> Pachinko parlors and slot machines, the country’s largest form of gambling, raked in more than ¥23.3 trillion ($203 billion) in 2015 according to Bloomberg. That’s more than the combined earnings of Las Vegas, Singapore and Macau—or about 4% of Japan’s GDP.
A particularly advanced line of vending machines that recorded and recommended drinks to you even garnered unprecendented levels of love from its customers because they felt it was more relatable and comforting than an actual waiter.
Pachinko parlors being a space where it's just you and the machine in front of you (and all the noise around you) is thusly a positive factor rather than a negative one.
In general, Japanese just don't like dealing with humans if it can be helped. Interacting with machines is by far preferred.
Disclaimer: I'm a nisei (second generation) Japanese-American.
Kaitenzushi requires less staff, and is a viable business with clear financial advantages over a full waiter staff. It also happens to be popular every place that there is one, from China to South Africa to Canada.
One interesting thing is that as Japanese rural train services disappear due to becoming unaffordable when the countryside empties out, the bus services meant to replace them also have issues finding bus drivers.
I, for example, stopped getting my hair cut by a professional, because I discovered myself being anxious that the person understood my wishes about the hair cut style. Sometimes I prefer to cook instead of dining out. And so on.
I think the future will be machines where a large language model takes on orders of people. Japan already shows how that might look like.
Is this because of how their society has developed over the last 50 or so years, or has it always been a trait of Japanese society.
Because if the decay of human-human relations is itself a symptom of a bigger social problem from the recent past, then it might not be fair to consider it a trait of Japanese people generally.
Obviously the low birth rate and population drop means there are just straight up less people, especially in the countryside, but also obviously there's still enough people to make Tokyo among the most population-dense metropolitan centers in the world.
Japanese society itself strongly eschews individualism in favor of uniformity and conformity, and there are many social etiquettes and mannerisms that further complicate human interactions and relations. Depending on how social and expressive you are, it really can be tiring enough that you might want to avoid extraneous interactions.
Japan has also been fond of mechanical constructs since time immemorial. In ye olde days it was karakuri ningyous (mechanized puppets), and in more recent times it has been robots ranging from the cute (Doraemon) to the super (GaoGaiGar, et al.) to the fantastical (Evangelion, et al.) to the "real" (Gundam, et al.) to really advanced vending machines and companion robots (eg: Aibo). Japan simply doesn't share the west's fear of machines (read: Terminator, HAL, et al.).
In short, while the west holds human interactions and relations as absolute necessities for a proper society, in Japan they entail a lot of social baggage. A lot of Japanese happily prefer the warm glow of a vending machine to a cashier, as sad as that might sound to many here.
This to me is just an offensive and ignorant comment. Just goes to show you that this Orientalist trope still exists. 2nd gen removed you’re practically foreign.
Disclaimer: I’m not Japanese but I’ve been to an obon festival and an onsen, not pachinko parlors.
I suspect OP's parents might have been caught in the peak of this wave. It takes Japanese exceptionalism to illogical levels. Everyone caught a glimpse of this during COVID, when television presented a theory that the Japanese language didn't spread the virus.
I'm just pointing out that pachinko parlors can (and do) appeal to Japanese folks in ways that westerners might not appreciate.
I'm just pointing out that there is nothing Japanese about enjoying a high charged environment.
Most pachinko parlors by contrast hardly have any room. There are rows of pachinko machines with small stools in front, and there's barely room to walk around. It's just you and the machine in front of you, and all the noise; careful not to bother the guys sitting either side of you. I'd say they are very different from casinos outside of their gambling nature.
I also speak Japanese fluently as to be indicernible from native speakers and visit Japan on a nearly annual basis to see family and friends across the pond. I'm practically Japanese in everything but birthplace and nationality, Japanese folks just assume I'm one of them unless I mention to them otherwise.
You're quite welcome to disagree and engage in discourse, but I would appreciate more credibility and substance than "I'm a foreigner who's been to a festival and an onsen".
If you’ve ever seen the movie “Lost In Translation”, you might find a pachinko parlor scene or two in there. It’s the shallowest of all movies and won an Oscar and I came to realize this is how many people caricature and fantasize Japan. My reaction was the same as this reviewer: https://stanforddaily.com/2021/05/19/the-egregious-racism-ag...
I'm curious; are you also arguing that you are less credible than the parent poster?
My opinion, based on living in Japan and spending a lot of time around Japanese people, is the generalizations likely applies to a large portion of the population, but I have doubts whether it even applies to the majority.
Just seems like a preference that’s trivial to find across humanity.
Every country has this - a large part of the population that has never been abroad and holds certain beliefs that would crumble upon closer inspection.
But when you get the word "Japan" in the mix, the individual suddenly disappears, and everything is explained away by cultural or genetic differences.
I really like the Cambridge Companion to Modern Japanese Culture. It takes you through many of these distortions, and how they came to be.
https://www.statista.com/topics/7427/pachinko-in-japan/#topi...
Doesn't that mean they are losing 30%~ of their pre-tax income on this? Keep in mind that pachinko players often aren't that particularly wealthy, so more than 30% really.
Like everything else in Japan, though, pachinko is also slowly dying off as the population ages, and the long-planned/long-delayed opening of actual casinos will also cause a big hut.
Huh? Aren't old people the biggest audience for it?
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/1332999/gross-gaming-rev... [2] https://www.statista.com/topics/772/gdp/#topicOverview
I'd argue micropayment games should also fall into that grey area, same as the trading cards markets.
Of course many players (pachinko included) don't see it as gambling and more as a very expensive hobby, in that they effectively expect no return on the money.
US players gamble $511bn per year with unlicensed operators, report finds
https://igamingbusiness.com/legal-compliance/us-players-gamb...
there's also this
How widespread is gambling in the U.S.? Approximately 85% of U.S. adults have gambled at least once in their lives; 60% in the past year
BTW pachinko is officially not gambling, it shouldn't be compared with the money spent in Casinos. It is more like a lottery where the price is tokens, not money. Most play it as a hobby, just like many people spend a ton of money fishing without ever catching anything.