Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Bycicles beside Pachinco Shop


Nicely arranged, they are mostly pachinco palyer's bycicle. The "T.U.C Shop" visible at the upper left side is where the players change the tokens they win at the shop to mony.
Japanese culture is full of grey zones, and many people benefit from them. Pachinco is one of the biggest grey zones in Japan. By Japanese laws, gambling is forbidden except for keiba (horse race), keirin (bycicle race), kyoutei (boat race). On the surface, Pachinco is not gambling. The winner can exchanges the metal balls or coins with all kinds of groceries or tokens only. But the publicly know trick is that palyers can change the tokens at T.U.C shops outside of Pachinco shops to money.
Tens of thousands of people spend their time in
pachinco shops almost daily. Many people spent their fortune at playing pachico, some ruined their family life, some even had their children killed, or are ignorant of children raising. Pachinco is a social illness. Many people are suffering from it. At the same time, it is a huge cash cow, regardless of how the economy is doing. There are alos complex relationship between the shop owner and other organizations, including rumoured organized crime organizations.

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