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| Monday, August 11, 2003 |
Slinko in synagogue? You may not find slot machines or pinball games in any American synagogue, but if you're a Buddhist in Tokyo (and, if you are, why are you reading Jewsweek?), you may feel right at home. According to an article, last week "those who make a living from pachinko, a game resembling pinball that enjoys huge popularity, gathered at a Tokyo temple to express gratitude to the clattering machines that make it all possible. Garish pachinko parlors, ubiquitous in Japan, are for large parts of each day filled with devotees transfixed by electronic beeping and the rattle of small metal balls whirling through the upright machines." The wacky article goes on to say that "in Friday's solemn ceremony, Buddhist monks in purple robes chanted sutras in front of a candle-lit, brocade-draped altar adorned with a golden replica of a pachinko machine." God bless pachinko.
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