Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
180
Pachinko Parlors
Brightly lit and garish, pachinko parlors are packed with upright pinball-like
machines and—increasingly—slot machines, at which row upon row of Japa-
nese businessmen, housewives, and students sit intently immobile. Originating
in Nagoya in the 1920s,
pachinko
is a game in which ball bearings are flung into
a kind of vertical pinball machine, one after the other. Humans control the
strength with which the ball is released, but otherwise there's very little to do.
Some players even wedge a matchstick under the control and just watch the
machine with folded arms. Points are amassed according to which holes the
ball bearings fall into. If you're good at it, you win ball bearings back, which you
can subsequently trade in for food, watches, calculators, gadgets, and the like.
It's illegal to win money in Japan, but outside many pachinko parlors along
back alleyways, there are slots where you can trade in the watches, calculators,
and other prizes for cash. The slots are so small that the person handing over
the goods never sees the person who hands back money. Police, meanwhile,
look the other way.
Pachinko parlors compete in an ever-escalating war of themes, lights, and
noise. Step inside, and you'll wonder how anyone could possibly think; the
noise level of thousands of ball bearings clanking is awesome. Perhaps that's
the answer to its popularity: You can't think, making it a getaway pastime.
Some people seem to be addicted to the mesmerizing game, newspaper
articles talk of errant husbands who are hardly ever home, and psychologists
analyze its popularity (an estimated 13% of Japan's population plays the
game). At any rate, every hamlet seems to have a pachinko parlor, and major
cities, such as Tokyo, are inundated with them. You'll find them in nightlife
districts and clustered around train stations, but with their unmistakable
clanging and clanking, you'll hear them long before you notice their brightly
lit, gaudy facades.
7
The
Ohara School of Ikebana,
5-7-17 Minami Aoyama (
&
03/5774-5097;
www.
ohararyu.or.jp; station: Omotesando, exit B1, 3 min.), offers 2-hour instruction in Eng-
lish at 10am on Wednesday and 10am and 1:30pm on Thursday for ¥4,000. Reserva-
tions should be made at least one day in advance (no classes July 15-Sept 3). If you wish
to observe the class but not participate, you can do so for ¥800 (no reservations
required).
If you wish to see ikebana, ask at the
Tourist Information Office
whether there are
any special exhibitions. Department stores sometimes hold special ikebana exhibitions in
their galleries. Another place to look is
Yasukuni Shrine,
located on Yasukuni Dori
northwest of the Imperial Palace (closest station: Ichigaya or Kudanshita). Dedicated to
Japanese war dead, the shrine is also famous for ongoing ikebana exhibitions on its
grounds.
TEA CEREMONY
Brought to Japan from China more than 1,000 years ago, tea first
became popular among Buddhist priests as a means of staying awake during long hours
of meditation. Gradually, its use filtered down among the upper classes, and in the 16th
