The K Experience

Pachinko, a bunch of Japanese people sticking their balls into a machine, in the hope of a big win...

No, it's not one of those crazy Japanese television games, where the contestants are ridiculed for the entertainment of others. The balls in question are actually metal balls, the size of ball bearings (yea I know they come in different sizes, but not too big and not too small). Now picture a pinball machine where you put the balls in, but you are not allowed to manipulate how the ball falls, so no pushing buttons to flick an arm or anything, just let lady luck do her thing.

Well, I shouldn't pretend that I know what the game is all about, cos to be honest I kinda have no idea, but this is one of Japans favourite past times. The above picture was my very first run in with the phenomenon, when I stumbled into this place during the JET orientation days in Tokyo. I quickly took the picture and darted out, as the zombie complexion on their faces quite scared me. To be honest, if I had stayed there for a while and taken more pictures, I doubt any of them would have noticed.

It just so happened that Toyama, the prefecture that I was to live in for the year, had the highest concentration of pachinko parlors and was therefore known as the Pachinko capital of the country, therefore was the Pachinko capital of the WORLD!!! Lucky me. Dispite this fact, I somehow managed to get through the year without entereing another pachinko parlor, and therefore never experienced the sheer thrill of putting as many as 250 ball bearing into a machine at any one time, with the hope of winning a random prize. I actually have no idea what the prizes were, so if anyone reading this knows or has even won a pachinko prize, I would love to hear from you. What was it like? Were you able to contain your excitement for extended periods of time? Did you have to plan, strategise or something to that nature? I would love to know. No really I would.

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