Pachinko!

A couple of us went on the Friday night before our trip to Nagasaki to go play pachinko. Pachinko is a gambling game that is somewhat like pinball but also deals mostly with luck. There are pachinko parlors everywhere in Japan and they look exactly like casinos would in America. You sit in front of a machine and try to manover the balls that are being shot out of the side down the pegs and into the cup. Every ball you shoot is minus one but every ball you make in the small cup/slot is plus 2 or 3. The more balls you have at the end of the night, the more money you win. The only thing weird about pachinko is that gambling is illegal in Japan. People have worked out a system though to get around the rules. After winning the game, you turn in all the balls that you have won and get a card with the amount you have received. From there you can choose to get a prize that they have at the counter (things like purses, cameras etc.) or you can ask for money. One of the people in my program asked for money and told me about his experience. He said that they gave him a card with the amount of money he was to receive and they told him he needed to collect his winnings across the street. He was escorted out of the building and into a small shack directly across the street. In there was a man sitting at a desk who took his card and gave him money in return.
What they were doing was a completely different business that happen to accept the cards that the pachinko parlors had, in exchange for money. The "other businesses" are owned by Japanese gangsters called yakuza. It is a pretty interesting concept.
A few people and I went to go play the other night and realized that since everything is in Japanese- it's harder to play then we had expected but we still gave it a try. We didn't end up winning anything but it was a fun and interesting experience. I definitely plan on going back after I am more experienced and hopefully winning some money!!!