At many arcades in Japan there is often an amusement cabinet called a punching machine that measures how hard one can punch. A sixteen-year-old has been arrested after kicking one.
Here is a YouTube clip from 2012 showing a punching machine in action:
According to Kobe Shimbun Next, a sixteen-year-old resident of Kakogawa city, was arrested today for alleged property damage. Yesterday, the teen repeatedly kicked a punching machine’s coin return slot, destroying it. He has since confessed.
“I put money in and the game didn’t start, so I got pissed off,” he’s quoted as saying. “I kicked it three or four times.”
Punching machines have existed since the early 20th century. Since the 1980s, a number of Japanese game companies have released their versions, including Namco’s Knockdown in 1981, Taito’s Real Puncher in 1990, and Atlus’ Punching Try in 2007.
