Pachinko parlor politeness

I feel so very sorry for all those involved with pachinko, the customers addicted to gambaling, and most poorly paid employies.

Yeah, I find this a bit scary as well. Most gambling I've ever done was spending 1-2USD every once in a while to play the multi-state lottery if it was high enough.

Pachinko is actually portrayed as a game in Japan, so that addiction issues are ignored or downplayed and unless pachinko is recognized as a form of gambling, present changes in Japanese legislation will be of limited value in tackling addiction.

The noise! The second hand smoke! The crap pay! Why do they do it??

Pachinko is the game from the past. Every year, fewer and fewer people are playing and young people are simply not playing. The payouts are too small to take it seriously.

Pachinko is all part of the package that needs to die in Japan; Pachinko, sexism, smoking, crystal meth, old men creating the acceptable standards and not allowing the youth to dictate the social climate, etc etc. It is HORRIFIC.

Possibly the worst working environment!

is there a pachinko app?

Great shot. There must be a pachinko app. You can play pachinko on iPad is you buy a game called Samurai vs Zombie defence. Samurai killing zombies but also has pachinko side game.

These places make me angry.

I'm sure the quasi school girl uniforms are an important part of the polite pachinko experience.

The number of ethnocentric missionaries of Western culture on this site is truly mind boggling. Pachinko ain't your thing? Fine, stay away, but please stop telling the Japanese what you happen to think is best for them.

I feel so very sorry for all those involved with pachinko, the customers addicted to gambaling, and most poorly paid employies.

Me thinks you know little of the business to think that these folks are "poorly" paid. While the environment sucks big time, someone who is untrained or uneducated can make a fairly decent living working at a pachinko parlor, depending of course on it's location.

Down here in Okinawa the average starting pay for someone working at one of these halls is around 150,000 per month.

I feel more sorry for poorly educated people.

深谷？That is DEEP Saitama. Living there, plus working at a pachinko parlor? Tough luck.

The one in the photo is actually more depressing looking that most pachinko parlors, which at least have a bit of color. This looks like it is located in a generic high school cafeteria converted to hold pachinko machines.

Wouldn't it be darkened with garish colored spot lighting during operation? They don't have it bright and white just for the photo op?

I tried pachinko a few times. It's seriously boring. I don't know how they stay in business without Las Vegas style cocktail waitresses.

Wolfpack,

I don't know how they stay in business

Spend a couple of hours with your hand in the right place and you can earn a few thousand yen. Plus, there are people on this island nation that make quite a bit of money playing pachinko. I'm talking over 500,000 yen a month. That's how they stay in business.

I'm talking over 500,000 yen a month. That's how they stay in business.

Amazing! And the employees bow nicely as they head to the bank.

One of the biggest blights on Japanese society...

A great example of Japanese customer service, everything from fast food to 7/11 to now pachinko parlors. The world could learn quite a few things from the Japanese.

Japan tried several times in the past to export Japan's popular gamble "pachinko" to America and other countries in vain. Please tell me why the pachiko cannot attract Americans and others.

Yeah, well, at least they are polite about ripping you off!

Please tell me why the pachiko cannot attract Americans and others.

The answer is quite simple! Gambling is illegal in Japan. At many pachinko parlors there are signs warning foreigners not to go inside. I went into one for a look many years ago and was asked to leave. However, I think the main reason that most westerners are not into pachinko is common sense. Many Asian foreigners are just as addicted to it as the locals are.

A great example of Japanese customer service, everything from fast food to 7/11 to now pachinko parlors. The world could learn quite a few things from the Japanese.

Now to pachinko parlors? You have the order wrong, fast food and 7/11 came along well after pachinko, and the world could learn a thing or two about service from Japan, but they sure the heck would be better off not having pachinko that's for sure.

TAX ON PACHINKO.

That's all I wanna say.

The noise! The second hand smoke! The crap pay! Why do they do it??

and 20,000 lumens of retina scorching fluorescent tube lighting...... if I never enter a Pachinko parlour, it will be too soon

It's quite depressing to be passing a pachinko parlour around 8.50am and see guys already queueing up for the place to open.

The answer is quite simple! Gambling is illegal in Japan. At many pachinko parlors there are signs warning foreigners not to go inside.

Pachinko is not gambling. If it were the police would shut them down. I have never been told to leave a PP in the many long years I have been here, you must have smelled bad or had bad breath. I only go to PPs once or twice a year on my own and then just to remind myself how boring it is. I do get drug into visiting occasionally by a visiting relative, so it adds up to about 2-5 excursions per year. The only thing I ever win are some pens, gum or erasers, and I usually spend about 5 thousand yen. I don't have much use for these items so i sell them to a small stand that is located nearby. I do have a neighbor that leaves his house EVERY dad around 3 PM on his scooter, rain or shine and works a list of favorite PPs until about 11 PM. He said it pays the bills and beats working.

The only thing I ever win are some pens, gum or erasers, and I usually spend about 5 thousand yen.

Bwahaaaa....roflmao! EXACTLY, you trade the "balls" in for some trinkets and then "sell" them at some little booth around the corner and if you are lucky get your "invesment" plus @ back.

Every couple of months or so when I am bored and don't feel like doing the lawn work around the house I hit a pachinko parlor in the neighborhood and play "ichi-pachi" or 1 yen pachinko. Nothing wrong with it and like you said and with which I agree:

I have never been told to leave a PP in the many long years I have been here, you must have smelled bad or had bad breath

I've been playing on and off for well over 25 years and have NEVER been asked or told to leave. And where I play I am the ONLY foreigner that has ever walked into the place and played there. I've won, and I've lost, the thing is to keep both in perspective and never use more than you are willing to lose.

I go in with typically 10,000 yen, when it's gone so am I. If I break even, it's been a great day. If I lose, it's still been a great day.....if I win, I drink "better" beer that night.

Pachinko is not gambling... I do have a neighbor... said it pays the bills and beats working.

It's not gambling, but you can earn a living?

It's not gambling, but you can earn a living?

Technically, to Japanese law, it is not gambling. That is because there is no direct exchange of money for money.

It's a huge grey area, and in reality YES, it IS gambling, of which some forms are allowed in Japan, like horse racing, bike racing (human and motor-powered), and boat racing. Casino gambling is currently illegal but may very well soon be legalized.

Very few people, in terms of the numbers of people that actually DO play pachinko, can make a living off of it.

In all the years I've been here I have NEVER heard of anyone building a house by playing pachinko, but plenty who have lost theirs, and more, because of how much they lost.