arcades in Japan makes sense.
Former Prime Minister Taro Aso is an enthusiastic manga-collecting otaku, the TV ad breaks heave with glossy commercials for collectible card games, and multi-storey games arcades are commonplace.
Racing games found in arcades have steering wheels and pedals; wheels such as Logitech's NASCAR Racing Wheel can now be bought for use at home by those truly obsessed with driving simulators.
Japanese authorities have watched helplessly as the cash flowing from pachinko parlours (pinball arcades run largely by the Korean underworld) has also gushed offshore.The sluice-gates are at last closing.
Upping the ante, from the coins that tourists happily lose in the town's myriad amusement arcades to ten chips being lost across a green baize gaming table, is a serious possibility.
But its creator, Victor Gruen, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Vienna, must surely have drawn inspiration for his "brainchild" from the great shopping arcades of Europe.
By 1805 there were 15 restaurants and 20 cafés under the arcades of the Palais Royal alone, a place of "mad gaiety", in Balzac's words.
My guidebook recommends Ueno, with its crusty old arcades, as the perfect counterpoint to ultra-modern Shinjuku.
