(1) Yuki Yamaguchi, Japan's Pachinko Industry Eyes a Big Gamble.
www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... nce-to-stem-decline
Quote:
“Although there is some skill involved in determining the amount of force to use when shooting the balls, pachinko is mostly a game of chance.
“Japan prohibits gambling except for state-run options such as horse and boat racing. Pachinko has been allowed to operate in a legal gray area
Note:
(a) summary underneath the title in print: Japan's homegrown pastime considers casinos for growth
(b) Yuki YAMAGUCHI 山口 祐輝 (“ki” is Chinese pronunciation for 輝)
(c) pachinko: “1953, from Japanese, ‘pinball machine,’ also ‘slingshot, handgun,’ from pachin, of echoic origin, + diminutive suffix -ko”
Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pachinko
(d)
(i) Tokyo’s Suginami district 杉並区
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suginami,_Tokyo
(ii) nami 並 【なみ】 (n,n-suf[fix]): "(2) line; row of (eg houses)"
(e) “Best known outside Japan for its discontinued video game consoles, the company gets almost half its $3.7 billion annual sales from pachinko machines.”
Sega
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega
(“derived its name from the first two letters of SErvice GAmes” a company name)
(f) Konami
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami
(The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa KŌZUKIi 上月 景正 [founder], Yoshinobu NAKAMA 仲間 義信, and Tatsuo MIYASAKO 宮迫 達夫) |