Pachinko

Pachinko, originally uploaded by AdrielH.

Pachinko is a pinball-like gambling game popular in Tokyo. You buy a bucket of little steel balls and play them through the game machines in smoke-filled parlors.
Usually, pachinko parlors are all lit up and busy, and you can find them all over the place. But today near the resort and heritage sites of Nikko, we found two large pachinko halls shut down and overgrown with weeds.
Japan's economy is suffering with the global downturn, and perhaps residents and vacationers are no longer enough to support gambling businesses.