The Politics of Pachinko

In the documentary Japanland we watched in class this week, there was a section about Japan's famous pachinko industry which stimulated my interest and made me want to learn more about it. In Japan, an interesting system is employed in order for pachinko to legally not be classified as gambling, despite the fact that by any measurable definition it really is (for an explanation, click here and scroll down to the 17th paragraph, which starts with "over the course of the day"). Like prostitution in Japan, it is one of those vice industries that on paper is illegal (although in very unclear and ambiguous terms) but is simultaneously not enforced whatsoever.

This got me thinking about pachinko. Anywhere you go in Japan, it seems like there are pachinko parlors everywhere - with their elaborate advertisements, strangely-worded English slogans, and flashy exteriors: they really do stick out like a sore thumb. Despite this, I have never really given much thought to pachinko in general. I remember when I went to Tokyo 4 years ago, going into a pachinko parlor, and thinking wow this is a really stupid game, why would anyone waste their time and money on this? It seemed like a game that one night some Japanese guy got drunk, decided he wanted to combine pinball and slot machines, and this was the unfortunate result. There is seemingly no skilled involved, it doesn't seem entertaining in the slightest, and on top of it the atmosphere of the pachinko parlor - blaring music, the racket of the little metal balls in every machine, and the incessant cigarette smoke which hangs in the air - is enough to give anyone a headache within 5 minutes. And yet, pachinko is a HUGE multi-billion dollar industry in Japan with approximately 30 millions players. That's nearly a quarter of Japan's entire population!!! What's the big deal?

To further investigate this, I decided to interview one of my Gaidai friends who is a pachinko regular, and to go to the pachinko parlor closest to the seminar houses - Himawari - in order to get a first-hand look for myself.

I asked my Gaidai friend, who asked to not be named, a variety of questions. First I asked why does he do it? What is it about it that draws him? His answers were pretty inline with the explanation given in the Japanland video: he does it because it is a stress reliever: it helps him to escape the real world around him and forgot about daily life's worries and troubles. Another reason he mentioned which I don't think the video touched upon is the thrill he experiences when he plays pachinko because of the fact that there is money at stake, something that can't be experienced from other recreational activies like playing video games or watching TV on the same level - "everyone likes to dream" he said (in reference to winning a lot of money from playing pachinko).

I asked him how often he plays pachinko, to which he responded it depends on whether or not he has money, but that recently it has been less and less because he doesn't work as much as he used to. He said now it is about 2-3 times a month, but that during his sophomore and junior years of college (he is now a senior) it was practically everyday. Something he didn't mention during the interview is the fact that he at one point borrowed around $800 from his friend to keep feeding his addiction (whom I know, which is why I know this), which I think clearly demonstrates that no matter what the form of gambling is - whether it's high wager bets or low wager bets (by the way pachinko is a very low wager form of gambling) - it can be extremely psychologically addicting, which can have innumerable negative consequences.

Next, I asked him about the legal aspects of pachinko. How is it that gambling is illegal in Japan, and yet exceptions are made for things like pachinko and law enforcement turns a blind eye? Why is it that as long as the money exchange center is outside of the actual pachinko building, it is legally considered to not be a gambling enterprise? He said that he has absolutely no idea - it is a complete mystery to him - and that he thinks that it's pointless that they have the exchange center be separate from the main building itself. I then asked if he thinks if it should be illegal or not considering that it is a form of gambling, and that gambling is illegal in Japan, to which he said definitely not. Lastly, I asked him if he thinks he'll continue to play pachinko as he gets older, to which he answered yes. I think this is pretty interesting, considering the fact that I don't think he has paid back his friend the $800 he owes him, who happened to actually be sitting there next to him during the entire duration of the interview...


The inside of Himawari, probably one of the most annoying places I have ever been in my life

The small exchange center outside of the main building. At first glance it looks like it is simply attached to the main building, but then I walked to the back where there was literally about an inch or two of space separating it from the main building. Talk about arbitrary laws...

Notice the flashy marble exterior. It's obvious that buildings like this have a lot of money put into them judging by their appearance, but then again the pachinko industry can afford to do things like this, as it makes an estimated $40 billion a year

Links:
- An extremely detailed and informative report on the pachinko industry in Japan, where most of the statistics I used in this post came from:
http://www.japansociety.org/pachinko_nation

- "Pachinko, Japan's National Pastime"
http://www.mangajin.com/mangajin/samplemj/pachinko/pachinko.htm