Pachinko

Pachinko Parlours are through out the city and through out Japan.  Pachinko is the equivalent of a games arcade and gambling pokie machine place combined.  In Fukuoka there is a whole street full of Pachinko Parlours.  As you walk in, you are surrounded by the noise and rows and rows of people playing what look like slot machines.  To play Pachinko you really don’t need to much skill...at least I didn’t!  It is a bit like a pin ball machine and you just hope everything lands in the right place.  Because gambling is illegal in Japan, you only win balls, that you can then change for tokens... but if you go next door you can swap the tokens for money or use them to buy prizes, so that way nothing is illegal.  I have just read online that the Japanese government estimates of the annual turnover of the pachinko industry is in the region of 29 trillion yen (try writing that number! Then see how many $NZ)  Pachinko makes twice as much money as the  Japanese automobile industry!

Pachinko Parlour:

Pachinko Machine: