Playing against all odds: pachinko and the culture of risk-taking in Japan’s crisis economy

Abstract

The Japanese gambling industry has been badly hit by two decades of economic crises. Shrinking household incomes and shifting consumer preferences have left their marks even on the pachinko business which formerly had been hailed as recession-resistant. This paper situates theory and practice of machine gambling in Japan at the beginning of the twenty-first century into the context of sociological debates on risk. Taking a closer look at recent developments in Japan’s giant gambling industry, it analyses the way in which regulators, providers and consumers have accommodated their behaviour to the changing socioeconomic environment of the risk society.