Mahjong Life and Living

Day 1: Saturday, Aug 31, 2019 Tournament Day 1 (round robin) and Dinner Session The round robin portion of the tournament was covered in the first day: three before lunch and three after.  Each hanchan observed the time limit of one hour.  Games normally finished through S4 well before that.  This day covered a bulk of the weekend's events. With 40 players, the event used ten autotables: eight AMOS JP2, one AMOS JP EX, and one older unknown table. Before the tournament begins, the opening ceremony covered a general introduction of the pros and Saikouisen.  Then it was followed by a performances of Japanese calligraphy and a guitar solo to get everyone in the mood.  Naturally, as soon as that was over, the tournament begins. My first game featured Rachel, Kazuki, and Kyle.  I've faced Rachel before in the North American Open last year.  In a practice game, I edged out Kazuki by 100 points.  Then Kyle took on Hiro in the Tornado Alley...

Here is the translation to the Kizuna Project post (Japanese) provided by Kenji Baba of Riichi Mahjong Central. As for me, I shall look to make comments on this later, as I look it over.  In the meantime, feel free to look at this over yourself and develop your own opinions. Section 1: We’d like to share something that we were able to prove while running LAPOM, and that is “Nothing is impossible if we all come together”. It was generally thought that inviting Japanese pro mahjong players to events overseas and contacting them was a difficult thing to do.  I believe that LAPOM was able to prove that it isn’t difficult at all as we made this possible with in person events as well as online events. We also hear many voices in the community where people want more contents, and there is an on going project that we are working on, that will most likely surprise many of you. While the history of mahjong in Japan dates back to about 100 years, mahjong has been embedded in...

The following is original text posted by Masahiro Yaehata (a.k.a. Omasakun) from Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong (LAPOM). The text was posted on May 22 in the  Kizuna discord .  A translation post provided by Kenji Baba of Riichi Mahjong Central  is up.  For discussion, feel free to join. それでですね、今日は少し現実と理想の違いと今後みんなで考える上での共通認識を作るためのお話をしたいと思います。これは僕が英語で書いてしまうと誤解を産んでしますと困るので日本語で書かせて頂きます。誰か翻訳お願いしますね。 まず第一に、僕たちオーガナイザーの目標は麻雀をもっと世界で愛されるゲームにして行く事です。 その点はみんなと同じだと思うの事を念頭に置いて読んで頂きたい。 とはいえ、僕の日本語の書き方にも問題があるかもしれない事は予めご了承ください。出来るだけシンプルにがんばります。 Section 1:   １つ目　『みんなで力を合わせれば不可能のは無いと言う事』 今回の絆カップもそうですが、らぽんで証明してきた事を少し皆さんとシェアしたいと思います。 以前は日本の麻雀プロを海外に招待したり、プロが参加する海外の大会などもとても稀でまずは連絡を取る、実現させると言うことが大変だったと思います。この点に関してらぽんでは過去にフィジカルとオンライン共に実現し可能である事を証明したと思います。 また、多くのコンテンツが欲しいと言う声がありましたが、これも現在進行中のプロジェクトですが恐らくみんなが驚く事になると思います。 要するに日本では麻雀の歴史が１００年ありポップカルチャーとして、プロ団体（競技麻雀）、専門のメディア、漫画ｘアニメ、戦術本、雀荘、健康麻雀、麻雀の関連する商品、麻雀教室、麻雀のゲームなどなど様々な業種に形を作り文化として発展してきました。 これらの色んな情報はガラパゴスとなり日本独特の進化をしてきましたが、現在海外に...

The  2019 Los Angeles Saikouisen Pro Tournament was on Labor Day weekend (Aug 31-Sep 1).  For me, it was four days of automatic table play with LAPOM's tables.  With the event in the past, I can look back on this tournament, just like all the others.  As always, there had been some interesting moments.  Due to the recency of this tournament, I have this event split into five articles, counting this one. I initially had a general policy to not attend any mahjong tournament for 2019, unless it was a convenient road trip.  After a deep talk with family on my Vegas trip earlier this year, I could not justify my attendance, that involved flights.  It was a matter of expense.  I did check Chicago to Los Angeles flights and prices were reasonable.  So, attendance came to within reason.  In the end, I became compelled to go via Facebook private message.  Eventually, I became convinced to attend; so I did. With that said, this is my gen...

To think, the following year of 2020 will be the next World Riichi Championship in Vienna .  Unfortunately, I am already making the personal call to not attend due to cost.  Besides, the cost of the trip will be better well spent on a trip to Japan instead, as I've yet to ever go.  So, I'll have to apologize about this decision here.  Regardless, I hope for others to take up the opportunity to play at the World Riichi Championship as it was a great experience. With that said, I look back that the memories of the past in the 2017 World Riichi Championship : Overview Visit to Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong (LAPOM) Road trip to Las Vegas The Las Vegas shooting Tournament goals and expectations My own tournament results Specific plays Chatting with the pros Signature girl Extra one week stay The flight home For now, I merely leave a list; and if necessary, I may add more.  However, I plan to go over some of these items in separate entries.

This was an interview series conducted by the Los Angeles Pride of Mahjong (LAPOM) group.  The above is the fifth episode featuring me.  Right now, I cannot believe, that it was last year.  My odd perception of time made me think that it was longer than that. I suppose.  This is largely due to the development of the Northwestern University Riichi Mahjong (NURM) club, as mentioned in the interview.  The speed at which they picked up the game is phenomenal.  It has been a year now, and I am happy with the progress here. As for the rest of the series, the play list can be found here .