Tokyo Governor Takes Aim at Pachinko

[JamesM]

In Ishihara's firing line: Japan’s weakness for pachinko, the gambling machine system that relies on endless supplies of small silver balls making their way into prize-winning holes. Popular with many a salaryman or housewife, Mr. Ishihara pointed out these machines also eat up about 4.5 million kilowatts of energy per year in brightly lit parlors across the land.

“There is no other country in the world that would use nearly 10 million kilowatts of energy for this kind of thing,” the gruff 78-year-old politician said. He suggested Japan rethink this kind of lifestyle and should consider imposing government regulations to control wasteful energy use.