Random Japan #36 :: Japan's Real Favorite Pastime
Welcome all to the latest issue of your favorite random look at the land of the rising sun, Random Japan! Today we have two house shots, one of which may or may not be possessed, and a look at Japan's real favorite pastime (psst—it's not sumo or baseball). Let's get started!
I suppose a better look would be inside, but this is as close as I will go to these places. Inside is so loud as to make your ears ring like the loudest rock concert. I'd rather keep my hearing, thanks. What am I talking about? Those who are familiar with Japan can probably instantly tell by the ugly building. It's pachiko!
The landscape of Japan is unfortunately dotted with these ugly buildings, especially smaller towns which may be only farms and pachinko. Pachinko is a kind of vertical pinball, but unlike pinball there is little to no skill involved. Small metal palls launch up into the playing field and fall down, bouncing off pins into various gates. Depending on the gates the balls fall into, you win... more balls! At the end of the play session, these balls can be traded for various prizes. Prizes which can then often be sold for money if one knows where to sell them.
Yes, that makes it gambling. Pachinko may be the most popular form of gambling in the country today, maybe even the most popular recreational activity. Ask any blue collar worker in Japan what the are doing after work and the answer will almost certainly be pachinko. It's not as popular with white collar workers, but only because they never leave the office. When they do, however, many of them enjoy some pachinko action too. It's also surprisingly popular among housewives, similar to the image we may have of the middle-aged women sitting at a slot machine in Vegas with her tub of quarters.
This house looks just thrown together. Which it may have been. After the war, Japan was completely destroyed. No money, no resources, no anything. The government encouraged people to build homes with anything they could find, and rules were relaxed to allow this. The result is a lot of houses like this that look like they were thrown together without any design and by people who didn't really know what they were doing.
Flash from shack to lego house, the common modern prefab house. I think this one may be alive. Hmmm. Does anyone else see a face smoking a pipe?
And that's all for today. Tune in tomorrow for more Random Japan fun! See you then.
If you like this random photo from Japan, be sure to check out @kaliju's great Random Korea series. The latest entry there is Random Korea #17 - Air Cafe, Work Til You Drop and...Branching out!
Also be sure to follow @kafkanarchy84, @maxinpower, @boxcarblue, and @wllmdnnd for even more random Japan fun! Also, follow the #randomjapan tag for more from Japan, #randomasia for random shots from the entire area.
Are you a Japan-based or Asia-based photographer who posts somewhat random photos from the country? If so, use the tag #randomasia, and #randomjapan (or randomASIANCOUNTRYYOUAREIN) on your posts. Also, join our Discord group. DM me on Discord for a link to the server.
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Missed a past Random Japan? I've got you covered!
Index Post
Recent Posts
13. Abandoned and Overgrown
14. Ting Ting
15. Render Unto Caesar
16. Lotsa Bikes
17. Axis Chemicals
18. The Wide View
19. When Dinosaurs Rules the Earth
20. After the Fall
21. Crusin' Japan
22. Random House and Japanese Graveyards
23. Lion Dogs and Photo Booths
24. Rainy Day, Japanese Houses
25. The Heartfelt Life
26. O Weary Traveler
27. The Red and The Blue
28. Cars, Ugly Buildings, and Free Water
29. No Walking Without Hat
30. Kill it With Fire
31. Around the Neighborhood
32. The Thin Green Line
33. Time for Some Lovin'
34. Flowers, Walls, and Parks
35. The Dark Side of the Samurai
 | David LaSpina is an American photographer lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time. |
I like that strange building! I always like them.
I kind of like them too. Ugly, but visually interesting.
I don't find it ugly - it is morbidly fascinating you could say :D
I love to go through the smallest streets in every city, the backways, the half rotten backsides of houses at steep, 2m wide passages...
haha yes that's a good way to put it. There is a quaintness in them that is appealing. I recognize that they are often made with unsafe materials and are hazards, so I really can't get too sad when they are quickly torn down after the owner dies, but I do enjoy exploring them and photoing them while they last.