by Pat Rial
"Lord I was born a gamblin' man." Okay, so it's not an exact quote from the Allman Brothers song, but you get the point. Gambling is a national passion in Japan, and I am here to elucidate your mind on a few of the more interesting forms.
Pachinko. For those of us with the ability to see, pachinko parlors have been a glaring, blinking, smoke-filled source of wonderment ever since we arrived here in Japan. I realize that a lot of people have an aversion towards these types of games of chance - indeed a pachinko parlor is a thoroughly disgusting place - but I do urge you to indulge your 1000-yen bill at least once. It is actually pretty fun.
First you park your gambling addicted caboose in front of a machine. Insert your 1000-yen bill into the feeder slot above you. For the most part, 1000 is the minimum to play. Next, a whole lot of balls will feed into your tray, which you must then release into the lower tray where they will automatically feed into the machine.
The way pachinko works is that these little ball bearings are shot out of the side and plink and plonk down the machine, hitting the various pins and changing directions a number of times before they reach the bottom. If the ball falls into a special slot at the bottom it will start the video slot machine working, and depending on how well you do on the slot machine (usually you lose) you will receive new ball bearings.
A lot of people say that there is no skill involved in pachinko, but this is simply not true. You have a knob on the right-hand side of the machine that can be used to adjust the speed of the balls as they fly out, thereby determining where they will enter the machine. On every machine there is a "Sweet Spot" that will afford you the best chance of getting that slot machine rolling. You can just observe some of your fellow wastrels who have been there for the last 7 hours to determine where this spot is (the machines in any parlor should be virtually the same).
Once you have collected a whole heap of balls (or lost them) proceed to the gift shop where you can get the "Special Prize" and exchange this for cash outside. Somehow this circumvents Japanese prohibitions against gambling for money, but don't ask me how.
Pachinko parlors are often marked by a reproduction of the Statue of Liberty (don't ask me why). Just follow the nearest dirty old man and you will be led to one immediately.
Kyotei. My favorite form of gambling in Japan, Kyotei are high-speed motor boat races around an 800m track. The boats are tiny - just barely big enough to house the driver (or is it captain?) Six boats race in any given event. The boats race around the track three times, but for the most part, the boat that makes the first turn in the lead determines the winner.
Kyotei has a number of factors that make it an interesting form of gambling. The racers do not get to choose the boat they use or the engine. These are determined randomly, with some boats and engines being faster than others (and naturally some racers are better). Making a bet you must take into consideration all of these factors, as well as the numerous other auspices such as animal behavior, coin flipping, and naturally "one potato, two potato."
The betting system is based on either picking the winner or picking the trifecta; first, second, and third place. While at Kyotei you can enjoy your camaraderie with the other old guys, but I would recommend bringing your own food. When I went the menu was stewed cow heart and cow intestine. Unfortunately the oba-san working the stall gave me the "Japanese Food Challenge," forcing me to taste her culinary creation, after which I projectile vomited my own heart and intestines.
Reading the gambling sheets at Kyotei can be quite a challenge, so I recommend this website for information on the sport and instructions on betting (click on the American flag for English).
Keirin. Keirin is bicycle racing in velodrome (a banked track). These are real cyclists, not some wimpy motorcycle dudes. Keirin seems to be a lot more popular than Kyotei since it takes place at night and can be easily attended by the Japanese salaryman as well as the ubiquitous retirees.
The Keirin race is begun as all the racers line up from a dead stop at the starting line. The racers wear pastel colored uniforms with numbers painted across them. Although the cyclists change with each race, the uniforms and color scheme do not, so that with a little practice it is very easy to tell which racer is out in front at any point of the race.
The start is a slow start. Racers must stay behind a pace vehicle for the first 2.5 laps. It is during this period that they jockey for position in anticipation of the final sprint. A quote from the Keirin English guide: "When the remaining laps become fewer and the pace increases the speed gradually, heartbeat of the racers also quickens."
The sound of the bell signals that the last sprint has begun and the pace bike leaves the track. The cyclists are in an all out spring for the last 1.5 laps of the race, sometimes reaching speeds of 70 kph. The betting for Keirin is more complicated than Kyotei because there are a lot more options due to the increased number of riders. Anyone familiar with horse races will know that the amount of betting options is quite sizable. If you are truly interested in taking a stab at some of the betting procedures other than the winner and trifecta, I would recommend reading up on horse betting, as they are virutally the same here.
Keirin races are held from 3-8pm at the Kawasaki Velodrome. Take the bus at stand 17 from Kawasaki Station. For schedules in Japanese, click here.