That's right. I live above GOTHAM FUCKING CITY! YEAH!
I wanted to mention this much earlier but I wanted to wait until I got a picture. I forgot I took this shortly after I got here before my camera stopped working, but I also really wanted a good night shot when the place was lit up like Vegas.
You may have guess already but Gotham city is a pachinko parlor, pachinko being an extremely popular gaming device that combines the loudness of pinball and playing requires the skill usually reserved for one-armed bandits. That's right, pachinko is all this and more too. And by more I mean less. I assume. I actually haven't played pachinko so maybe there's a subtle element that I'm missing but I don't really like any game that requires luck and luck alone. If I can't at least attempt to help the outcome in my favour than I can't see the appeal. Which is why I was really surprised that there seemed to be a whole manga magazine centered around pachinko. And not just comedies but also competition manga. How can that not get old really fast. Sigh.
Anyway, I have not actually entered Gotham City yet, so I don't know what it's like, but peering in I get an idea: pretty much like any pachinko parlor. Just rows and rows of machines. Still, I guess I should enter one to get the whole feel, but I don't think I'll like it. Still, I did see an interesting machine that was part video game and part VLT so maybe I'll soften up on the whole thing (not that I have hard feelings towards them at this point).
But the point is I live above Gotham City. I mean, think about this. I begin the last leg of my journey home with a heavy-ass bag still nervous about the whole affair. I did see a red fox in a white snowy field, which I took to be a good sign (though I'm not sure I should, since the fox is a trickster in Japanese mythology). Then I get to the place I'll be spending the next year and find that I'll be living above Gotham City. I mean, I was seriously unsure if I followed the map wrong or what. It was a truly surreal experience and a somewhat surreal country. I guess I should have broken out my copy of The Dark Knight Returns and read through it that night, but at that time I was looking for something a little more upbeat than that so I started rereading Bone.
Now make no mistake, this place has "seeing how Batman-ish we can make this place without getting in trouble" written all over it. There are flags with the Batsymbol minus the ears and pictures that feature Batman's silhouette with a pointed head (and when I can I'll get pictures of those for you too, and maybe some from inside, if they'll let me). This place is like the pachinko parlor equivalent of those action figures that you find at dollar stores that are clearly knock-offs of a much more successful character. But this is a lot more fun because it's in big lights and it's a lot less thrown together looking than a cheap toy.
Now there are a couple other things that I feel I'll just have to take pictures of and show you (just telling you would not have the same impact), but this was the one that meant the most, so I figured I may as well get this one out of the way. By the way, a warning: any sort of Gotham City joke will be old by the time I get back home so don't bother.
Now, I'm more of a Marvel zombie and am always quick to point out that while I love super-hero comics, that's not the extent of my taste. Still, this makes me feel a little giddy, just knowing that those bat wings are flashing in on this snowy winter's night.
1 comment:
When you say you're living above this place, you mean you have an appartment in that building?? That's gotta be really weird. Can you hear the machines all the time? Must drive you mad. Actually you've been there a few months now - have you started playing pachinko in there?
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