Japanese Gambling in its Sociocultural Context

Session Submission Type: Organized Panel Proposal Application

Abstract

Japan has a deeply rooted culture of risk-taking and gambling that sits uneasily alongside the parsimony of mainstream cultural norms. Gambling is proscribed under article 23 of the Penal Code, which stipulates up to three years with hard labor for any “habitual gambler,” yet the government has ignored its own moralistic stance by legalizing gambling on horse races, bicycle races, powerboat races and motorcycle races, along with the national lottery (Takarakuji), scratch cards and football pools. It has also turned a blind eye to the 20 trillion yen business of pachinko and slot machines. A 2014 government study suggested there could be as many as 5.36 million people with a gambling problem in Japan, representing 4.8% of the adult population – an extremely high proportion by global standards. Yet this massive phenomenon remains under-researched. This panel takes a close look at Japanese gambling in its sociocultural context. Gill studies people who gamble on powerboat races and their style of betting; Manzenreiter investigates the fate and face of gamblers at bicycle races; while Roth looks at motorbike racing and dangerous driving. Finally, Boas considers the role of mah-jongg gambling in corporate Japanese culture. Gambling (like smoking) has only recently started to be seen as a potentially disturbing and socially unhealthy activity. The first Japanese branch of Gamblers Anonymous was founded only as recently as 1989. Officially denounced, yet widely condoned and sponsored by the same state that calls it illegal, gambling offers an insight into the complexities of contemporary Japanese morality.

Area of Study

• Northeast Asia

Session Organizer

• Tom Gill, Meiji Gakuin University

Chair

• Tom Gill, Meiji Gakuin University

Individual Presentations

• An Ethnography of Fate and Face: Field Notes from the Velodrome - Wolfram Manzenreiter, University of Vienna

• Gambling at the Track, and on the Roads - Joshua Hotaka Roth, Mount Holyoke College

• Outsiders Betting on Outsiders: The Allure of Japanese Powerboat Racing - Tom Gill, Meiji Gakuin University

• Mahjong and Social Connections in Post-War Japan - Benjamin Boas, Keio University

Discussant

• Akiko Yorifuji, Fukuoka Jo Gakuin University