A new walk around the neighborhood 05

They have changed the interface for this blog, so the layout may be a little strange until I learn to use the new functions. Much of it seems to be the same but I have not been able to understand all of the changes. Anyway, here goes and please excuse any strangeness.

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This is a pachinco parlor in Yaotome. I think the green is really ugly but it sure makes the building noticeable.  Pachinco is a kind of pin ball game. You buy a lot of small balls and put them into the machine. In the past the machines were spring loaded and you shot the balls one at a time, but not it is automatic and you use a knob to control how fast the ball come out. The main area is vertical and the balls bounce off pins and eventually drop into a hole. If the hole is on the surface, the player wins some new balls. If it is at the bottom, the machine keeps the ball. There are many fancy variation, for example, holes will open and close, so timing is important. This timing factor is what allows the game to be legal. It is against the law to gamble but pachinco is classified as a game of skill, which it actually is. After you finish, you can take you balls to a checkout counter and convert them into prizes, mostly food and goods. It is illegal to get money in return. However, near, but not legally connected to the pachinco parlor there is always as place where they will exchange the goods for cash.

 This strange little building is completely empty at the moment. It used to have a small company headquarters in it but the company has collapse because of the bad economy.

 

This billboard is advertising jobs for people with business experience. It does not say what kind of jobs and it looks to me like there is something shady about the whole thing. The reason I posted it here is the address of the website that contains further information. I wonder what an unreal-brain would be.

I took this picture along the river near my home. It is some kind of berry and they are a very pretty bright red. The leaves look greener in real life and the plant reminds me of Christmas.