Despite Japan’s strict gambling laws, pachinko, a pinball derivative played by millions of people, is a national obsession generating 30 trillion yen profit a year.
On a sweltering summer’s day in Tokyo salary men on lunchduck from air-conditioned building to air-conditioned building. One common oasisfrom the heat (and office) is a pachinko parlour, Japan’s equivalent of a slot arcade.
- Related article: Mini guide to Macau, China
To a gaijin(foreigner) entering a pachinko parlour for the first time, the first thingthat hits you is the fog of cigarette smoke, a harsh difference from theno-smoking laws in other parts of the developed world. Inside is uniquelyJapanese. Row upon row of pachinko machines echo a cacophony of bells andcartoon voices, and the mostly male players sit rigid, watching silver balls bouncearound (pachin refers to the sound ofthe ‘ko’, or ball), hoping they willfall down into the winning centre hole. The more balls they win, the more cash theywill get.
This pinball derivative played by millionsof people in Japan has been popular in the country since the 1940s – althoughtoday the machines are much more sophisticated and addictive than the original mechanizedgame. Within the pachinko machine’s frame of pulsing LED lights, silver metalballs tumble around on pins. They fall from the top, controlled only by gravityand the luck of which pins they bounce off. Once in motion, the player can onlywatch and hope. Dominating the centre of each machine is an LCD screen that loudlyplays segments of the latest Japanese anime(animation) or TV show along with the score of any winnings.
Unlike casinos, which are based on direct cashwinnings and therefore illegal under Japan’s strict gambling laws,pachinko is legal on a loophole related to how you claim your prize. It is alsotinged with taboo because of its associationsto the Japanese mafia which once controlled the prize cash outs.. “I knowit's not good because it’s gambling, but sometimes I play,” said Yuji Nagata, a28-year-old male systems engineer from Tokyo.Unlike Western slot machines, which are usually relegated to the back of barsor windowless casinos, pachinko parlours have a large street-facing presence,often around stations and on busy shopping strips in every town and city in Japan. Espace (1-23-3 Kabukicho, Shinjuku-ku;03-3208-1115) is one of the largest parlours in Tokyo with three floors ofpachinko right in the centre of the busy, fashionable neighbourhood of Shinjuku,enticing passing shoppers off the street with flashing lights. Thousands of people come here to play everyday. “Once I won 200,000 yen! But usually I lose,” said Nagata.
Espace may look like a fun video arcadefrom the street, but to the many players who stare intently at the machines andfate-making balls, it is clearly more than just a game. One player, YukieTaniguchi, a 30-year-old computer graphics researcher, fed 100 yen coins intothe machine to get credit in the form of the steel balls costing four yen each,which poured out like liquid precious metal into the tray protruding from thefront. Despite all the noise from other machines, there was a sense ofexcitement. The balls tumbled around his Hunger Games-themed machine with allthe fanfare of a lottery. He turned the doughnut-sized dial -- the only elementof control the player has over the game -- to shoot the balls into the top ofthe machine, fast or slow, depending on his spin of the dial. The balls bumbledaround like silver flies against a window, bouncing off pins, toward the bottomwhere Taniguchi willed them to enter the central chamber. When they did, thescreen’s animation lit up one of three numbers from one to nine. In slotmachines, three matching cherries means a win; in Pachinko, three matchingnumbers (such as 444 or 999) on the screen wins more metal balls to play onwith or to cash in. Winning also advances the plot of the anime or TV showplaying on the screen, otherwise the story keeps looping around. One ofTaniguchi’s wins gave out 10,000 balls, worth 2.5 yen per ball when “cashed” in.
Taniguchi swapped the tray of thousands of winningsilver balls for a receipt, which in turn was swappable for alcohol, toys orother prizes. To get money, you need to ask for the “special prize” tokens.These are plastic gold-coloured tokens that can be swapped for cash -- but notwithin the pachinko parlour. Instead, they are cashed in at TUC shops that arealways located nearby and exist as a legal loophole enabling you to win moneyin a country that technically forbids gambling. The exchange of prizes for cashwas once controlled by the yakuza (Japanesemafia), but has been cleaned up by the police, who now regulate it in this way.
It sounds elaborate for a game, butpachinko is both big business and a national obsession – there are more than 12,500pachinko halls in Japan, some with slot machines, which together make four times as much profitas all the rest of the world’s legal casino gambling combined. The game itself generates30 trillion yen profit a year for the pachinko companies.
Setsuko Chiba was introduced to pachinko byher husband. When they split up, she continued to play regularly for 15 years, usingit as supplementary income to support her family. “It was part of the samechain – pachinko, cigarettes and cans of coffee,” explained Chiba. Trolleysladen with drinks and food for sale are continuously pushed around the parlours,encouraging people to stay longer. Like other pros, she targeted new machines-- which are programmed to give out frequent winnings over the first few daysto attract new customers -- and her average win was around 70,000 yen on a goodday. She also made large losses, and over the years her teeth and eyesight declinedfrom neglect and hours spent at the machines. When her children complained ofher long absences, it was a wake up call. She used her winnings to transition towarda more legitimate use of her gambling skills, becoming a self-employedstockbroker. She gave up smoking and pachinko at the same time, two taboos for Japanesewomen.
Now 58, Chiba represents anew market that the pachinko giants want to capture – female players who wantto play this stress-relieving game but without any stigma. Quieter, cleanerparlours are opening up where balls can be bought for just one yen each (ratherthan the usual four yen) with smaller potential winnings to switch the focus ontothe game itself rather than gambling. Many modern mega-parlours, such as Maruhan (28-6 Utagawacho Shibuya-ku, Tokyo; 03-5458-3905) now offer smoke-free areas, followingthe lead of international brands in Japan like McDonalds and Starbucks.Prizes, such as handbags, are also targeting women. P-ARK Ginza (5-12-1 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; 03-3546-0003) even haspamphlets with pachinko instructions in English to attract tourists to the game.A visit to any pachinko parlour is still a very Japanese experience, but in thefuture it may look more like a family-friendly Las Vegas casino.
Cultural Activities
