Smoking in Arcades and You!

Some of you might know that smoking is allowed in Japanese arcades (Game Center in Japanese) but might not know how bad it really is.  At the vast majority of arcades, a great number of people smoke.  These players don't just smoke a couple cigarettes throughout the course of a night, a lot of these players smoke a cigarette between turns on the machine, and leave the cigarette burning in the ashtray during the match, taking drags between rounds.

How can this affect you?  Quite negatively if you're not a smoker I'd assume.  Personally, I don't believe that a couple nights a week of second hand smoke are going to lead to lung cancer, but the fact is that it will dry out your throat, make your eyes red, and make you smell as though you've been smoking all night.  A small arcade is a lot like a cigar club, but its worth it for the competition.

What you can do:

Start smoking-  probably not the best idea, but if you want to be a jittery nervous mess and plan to stay in Japan go for it.  You'll always be able to smoke at the arcades and pachinko halls.

Personally I am considering puffing on a cigar so that if I am having to take in smoke I might as well look ballin.

Get a cheap medical mask-  These are sold all over japan as a kind of way to stop the spread of colds.  I haven't yet used one but I'd assume it cuts down on the crap in the air pretty well.

Bring an orange-  That's what Johnny Chan used to do at WSOP before the smoking ban!

Take a breath between matches- Simple and probably good for you, though there will be people smoking on street corners almost everywhere in Japan.

My best advice though would probably be to keep yourself hydrated.  A dry throat the next day and a bit of a cough are no fun.  If it gets really bad, bring some throat lozenges/cough drops.