Superfast SIMs for expats & tourists
Explore Japan without limits with Mobal. Stay connected with reliable SIMs and eSIMs, with solutions for both expats and tourists. Get a real Japanese phone number from the best Japan SIM service for English-Speakers - it’s easy to use, there are no contracts, and delivery is free! Join Mobal today.
17 Comments
Login to comment
jerseyboy
Simple, thinly disquised gambling controlled by the yakuza. What else is their to think?
BertieWooster
Horrible, nasty, smoky.
How come it exists when what it does is illegal?
kickboard
Taken from an online source : "Prof. Toshio Miyatsuka, the leading authority on Korean-Japanese, believes that three-quarters of the 17,000 pachinko parlors are run by ethnic Koreans. Koreans also control many of the pachinko manufacturing companies. Koreans entered the pachinko business soon after World War II because it was one of the few industries where they could compete fairly with Japanese. Japanese shunned the business—it had such an air of seediness about it."
bass4funk
Waste of space, time and money! Japan is already a small country and if Japan would get rid of these eyesores, they could build things like better and bigger shopping centers, theme parks, save money on electricity, food outlets, other forms of entertainment, not to mention stopping the terrible addiction that comes with gambling, not to mention some of these parents that are so addicted they leave their kids or animals in the car and there is some tragedy, all in all it would greatly benefit Japan if they would get rid of 95% of these smoky, loud acidic joints. There really is NO need for them.
nath
As Kickboard said, it's controlled mainly by Korean, often North Koreans.
jerseyboy
Strangerland -- no, he indicated the parlors are "owned" by Koreans. Which everybody knows. But if you don't think it is the yakuza who are actually controlling the industry, just like they do many, many others, then you really don't know how Japan works.
FightingViking
If I wrote what I really think, I'd be immediately "censored"... The one and ONLY time I've ever been inside one was when my young son needed to relieve himself. His dad accompanied him to the "gents" and gave me 100 yen to use a machine while waiting... NEVER again ! In those days it wasn't only the deafening noise but also the clouds of cigarette smoke that almost "did me in"... (I don't know if smoking is still allowed these days...) It's a pure waste of time and money..
nath
What a ridiculous statement. I don't know the pachinko industry so well, other than that it's owned a lot by Koreans. To try to equate that to not knowing Japan well is a failure in logic. I've been here near 20 years, and played Pachinko a grand total of once. So now I don't know Japan? Ridiculous.
Now if you want to claim that the Pachinko industry is run by the Yaks, that may be true, though I don't understand how that would work if it's owned by Koreans. But you need to back your claims up with something other than 'if you don't think so, you don't know Japan'. Let's see something that shows this is true, and not just some assumption you incorrectly made.
therougou
Smelly, loud, annoying, yakuza, scam, low-life
nath
I don't really think about it but if people like it and it doesn't harm others then live and let live. My guess is legalised gambling (casinos) in Japan will make a big dent in the industry.
Ah_so
I hate pachinko, much as I hate all gambling. Gambling bores me intensely, thank goodness, so I stand no chance of being a gambling addict.
However, places such as packinko only survive on those gamblers who go in and lose real money repeatedly week after week, not someone who pops in once a year for a 2,000 yen flutter. These gambling addicts end up destroying their lives and families as much as drink does or any addiction does.
Banning this stuf outrightf is against my principles of free choice (however misguided) and would only drive it underground, but I would love to see reasonable limits around it.
edojin
I liked playing pachinko in days gone by ... when the balls were released by a spring-powered lever. I had a knack of winning on these machines. I had won such things as a hair dryer, a necktie (which I still have) and other prizes. I never collected any money off of them. I enjoyed playing for prizes.
Enter the modern machines that use a knob-type of release to shoot the balls up the slot and into the main playing field. I can't win on these machines ... and as I hate to lose ... I have not played pachinko in years.
There is a pachinko parlor next to the place where I work, and if a "winner" is collecting his/her winnings in the little room next to the parlor, I always look at the computer in the window to see how much was won. I have seen a little old lady walk away with 47,000 yen in cash, another woman with a little over 40,000 yen and guys with anywhere from 5,000 to 30,000 yen. Such winnings don't tempt me to return to playing 'cause I know these people were probably lucky on that particular day ... and in the long haul probably they lost much, much more than what they won.
And yes ... those places are smoky ... and noisy. Never could stand the smoke ... and today probably couldn't stand all that noise either.
I also enjoyed playing "smart ball." Does anyone remember those games? Each machine had a pretty girl standing beside it. And I enoyed playing ... and sometimes ... winning on them. Perhaps some old "smart ball" games can still be seen in amusement centers ... and if so, I'm sure the pretty girls are long gone ... history ...
Frungy
The buildings are large, gaudy eye-sores. I've never been inside one, but I'm sure Japan would look a lot nicer without them.
Kaerimashita
It is the best thing ever. Mentally stimulating and emotionally engaging. and the facilities are brilliant.
BertieWooster
Of course, if no one went to them, Pachinko Parlours would soon die out.
The solution is simple.
sensei258
@ jerseyboy - There are plenty of Korean Yakuzas.
JTDanMan
I played once. I lost ¥3000 in ten minutes.