Inside Asian Gaming

IAG JAPAN JAN 2020 86 (Left to right) Nihon Senior Life’s Kaoru Mori and Toshikazu Seki. (左から)日本シニアライフ株式会社の森薫氏と関俊和氏 JAPAN A s Japan’s population ages, the term “day service” – essentially a daycare center for the elderly – is becoming a familiar term. These nursing centers are open during the day to people aged 65 or older (with some exceptions) who need nursing care, covered by nursing insurance, and the patrons go home at the end of each day. What most Japanese people imagine when they hear this word is a white van with the name of the day service center painted on the side, picking up senior citizens for a day of light recreation and motor skills training such as drawing pictures or math drills. Of course, that’s because this is what most day service centers offer. Lately however, centers that stray from the norm are gaining notoriety. One of them is Nihon Senior Life Inc’s “Day Service Las Vegas” center, with 23 outlets currently operating throughout Japan. GAMING AND DAY SERVICE The most unique feature of Day Service Las Vegas is that it incorporates “gaming” in the form of dedicated baccarat, blackjack and mahjong tables. Of course, this format does not include any actual gambling. However a special “currency” is used and it would be hard to tell there aren’t big bucks at stake from the attitude of the players. Even the pickup car is a cool, luxurious black instead of the typical ambulance-white. Once inside the facility, guests are transported to a grown- up theme park that’s a far cry from their everyday lives. IAG sat down with Kaoru Mori, Representative Director and CEO of Nihon Senior Life, and Toshikazu Seki, also a director, in Machida city, a suburb of Tokyo where one of the facilities is located. CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY Mori ’ s philosophy is clear. He speaks about the “unhappiness of people who have to go to places they don’t want to.”