2015-05-06: Ohhhhh Shiny!!!

Japan loves gambling. There is a form of track cycling called the Keirin which was invented in Japan just so they could gamble on it. In recent years there has apparently been a rise in housewives gambling and their choice has often been pachinko.

There is no God. Not how I would advertise my gambling den but I am an outsider so am probably missing something

Pachinko was invented in Nagoya and is stupidly popular. I am not sure if it is more popular here than the rest of Japan but it seems that way to me just from the number of pachinko parlours around here.

Oh there are two controls, I forgot what the middle one does as I was distracted by the girls in bikinis

On the subway as you approach stations they announce the other train lines or notable things you might want to get off at the station for. "Interchange for the Shinkansen and Meiji lines" or "Nagoya International centre" etc. These messages are in Japanese and English. They don't translate the one about "This suburb has tons of Pachinko and Slot machines" which happens at 2 of the 7 stations we go through to training. They don't say this at suburbs which only have 5 or 10 huge pachinko parlours.

The trays of balls are everywhere. All I can think is that someone tripping on one would create a chain reaction as the balls trip everyone else. It wouldn't make the environment that much more chaotic though. Jacky Chan has probably done this in a movie.

Gambling for cash is kind of illegal in Japan. I believe that Pachinko is technically not gambling because there is no money to be won. There is a loophole which goes something like this:

1. Buy some little silver balls. 1 yen / ball in the cheap rooms and 4 yen / ball in the High Rollers (hehehe) room
2. Pour the balls into a kind of vertical pinball game
3. The balls stream out over lots of nails and bounce around
4. Attempt to adjust the speed of the balls so they enter little winning holes. I think this is the only control you have, no flippers or anything
5. When you win you get more balls
6. When you are finished exchange balls for cigarettes, candy etc
7. There is a place around the corner that will buy cigarettes, candy etc

If you win and claim the beer that is winning twice!

The owner of our boxing gym is a big fan of Pachinko. He frequently appears on the local tv show dedicated to Pachinko.

Although he might just be a fan of girls in bikinis

Or winking. Winking is popular. Especially by girls in bikinis.

We have yet to actually play. The noise is astounding.

Probably Ewa is wondering what bikini she wants to get.