APAN CLUB

What APAN CLUB is and who runs it

APAN CLUB is a chain of pachinko parlors in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan. It is operated by Tsuzuki Co., Ltd. (株式会社 都筑), a company that runs multiple stores across the region¹.

Pachinko is a Japanese amusement game played on vertical pinball-style machines. You buy a tray of small steel balls, feed them into the machine, and try to land them in pockets that trigger more balls. The balls you win can be exchanged for prizes. It is not a casino game and there are no table games, no dealers and no chips.

The chain operates under several store names. The main APAN CLUB brand covers stores in Toyota City, Seto City and Chiryu City. A related brand, 僕のAPAN (Boku no APAN), covers stores in Minokamo City and Nisshin City. There is also a store called A-HOUSE PLUMPLACE¹.

The full store list published by the operator includes APAN CLUB Yamanote, APAN CLUB Togari, APAN CLUB Libre Owari Seto, APAN CLUB Ueno, APAN CLUB WCS, APAN CLUB High-Bridge, Boku no APAN Minokamo, APAN CLUB Libre Yuenkan, APAN CLUB Kobo Street, Boku no APAN Nisshin and A-HOUSE PLUMPLACE¹.

If you are looking for a casino with table games, APAN CLUB is not that. It is a pachinko parlor. For actual casinos in the region, you would need to look at other countries. Japan's first casino resort is planned for Osaka but is not open yet. You can read about when the Osaka casino resort will open for the current timeline.

Contacting the club: phone and inquiries

APAN CLUB publishes phone numbers for its stores on the operator's own pages. The two numbers available are:

These are Japanese-language phone lines. If you do not speak Japanese, you may find it difficult to get information by phone. The operator does not publish an English-language phone line or an email address for inquiries.

If you need help with a gambling problem, Japan has a public counseling service. The Public Sports Gambling Addiction Counseling Center offers phone counseling, a self-check tool and email counseling⁵. The Japan Sport Council also runs a helpline on 098-941-8192, which is a paid number for mobile phone and PHS users⁶.

For comparison, other racing and gaming operators in the region publish English-friendly contact details. The Perak Turf Club in Malaysia, for example, lists 605-254 8084⁷, and the Penang Turf Club lists +604-238 5100 and pntc@penangturfclub.com⁸. APAN CLUB does not publish equivalent English contact information.

Where the club is and how to get there

APAN CLUB stores are concentrated in Toyota City and the surrounding area of Aichi Prefecture. Here are the addresses published by the operator²:

The High-Bridge store is next to the AEON Takahashi store, which makes it easy to find if you are navigating by landmarks³.

The Yamanote store is at 5-78 Yamanote, Toyota City, and the Togari store is at 77 Toyokaricho Nishibuname, Toyota City². Most of the branches sit in Toyota City, with one in Seto City at 2-110 Nishihara and one in Chiryu City at 29-1 Shinbayashi-cho Hirakusa². The High-Bridge store is next to the AEON Takahashi store⁹.

The operator also runs stores in other cities. APAN CLUB Libre Owari Seto is in Seto City, APAN CLUB Kobo Street is in Chiryu City, Boku no APAN Minokamo is in Minokamo City, and Boku no APAN Nisshin is in Nisshin City¹.

Entry rules for visitors

Pachinko parlors in Japan are open to the general public. There is no membership requirement, no entry fee and no nationality restriction. You walk in, find a machine, and play.

APAN CLUB does not publish an ID requirement for entry. In practice, pachinko parlors in Japan do not ask for ID at the door. You do not need a Japanese address or a membership card.

If you want to join a lottery membership such as Club toto, the rules are different. Club toto membership requires age verification with a photo ID. Accepted documents include a driver's license, passport, residence card, special permanent resident certificate, photo student ID, My Number card (front only), pension handbook, photo Basic Resident Register card, or certificate of eligibility¹⁰. The minimum age for Club toto membership is 19¹⁰.

For casino gaming areas in Japan, the rules are stricter. Entry and exit from a casino gaming area requires identity confirmation with a My Number card or similar, to verify you are not a banned person¹². That applies to the casino resorts being developed under Japan's IR framework, not to pachinko parlors.

