Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

What do you do when you have money to burn and are too xenophobic to take a nice vacation somewhere?

Pachinko.
It is the common salary workers choice vice as he toils through the day to make something of his meaningless tasks. Pachinko is the pit of despair into which you throw your money. It is full of flashing lights, pretty girls serving drinks, loud noises and excitement; but still falls way way short of all the Las Vegas style. Pachinko is part slot machine and part pinball machine of which the user has very little control of the machine. Simply they control the speed at which the little metal balls are rocketed through the machine. They then clang their way through a forest of nails down to the little hole at the bottom. Like in pinball there is plenty of chance to lose the ball. Unlike pinball you do not have devices that can rerocket the balls back up; they simply make it in the correct hole or they fall to disuse, not to be reused again...unless you have another dollar...

the prize window next to the currently closed pachinko

The few balls that get past the blockade of pins and into the correct hole slide down to activate a type of slot machine, where if you get a triplet you will earn yourself on screen animations and more balls or other surprises.
These balls can then either be put to use again, rocketing through the game, or be used to exchange for prizes. Since gambling is technically illegal in Japan, you cannot exchange the balls directly for cash prizes; however, it is no well kept secret that in affiliation with the establishment and often located near if not inside it, that a certain type of prize can be exchanged for cash. Of course you can keep the the prize if you so desire. Prizes can encompass any nature of items such as electronics, bikes, household goods, grocery purchases...as I said.

Modeled after a child's game, Pachinko took to the country in open establishments for 'not-gambling' just after the second war. Since then, the systems has been upgraded again and again making it appealing to younger generations while still keeping the flavor of childhoods past. Now, they use electronic systems that will often have a screen display in the middle as well as more lights and colors and perhaps one of the bigger draws, themes. Machines now have a certain theme that is often sponsored by a well liked show, game, anime. For instance as I was walking around Kyoto I noticed on had very large Monster Hunter posters advertising their Monster Hunter themed slots. Now since I have never really been inside, let alone played, at one of these establishments, I can't tell you what exactly happens. It is possible that short cinematics will be displayed on the screen in the essence of the Monster Hunter games as you activate certain mechanical triggers when you play, or it is also easily feasible that Monster Hunter is just the brand name of a machine that is painted and produced in its likeness and blessing. In addition to the Monster Hunter brand name, I also noticed others like Evangelion and Blood+ (I think I saw this), but these are not the only ones available. There are probably hundreds of different machines, and I am just too unfamiliar with all the pop culture to recognize them.

Pachinko places are often looked upon with disdain by many people outside of the gambling circuit. They are seen as people who prefer to waste their fortunes on luck without a proper respect for savings. However, many T.V. programs have started hailing the pachinko systems calling them a way to bring the family together, because in addition to the ball and slot machine combination, many parlors will have a kid friendly level where kids can play the usual arcade games without the added stress level. In a sad testimonial from an old couple, they claimed they had nothing to talk about anymore and that instead of sitting around in a bored silence, they would go the machines and spend the day there.
Pachinko has become for popular and renowned in the Japan-verse and they have even made hit movies involving it. The movie is called Kaiji. The first one had less to do about the machines themselves and was more a gamble of life and debt. But since the first ones popularity and box office hit, a second one was developed which revolved around the pachinko parlors and their elusive winnings.