Just in Tokyo: Page 50

Just in Tokyo by Justin Hall Page #50 This is a browsable copy of the original pdf hosted on Rikai.com If you enjoy this work, please consider donating to the author This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
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50 - Just In Tokyo

Pleasure

There are so many things to do in this crowded city; just leaving your
lodging and deciding to find a washcloth can be an urban adventure.
This section is largely concerned with modern pleasures; how the
Japanese entertain themselves today and how you might join them.

Games

The Japanese play a board strategy game called go (or igo). It's
over 4,000 years old, and they borrowed it from China. If you can
sensically manipulate these black and white stones on a grid etched
in wood, you'll find ample opportunities to play go, near food carts, in
public parks, cafes, and go parlors. It could be a great way to get to
meet some folks; the game transcends spoken language.

Pachinko

Any town in Japan with a population greater than seven has a giant
loud gaudy Pachinko Parlour. Festooned with neon and animated
characters beckoning, the automatic doors part and you are stand-
ing in the midst of a cacophony of clanging bells and falling metal
balls.
Chaotic, crass and common, a visit to a Pachinko parlour is manda-
tory. Pachinko should quickly disabuse you of any notion that the
Japanese are a bunch of zen, sophisticated, tea-drinking, rock-
garden raking, kimono-wearing aesthetes.

Pachinko is an analog arcade game, like vertical pinball. If Pinball is
a fight against death, working to prevent a very few balls from disap-
pearing at the bottom of the board, then Pachinko is a search for
balance in the midst of the voluminous stream of life.

The Pachinko machine is a board with nails on it. You grasp a
plastic knob on the right side, below the board, and as you turn the
knob, a steady stream of metal balls arc up from the bottom left over
the top of the Pachinko playing field to fall down between the nails.
You can't control the path of the falling balls, you can only make
adjustments to their starting speed. If you time it right, more of your
balls will fall down the center, towards an open chute. The more