You will find mahjong houses in downtown areas in Japan. They are mostly on the upper floors of buildings near stations. Unlike pachinko parlors, they don’t have luminous signboards on the buildings, so you might miss them unless you walk in the streets and pay more attention to their signboards.
Mahjong is the most popular indoor gambling in Japan. However, its position is being taken up by a new gambling: poker. Texas Hold’em is the most popular game of poker in Japan, as it is in other countries.
Poker will gain more popularity in Japan, particularly among young people, because they have become more attracted to things that go faster and need less time. Players spend much less time for each game in Texas Hold’em than in mahjong. More and more people find poker to match their preferences much more than marjohn.
People seem to have experienced the changes in taste and mindset in various aspects through the coronavirus pandemic. They prefer things that require less time and show results sooner. This change proves that people now watch YouTube videos more often than traditional movies, and some people prefer fast movies (abbreviated movies distributed illegally) to full-length movies.
In that aspect, people feel more relaxed when playing Texas Hold’em rather than mahjong. Players can fold their hands at Texas Hold’em whenever they want if they are poor. But you can’t throw away their hands at Marjohn even if your hands are terrible. It’s tough to play the game until the end when you can’t expect your hands to grow into a win. Moreover, poker players can leave tables for washroom or snacks whenever they want. In a situation like that at mahjong, you might feel awkward because you pause a game and make other players wait for you to return to the table.
The marjohn industry has taken various initiatives to attract more players, like establishing a professional league and touting young professional female players in general media. However, I believe that the poker industry is more likely to thrive in Japan for many years to come.
If you visit some poker houses in Japan, you will see a lot of young players, both males and females. Being able to play with more ease and relaxation, as mentioned above, could be advantageous compared to other games. Moreover, strategies and knowledge needed for poker are logical and theoretical enough to be shared online. Some dealers in Japan’s poker houses are college students and less experienced in actual poker games, but they have intensively learned strategies and statistics online. They all are smart enough to give me sage advice on every hand of mine!