Pachinko DNA as Business Code

"In the third month, Mitsunori readjusted the pinball machines so he made ¥50m and then he went back to losing another ¥50m in his fourth month. Mitsunori was prepared to lose everything to make a fortune. His son would be no different. Pachinko culture was embedded in his DNA."

"The level of his personal indebtedness was reckless, his financial targets insanely ambitious. After two weeks, he’d fallen well short. The gambler improvised, ordering his pachinko engineer to rearrange the pins so every customer won $100 to $200. After a month, he’d lost ¥50m ($350,000 on contemporary exchange rates), but Lions was the most popular gambling joint in town. ‘I was down to my last ¥50m,’ Mitsunori recalled. ‘I was prepared to go bankrupt and make a run for it.’[24](private://read/01jg9b8njt7zc5haz30afb9n29/#ch02_24)"

"Watching his father, the young Masa would have learnt several things: the terrifying fear of destitution, the outsider’s relentless struggle for survival, the bitter truth that no one will help you but yourself, as well as the endless corner-cutting, hustle and re-invention required of an entrepreneur operating on the margins of society. By contrast, his mother Tamako is a more distant figure, absent in the literal sense (she is said to have found Mitsunori’s misogyny difficult and sometimes left the family home to stay with relatives), but also in the emotional sense. Grandma Lee, ever present, always worrying about money, left an enduring impression."