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(1) Yuki Yamaguchi, Japan's Pachinko Industry Eyes a Big Gamble. www.businessweek.com/articles/20 ... nce-to-stem-decline
 
 Quote:
 
 “Although there is some skill involved in determining the amount of force to use when shooting the balls, pachinko is mostly a game of chance.
 
 “Japan prohibits gambling except for state-run options such as horse and boat racing. Pachinko has been allowed to operate in a legal gray area
 
 Note:
 (a) summary underneath the title in print: Japan's homegrown pastime considers casinos for growth
 (b) Yuki YAMAGUCHI  山口 祐輝 (“ki” is Chinese pronunciation for 輝)
 (c) pachinko: “1953, from Japanese, ‘pinball machine,’ also ‘slingshot, handgun,’ from pachin, of echoic origin, + diminutive suffix -ko”
 Online Etymology Dictionary, undated
 http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pachinko
 
 (d)
 (i) Tokyo’s Suginami district  杉並区
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suginami,_Tokyo
 (ii) nami 並 【なみ】 (n,n-suf[fix]): "(2) line; row of (eg houses)"
 
 (e) “Best known outside Japan for its discontinued video game consoles, the company gets almost half its $3.7 billion annual sales from pachinko machines.”
 
 Sega
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega
 (“derived its name from the first two letters of SErvice GAmes” a company name)
 (f) Konami
 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konami
 (The name "Konami" is a conjunction of the names Kagemasa KŌZUKIi 上月 景正 [founder], Yoshinobu NAKAMA 仲間 義信, and Tatsuo MIYASAKO  宮迫 達夫)
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