OSAKA -- It's way past dinner time in the back streets of Osaka's Shinsaibashi district. But one establishment advertising itself as an all-you-can-eat Italian restaurant is doing a booming business.
What's attracting customers to the tables, though, is not the pasta, a small tray of which sits untouched on a corner table, but games of chance. For this establishment is an underground casino, where Japanese dealers and African bouncers greet a steady stream of hostesses, salaried workers and others out for a night of gambling.
"Most of our customers are not serious gamblers, but those who just want to have a good time," said the Ghanaian bouncer, who went by the name of Kenny.