A Japanese resident has lamented the state of Kyoto's retro gaming stores, blaming foreign travellers for bleeding the country's stock of vintage games.
Kyoto-based American researcher
Oliver Jia posted images of his local
Surugaya, a store which sells retro games along with other collectable items. The shelves are shown with limited stock.
"The Surugaya in Kyoto is a skeleton now," laments Jia. "A year ago, there were tons of Famicom Disk System games, but this is all that’s left. The PS1 section is half empty. The tourists have taken everything. I don’t bother shopping for retro games in big Japanese cities anymore."
Jia adds that his local Surugaya once offered two whole floors of games, but now it is reduced to just one – and that he personally witnessed someone literally scooping up an entire shelf of stock. "I saw a guy just taking everything off the already paltry DS shelf. There [are] tons of people like him and very little anyone can do because it’s obviously not illegal. So I don’t even bother anymore."
However, the researcher is keen to stress that he has no issue with people buying up games to play – it's the resellers he's less keen on. "I should specify that if you’re a tourist in Japan and buying these games because you genuinely want to play them, I don’t have an issue with you," Jia says. "It’s the people who clear entire shelves just to scalp them online when they get home that ruin the hobby here for everyone."
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