one big changed I’ve noticed about myself since coming to Japan… I’m completely, utterly addicted to my cell phone. I’ve always like my cellphones… and I would text message my friends frequently even when I was in Canada, mainly due to the fact that I had a super addictive blackberry.. but my addiction has never been this bad!

I partly blame it on the long commute I have everyday. It takes about a hour to get to my work and another hour to get back from my work… so total of 2 hours everyday, I spend on the train, doing nothing but surfing the internet and sending e-mails to my friends… it’s really unhealthy.

But it’s not just me. I mean.. if this was in Canada, someone would have said something to me by now, but the truth of the matter is.. everyone in Japan is the same! If you look around while you’re on the train, every one is playing with a DS, reading a book or using their cellphones!!

Maybe it’s the design of the cellphone, you know, the super big screen, maybe it’s how easy it is to type in Japanese (it remembers the words that you use most frequently) or maybe it’s all those websites that you can browse through specifically designed for cellphone usage…

I think Japan is the only country in the world that has a Pachinko shop around every corner of the city.

I wanted to talk about Pachinko today.. because there is a Pachinko shop literally 5 seconds away from my house and I pass by it almost everyday on my way to work. Sometimes, I pass by the shop early in the morning, before the store opens and believe it or not… there’s always a line of people outside of it waiting to get in…

I mean… what’s the hurry? Aren’t all the machines the same? Don’t they all show the same chances and you’re all playing on the same probability? Well… after I read through a specialized Pachinko magazine at a near by convenient store, I was informed otherwise.

Apparently, there are definite ways where you can profit from a Pachinko. As long as you are well informed, you play smart and you don’t have an addictive personality, it seems that the chance of you winning a game and going home few few extra yen is highly likely.

Well, I’ve been pretty bored lately… maybe It’s about time I took up a new hobby.

Jokes aside, I’m amazed by how many Pachinko shops there are in Japan! What’s more surprising is that for one thing, Japan doesn’t allow gambling. Well, Pachinko isn’t technically gambling because your winnings are handed to you in the form of a chip, and you must go to a booth, outside of the Pachinko shop to exchange those chips for money. Weird eh? Another thing is that I’ve noticed many pachinko shops are attached to game centers… I don’t get it! My impressions is that game centers are for kids, and Pachinko shops are well.. for adults… how could you put these 2 together?? and The last thing is.. at any given time of the day, morning, afternoon, night… I always see so many businessman in the Pachinko shop… this makes me wonder… what about your job and your famiily?

but who am I to judge…