Japan's racecourses have their own entry rules. The Japan Racing Association's racing regulations allow entry to be refused to people without a ticket, people banned from racing involvement, organized crime members, people causing a nuisance with dress or conduct, and others likely to harm fairness or order¹³. That is specific to racecourses, not to pachinko parlors, but it gives you a sense of how Japanese gaming venues handle entry.

Games and play on offer

APAN CLUB is a pachinko parlor. The games are pachinko machines, not casino table games.

The Yamanote store has a wide lineup of machines, from the latest popular models to rare ones². The Ueno store is positioned as a low-cost specialty store, meaning it offers lower loan rates, so you get more balls for your money².

Pachinko works like this: you sit at a machine, buy a tray of balls, and feed them into the machine. The balls bounce through a field of pins. If they land in certain pockets, the machine pays out more balls. At the end, you exchange the balls you have left for prizes. The prizes are typically small items, and there are usually exchange points nearby where you can convert them.

There are no poker tables, no blackjack, no roulette and no sports betting at APAN CLUB. If you want poker, you would need to look at licensed poker rooms in other countries. The Philippines, for example, has a long list of licensed poker operators including:

• Gensan Poker Club
• Wild Aces Poker Sports Club
• Boss Poker Club
• Blue Sapphire Poker Club
• Kings Card Club
• Century Poker Sports Club
• Supreme Poker Club
• Voyager Poker Club
• 9D Poker Club
• Masters Poker Club
• Poker Brothers
• FAME Sports Inc. Poker Club
• Prime Poker Club Manila¹⁴

If you want sports betting, Japan has government-run options. The toto and BIG lottery systems let you bet on soccer and other sports through official channels¹⁵. Club toto membership is free, with no joining fee and no annual fee¹¹. You can buy tickets at lottery counters or online⁹.

Legal position of casino gaming in Japan

Casino gaming is illegal in Japan. The casino business is prohibited under the Penal Code, and is only exceptionally permitted as a privilege under the IR Development Law¹⁸.

Playing at an online casino from within Japan is a crime, even if the casino is legally operated overseas⁴. This applies to gambling from Japan on online casinos, including free versions and free bonuses¹⁹. The National Consumer Affairs Center has also warned that using online casinos from within Japan can constitute the crime of gambling²⁰.

The law applies to acts on the internet even though the Penal Code was enacted before the internet existed²¹.

In plain terms: if you are in Japan, do not play on offshore casino websites. Players have been prosecuted. The same applies to free-play versions and bonus points on those sites.

Pachinko is a separate category. It is regulated as an amusement business, not as casino gaming, and it is legal to play at a pachinko parlor like APAN CLUB.

Japan's first integrated resort casino is planned for Osaka. It is not open yet. The regulatory framework is in place, including rules on entry and exit from casino gaming areas¹² and self-exclusion limits on the number of entries per month at the visitor's own request²². But the resort itself is still under development.

What members and first-time visitors should know before going

If you have never been to a pachinko parlor, here is what to expect.

You walk in and find a machine. There is no host, no dealer and no table. You buy balls from a dispensing machine or a counter, sit down, and start feeding them into the pachinko machine. The machine has a handle on the right side that controls the force of the balls. You adjust it to find the sweet spot where balls enter the payout pockets.

The cost is per ball. You buy a tray, and when it runs out you buy another. The Ueno store is a low-cost specialty store, so the loan rate is lower there². If you want to stretch your budget, that is the store to visit.

You do not need to bring anything special. No membership card, no ID for entry, no reservation. Just cash for the balls.

If you win, you exchange your remaining balls for prizes at the counter. The prizes are small items. There are usually exchange points near the parlor where you can convert prizes, but the parlor itself does not pay out cash.

The stores are generally open long hours, as is typical for pachinko parlors in Japan. The operator does not publish specific opening hours on the pages available, so it is worth calling ahead if you are making a special trip. The Yamanote store is on 0565-29-0777² and the High-Bridge store is on 0565-87-0777³.

If you are driving, the Yamanote store has 450 parking spaces². The High-Bridge store is next to the AEON Takahashi store, so you can use that as a landmark³.

For visitors from outside Japan, the main thing to understand is that APAN CLUB is not a casino. It is a pachinko parlor. If you want casino table games, you need to go to a country where casinos are legal, such as Cambodia, Macau, the Philippines, Singapore or Vietnam. If you want to understand the full picture of what gambling is and is not allowed in Japan, see Can I Gamble in Japan? and Casinos in Japan: Who Can Go In.