Gamer visits naval-themed arcade, finds real sailors playing

A classic photo of Japanese sailors playing a naval-themed arcade game in the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force facility in Yokosuka, Japan, has created a social media frenzy.

One regular day, Twitter user T-Kum (@arnval_mk2) went to an arcade to play the naval-themed game Kantai Collection, or “KanColle” as fans call it, and was stunned to see the special guests in the arcade area. Moreover, the sailors seemed to “wait patiently” for their turn to play with the machine, Japanese news site Rocket News reported.

艦これアーケードやりにきたが、待ってるの本職しかいないw pic.twitter.com/FXhgaCRwkE

— T-Kum (@arnval_mk2) July 3, 2016

“I came to play KanColle, but it looks like the real sailors are already here,” T-Kum said in the post.

The tweet, posted on Sunday, merited 34,400 retweets and 23, 525 likes as of Thursday.

“It’s not rare to see people in uniform in this town … but I just thought it was a nice moment that they were sharing, spending what little free time they have relaxing like that, so I took the photo and posted it,” the Twitter user spoke to BBC.

He delineated to BBC that seeing men in uniform relaxing and taking a break from their duty signals that the country is at peace. “Seeing this makes me relieved – There’s no self-defense force officer who wants to go to war,” commented one Twitter user. “Without peace, they cannot read comics or play games…I hope Japan continues to be like that.”

The Kantai Collection franchise steered multiple manga novels and anime television series in Japan. Just like any other popular series, schoolgirls wearing skimpy skirts anchor KanColle’s story plot.  Gianna Francesca Catolico