Pachinko

Every time I've walked by a pachinko parlour, and have heard the sheer wall of noise, I have thought 'it's like the seventh circle of hell'. They are SO loud, and artificial, you can be walking down a perfectly nice, quiet street and suddenly you're interrupted by a barrage of beeps, rings, whistles, bells, and electronic music. Not to mention vast quantities of cigarette smoke, and countless lines of people sitting, vacant-eyed, pouring money into the machines.

For those of you fortunate enough not to know what pachinko is, it's kind of like gambling in a country where slot machines are illegal. You put in money, which buys you x number of little silver balls. You turn a dial to send your balls into the machine, and the balls fall, depending on how far you've propelled them. If the balls fall down a certain hole (once launched, you can't control them), you get a kind of 'slot machine' effect, where if you win, you are rewarded with more balls.

The reason pachinko is so popular is because, in fact, there are illicit ways to turn your winnings into cash. But it's a kind of back-door method. You can't do it on-site; it's against the law. There'd have to be some kind of motivation to keep so many people in there.

They really are ubiquitious in the Greater Tokyo area. There are so many of them. And they are so unappealing. But there are always loads of people in them... Even my sleepy suburb has several pachinko parlours. The machines often have different themes. There are also parlours with machines like slot machines (although real money doesn't come out), which are just as bright and obnoxious.

Look! Bon Jovi slot machines!!

Anyway, I did try pachinko once. It was mildly diverting; nice to try once, but doesn't offer the thrill of a) winning actual money, or even b) pinball, where there is some element of skill in your success. Also, being in such a smoky, bright and and cacophonous environment for more than twenty seconds is not good for any human.