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Gambling – A Religion14 August 2001Similar to pinball, the Japanese pachinko, is so seriously regarded, that last week a ceremony was held to bid farewell to old pachinko machines at the Sensoji temple in Tokyo. Organized by a leading machine maker, Heiwa Corp, in honor of approximately half a million machines that are put to rest each year, and especially in honor of the hundred billion-dollar pachinko industry. Buddhism’s respect for inanimate object extends to these machines too. Monks in robes, and shaved heads, walked quietly in front an altar arrayed with chalices holding flowers and an urn with burning incense. In place of a picture of the deceased on the altar was an image of a gold pachinko machine, symbolizing all the retired machines. A framed scroll along side it read, “For the spirits of the dead and everything related to Heiwa”. One of the monks knelt before the altar and led chanting from a prayer book. In the spirit of reincarnation, company officials explained that retired machines are stripped, with the utmost respect of course, of working parts for use in new ones, and the remainder is used for other industrial purposes, such as raw material for cement. |