Pachinko

The mysterious coin outside the salon apparently came from the Tsubame pachinko parlour. Politely returning the coin gave me a chance to infiltrate the establishment.

Pachinko parlours are so goddamn loud. Imagine a waterfall that isn't water, but instead of being water it's ball bearings and marbles, not water. That's the sound. The sound is everywhere, not coming just from the direction of the game machines like in an arcade. It's totally immersive, 3D sound. At the counter at the far end of the parlour there was a not unattractive girl looking half excited, half scared to be looking at me; a face to which I have become accustomed. I told her the coin was dropped outside and I'm giving it back, and she didn't hear a single word I said. I repeated variations of those facts and she didn't seem to hear any of it. I had to lean in close to her and scream, "This was dropped! Dropped! Dropped!" Eventually she said nodded, "Oh, it was dropped, thanks." 

Based on that interaction I assume that no one talks to Counter Girl when they buy their tokens. They simply indicate a desired amount and hand over money and walk off. No real communication is expected. Although that isn't really any different from the service you get in restaurants and porn shops, where everything is said with polite set phrases. Anything beyond the expected parameters of the interaction is met with confusion or repetition -  just like Siri, the robot. Not that I'm expecting waitresses to flirt with me all the time, especially not now that half the waitresses in town are my old students. I haven't seen any old students in porn shops, not in person.

It would be wrong of me to criticise pachinko as an activity considering the amount of time I've sunk into video games and stalking, also popular Japanese pastimes. It would also be wrong of me to criticise the people who frequent pachinko parlours. They may look dirty, lazy, and unsociable but I'm sure they don't play pachinko every day. They probably spend a lot of time at home too, sleeping and ignoring their unwanted kids.