Hooked on the Claw: How Crane Games Conquered Japan’s Arcades

Fri Dec 26 2025
icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp

As school and work wrap up, crowds fill Tokyo’s many bustling arcade halls — not to battle it out in fighting games, but to snag plush toys from claw machines. In one of these gaming meccas in the Japanese capital’s Ikebukuro district, aisles of crane games stretch as far as the eye can see.

icon-facebook icon-twitter icon-whatsapp