Another Article by Martin Fackler
07/09/14 10:21
What do you think?
To Draw in New Crowds, an Industry Bets on Itself
Pachinko Parlors Court Japan’s Youth
By MARTIN FACKLERSEPT. 6, 2014
NAGOYA, Japan — Part pinball and part roulette, with the lure of quick cash winnings and little silver balls ricocheting off pins and bumpers, the Japanese game of pachinko once seemed a permanent feature of the nation’s postwar landscape, its arcade-style sounds and lights providing a blinking, cacophonous backdrop to life in Japan during the boom years.
In recent years, though, one pachinko hall after another has shut its doors as legions of loyal fans aged and passed away, the industry was tainted by mob ties and — perhaps the biggest turnoff for Japanese youth — the game acquired the musty scent of an artifact of their parents’ generation.
Now, like Japan itself, pachinko is attempting a comeback.
Full story is here, including pictures.
To Draw in New Crowds, an Industry Bets on Itself
Pachinko Parlors Court Japan’s Youth
By MARTIN FACKLERSEPT. 6, 2014
NAGOYA, Japan — Part pinball and part roulette, with the lure of quick cash winnings and little silver balls ricocheting off pins and bumpers, the Japanese game of pachinko once seemed a permanent feature of the nation’s postwar landscape, its arcade-style sounds and lights providing a blinking, cacophonous backdrop to life in Japan during the boom years.
In recent years, though, one pachinko hall after another has shut its doors as legions of loyal fans aged and passed away, the industry was tainted by mob ties and — perhaps the biggest turnoff for Japanese youth — the game acquired the musty scent of an artifact of their parents’ generation.
Now, like Japan itself, pachinko is attempting a comeback.
Full story is here, including pictures.