Takodori's Entrance to Shogi World

New package of Shogi sold through Daiso Shops

On June 29, new shogi photos were uploaded to Shogi Images Gallery on Boardgamegeek. Here are some links to them.

Daiso New Package of Shogi
Daiso New Package of Shogi(Extended size)

As you see in the photos, English words such as "Shogi Chessmen", "Japanese Chessboard Paper and Explanatory Sheet are included" are printed on the new package in addition to the display of country of origin like "Made in China". Fuｒthermore, French, Korean, Arabic, and Chinese words of "Shogi Pieces" are printed there.

I contacted the person who uploaded these photoes there. He replied that he bought it in a Daiso shop in Singapore and there was an English set of rules for Shogi inside.

Currently, there are 21 counties/regions where Daiso shops exist such as USA, Canada, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, HongKong, Macao, Thailand, Indonacia,  New Caledonia,  U.A.E,  Kuwait,  Qatar,  Bahrain,  Oman, Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, Romania, Mauritius, Vietnam, and Malaysia. I think those stores are selling shogi pieces judging from the new package refered here. For more information such as shop address etc.., please click the link just above and or the following Daiso pages in various languages;

Daiso(In English)
Daiso(In Chinese)
Daiso(In French)

As you see in the History page of Daiso, it started to open its shops in various countries outside Japan from 2001. It seems Daiso will contine to expand its network worldwide for a while.

A report about Shotest Shogi 3D

An English teacher in Korea purchased Shotest Shogi 3D for Windows PC and wrote reports in Boardgamegeek Shogi Forum. If you are interested, please click the below;

I read about the PC version in the shogi email list and made an impulse purchase last night.

Two articles to read today

I would like to recommend you to read two articles linked below;

Review of an Ancient Game, a must for Chess players | Shogi | BoardGameGeek

This is a review about shogi written by an author who has background of chess. One thing I have to point out is shogi is not an Ancient Game but a classic game. The current rules of using the 9X9 board, the 40 pieces and reusability of captured pieces were established in the sixteenth century at latest. They may have been firmed earlier, but it's not confirmed.

Shogi Strategy: Forks « The Level 8 Buddhist

This is to illustrate how to make a fork move in shogi using nice diagrams. Yes, comparing with chess, shogi gives you much more opportunities to make a fork move due to reusability of captured pieces.

Link to an article titled A strong rival brings out strength of character

This is a link to the article written after Habu beat Moriuchi in last Meijin tournament in International Herald Tribune/The Asahi Shimbun. The author is unknown but it seems an ama player.

A strong rival brings out strength of character

A blog mentioning to its author's purchase of a shogi set from an eBay shop

I found a blog enty written by an Irishman who lives and works in Brussels, Belgium in which he mentioned to his shogi set purchase from an eBay shop. Please visit the link below if you are further interested in the story.

Life in a Low Country: Shogi – Japanese Chess

DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE published a meeting between Yokusaru Shibata and Ryuo Watanabe

Here is the link. Shibata Yokusaru is the writer of 81 diver. Watanabe is very fond of the manga. Yomiuri is the sponsor of Ryuo-sen. That's why this meeting is realized.

A meeting of shogi minds 'Hachiwan Diver' manga artist plays against a master : DY Weekend : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

A report with 6 pictures about Honma(6 dan)'s visit to Madrid, Spain

I found the report in the website of Japanese embassy in Spain. More than 40 people gathered in the instant classroom there.

El Sr. Hiroshi Honma, maestro y jugador profesional de shogi (ajedrez japonés), ofreció una clase magistral en la Embajada del Japón

This is the translation of the page liked above from Spanish into English using Google language tool.

Translation into English using Google language tool

 

A link to the report written by a participant of AISEP(Asian Intercultural Shogi Exchange Program)

This is the link to the report.

Ryou Takehito Site Journal - Back in Malaysia! (End of AISEP or Beijing)

My friend in Australia showed shogi in Japan Festival in Melbourne

Every year, Japan Festival is held in Melbourne, Australia. This year's event was held on May 18. My shogi friend in Australia was invited by the organizer to host a shogi table although he is an Australian and many Japanese visitors were expected to come there. I got a note from him as below;

    I was recently invited to host a Shogi table at the Japanese festival in Melbourne , Australia.
    The allocation for me was two chairs and one table , placed in a room between the Origami and Go section.
    The event was scheduled to open at 10:00 am , however as soon as I set my board up at 9:30, I found myself instructing a teenage girl on how to defeat her brother! (she almost did)
    This was the beginning of over seven hours playing and instructing Shogi for me! I played approximately 20 games , my opponents varied from old men , right down to young children. I even played a beautiful Japanese lady dressed in Kimono.The playing strength varied from perhaps 1 or 2 kyu , down to 15 kyu. (I am only around 12 kyu)
    My games were a mixture of even , or, 1 or 2 piece handicaps. All the games were close battles with at times between 15 -20 spectators. Player demand was exceeding my supply of space and sets , after a couple of hours the Go section kindly gave me the use one of their tables .This allowed to use my other two sets and to play two simultaneous games , plus rotatate around the 4 boards offering advice, or instruction when needed. I really enjoyed this even though I lost six games straight!
    The majority of the people that I played were of coarse Japanese , however I'm pleased to say that I introduced the game to quite a few people from different countries.
    To sum up, it was a great day , there would have been at least 50 games played by about 20 people , everyone involved seem to really enjoy themselves. To my knowledge , this is the first time Shogi has been played at this type of event in Melbourne.
    Many thanks to the Melbourne Japanese Federation

I'm sure he had a great time.

I think there have been many events like this Japan Festival worldwide. But many of those events were not recognized well by local shogi fans in many towns in various countries since the organizers did not often have a capability to open a website or weblog for notification of the events in the past. But the situation is gradually changing. As you see above, the organizer of Japan Festival in Melbourne has opened its website so that you can recognize the event a little easier. I hope every Japan Festival to be hold various towns in various regions will be notified in a similar way so that you can recognize ones to be hold your town.

There seem some members of Singapore Japanese Culture Club play shogi

According to the blog entry written by a member of Singapore Japanese Culture Club below, the club has a club room and some member seem to be able to play shogi there.

Lemon juice + Vanilla Soft serve ice-cream = TASTY!!!!: Been busy with... work and fun.