(FORTUNE Magazine) – From his luxurious penthouse atop the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Ginji Yasuda can keep a constant watch on the gamblers in his casino below, thanks to an elaborate NEC eye-in-the-sky camera system brought from home in Japan. Despite his qualms about being the first Asian to own a Las Vegas hotel, Yasuda claims the place is starting to spin a profit after opening last spring. ''Honestly,'' he chortles, ''I'm surprised.'' He is not alone. The odds are against foreign investors in Las Vegas. It usually takes familiarity with the local scene to succeed in a business that is both heavily regulated and heavily tainted with scandal. Three Japanese mini-moguls have decided to ignore those odds, partly because Las Vegas is one of America's fastest-growing convention centers. More than 1.8 million people went there for business meetings this year, up 20% from 1986 and just behind New York City and Chicago. By 1990, as the local tourism crew tells the Japanese trade missions trooping down the Strip, the city will have over 68,000 hotel rooms, up from the current 56,000. Even so, nearly one-third of the city's 56 biggest casinos lost money last year from Atlantic City competition and hefty promotional expenses. But the lure of Las Vegas goes beyond mere cash flow. Last spring Katsuki Manabe, 47, leased the Park Hotel & Casino with an option to buy it, and opened it in September after pouring $15 million into renovations. It will be a showcase for the slot machines made by his Tokyo firm, Sigma. For Masao Nangaku, 68, whose company, Minami Group, owns resorts in Japan, Hawaii, and West Germany, the attraction was undervalued land at Las Vegas's famous Four Corners. This month he will take over the debt-ridden Dunes for $158 million, and plans a $300-million makeover. No gambler he. His motto: ''If you've got the best, you'll get the business.'' As for Yasuda, 55, a Korean-born, Japanese-raised playboy who inherited a fortune in Tokyo real estate from his father, gambling seems to be in his genes. He breeds racehorses in Santa Anita and was a fixture at the baccarat tables at Caesars Palace before he paid $54 million for the bankrupt Aladdin in 1985. Japanese investors need more than gumption and a fat wallet to get into the casino business; they need the patience of Buddha. It took over a year for the Nevada Gaming Control Board to license Yasuda to run the Aladdin once he'd bought it. State investigators always scrutinize casino bosses' finances and friends for ties to organized crime, but never before had they faced such stiff language barriers, alien banking methods, and keen respect for privacy. Says Dennis Amerine of the gaming board: ''Our job was very, very difficult. Japanese just aren't used to showing financial documents or court records to foreigners.'' Though Yasuda bought his house in Los Angeles from a family linked to reputed mobsters who once owned the Aladdin, no connection could be established between him and the wiseguys, and the license was finally granted last February. Now staff upheavals plague the hotel. Yasuda has already parted with two chief operating officers for what he calls ''basic differences in management philosophy.'' Critics fault his hands-on style. ''He hired away the most experienced guys in town, paid them twice as much as anyone else, and then wouldn't take their advice,'' says one former employee. Adds another: ''His interpreters were so afraid of the shogun, I was never sure they translated bad news.'' Yasuda admits he has a lot to learn. ''Americans work for today, I work for tomorrow. But I can't live here doing things Japanese style.'' While Japan's interest in Las Vegas is growing, Las Vegas is ambivalent about Japan. The reason: Japanese tourists simply don't spend enough. Even the three casino owners are not making special pitches to the folks back home, though Yasuda plans to fly high-rolling friends in from Tokyo on his private jet. Casino gambling is illegal in Japan, and when they travel abroad, most Japanese would rather watch the dice than roll them.