PACHINKO

PACHINKO

Jun 10, 2023 | WORLD

Pachinko パチンコ is the name of something that is perhaps less understandable to Westerners, but only because we have other manifestations of alienation and ludopathy.

Pachinko パチンコcould be synonymous with mockery.

Verbal Kint taught us that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist. And like that… he is gone. 

Even gambling in Japan “does not exist” because it is banned. And it disappears under the name “entertainment” definition by which Pachinko is classified.

Many of us have been through a Pachinko parlor running: along with Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in the movie Lost in Translation. 

 

Pachinko is a hybrid game, we could say it is the representation of contamination: halfway between a pinball machine and a slot machine.

The trick is precisely the balls that from the game become the very object of winning but cannot be exchanged for money.

By playing Pachinko you can only get prizes of various kinds: chocoloate bars, pens, lighters, candy, T-shirts, cosmetics, bicycles, shopping vouchers, up to so-called “special” prizes i.e. silver or gold objects enclosed in plastic bags.

These special prizes can be exchanged at points outside but nearby Pachinko Parlours: the TUC Shops = Tokyo Union Circulation. 

I found precise regulations regarding the installation of these phantom vertical pinball machines, but the risk of addiction?

These Pachinko Parlors are places where people are subjected to extremely high noise levels and bright lights.

The players appear to be sitting helpless, completely estranged, as if without identity in the flow of these slow, mechanical movements that cancel out time.

I am very struck by the slogan of a company that runs Pachinko Parlors:

Joy in life

We resolve to bring joy to the lives of our staff, our customers, and society as a whole through our business.

I do not see joy.

 

 

I found a survey from which it mainly shows that the Pachinko Parlour is a place to go alone.

A ball weighs 5.4 gr. a one-dollar box contains two thousand balls, so the weight corresponds to kg. 10.8!

 

I was thinking … with ten kg. of coffee how many cups can we get?  🙂  😉

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD

Sep 17, 2022 | BOOKS

Before the coffee gets cold is the first of Toshikazu Kawaguchi川口俊和 trilogy best sellers, we had already talked about it here. 

While reading it, I also found a nice description about the now famous siphon coffee! 

The author describes a depression coffee pot, however I don’t really like the word “depression” combined with the coffee pot, which instead represents a small happy moment.

In any case, the ritual is told like this:

Nagare poured hot water into a lower cruet, then brought it to a boil to allow it to rise through the siphon into the upper cruet, where he poured ground coffee, which was then filtered back into the lower cruet.

Coffee plays a very important role in the stories told in Before the coffee gets cold, stories touching deep inside.

If you had the chance to say something that you should have told or would have wanted to say, in a moment that has already fled away, however, what would it be?

I know, it’s getting very personal here, because these thoughts are generally dedicated to the affections.

Feel free to share whatever you want.

In the meantime, I would also propose a fantasy variant, somewhat keep calm style …

Such as pointing out to Michael Stipe that R.E.M.’s decision “to stop being a band” caused a loss for the music.

Or, still about Japan, asking Sofia Coppola if she foresaw how much Lost in Translation fans would not let the whispering “come between” them and the curiosity of discovering Bill Murray’s words in Scarlett Johansson‘s ear.

Or just thank Meryl Streep now and always for showing the world that true Beauty has no canons, and that producing King Kong should have presupposed knowledge of the important underlying message about who the real monsters are.

All this only ever before the coffee gets cold …

I must acknowledge the undoubtedly brilliant idea of the author, who among other things made an unusual choice for the context: in the book itself he tells us that

coffee arrived in Japan in the Edo period, towards the end of the 17th century. At first it did not satisfy Japanese taste buds, and it was certainly not considered a pleasant drink, but then again it was not surprising since it tasted like black, bitter water …

Fortunately, things have since changed 🙂

What about you, did you love coffee right away or did you experience an evolution?

IN GOOD COMPANY

IN GOOD COMPANY

Dec 5, 2020 | A COFFEE WITH, CHRONICLE, MOVIES, WOMEN, WORLD

It’s the title of one of Scarlett Johansson’s many movies, but I’d say it’s a great caption for this image too.

Natalie Portman is indeed a good company to share a coffee with.

With her Scarlett also shared the sisterhood on the set of the film in which they played Anna and Maria Bolena which unfortunately I have not yet seen. You?

On the other hand, I have seen many others, starting with The Horse Whisperer, although she had already worked in other films: in fact she started very young and her career was a varied crescendo of characters and genres in which she always ranged with success.

In recent days, however, I was struck by her image rigorously without superstructures, as if to underline even more the accuracy of the appeal for the release of four people detained in Egypt, among whom we know in particular the case of Patrick Zaki. 

Before being arrested during a visit to his family, Patrick Zaki attended the University of Bologna which in recent months has undertaken many initiatives in his favor, also by the rector himself who mentioned him in the opening address of the University.

But it is Scarlett’s words that hit the mark: “Speaking out loud has become dangerous today in Egypt” and for me they sound particularly terrible even in the light of what happened to Giulio Regeni.

After this message three people were released, but not Patrick Zaki, even if surprisingly, today there will be the hearing that after the renewal of the pre-trial detention was scheduled for January.

We therefore join the hopes that Zaki will soon find himself in good company.

And above all, we all continue to defend a fundamental and very important value: freedom of thought and speech.

I had already mentioned Evelyn Beatrice Hall: 

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

And since I recently talked about George Orwell I would also mention

If liberty means anything at all it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

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