Goodbye Games Ma-ya

Today is the last day of Games Ma-ya in Kasai and the whole thing is being streamed on Niconico here. Game Ma-ya is a Japanese gaming shop that has been around for 35 years and I have only been aware of its existence for the last two years reading the shoopkeeper's blog.

I read the blog mostly for Japanese practice but also it was fun seeing things from a perspective of a shop owner. I liked it when she wrote about people who had frequented her store as kids now brought their own kids there or how people went out of their way to buy things from the shop even though they lived further away. I went all the way to Kasai last year to Games Ma-ya but chickened out of talking to tenchou which I bloody regret now.

One thing that was noticeable reading the blog was that tenchou started to take more time off due to her health and finally she announced that she was closing down because of her health.

There will be a couple of big name people from the gaming industry showing up at Games Maya's last day including Arino Kacho from Game Centre CX and Nagoshi from the Yakuza series. Watching the live stream, I'm struck by how many people turned out to congratulate tencho and bid the store goodbye. 35年お疲れ様ですゲームズマーヤの店長！