Hiroshima Cock's-Eye Mahjong News & Other Stuff

Friday September 3rd: Golf and a Resumption of Mahjong (Mechanical Tables Permitting...)

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 23:13:00 +0000

Now that September is here, the summer mahjong recess is officially over and was marked by a sweltering day of golf at Hiroshima Golf Club and an eventful evening of mahjong at Kodama mahjong parlour...

It's been several months since I last handled a golf club, except for a few ten minute bashes at the indoor place at the back of the Xebio sports shop at Shoko Centre. There are several advantages to practising there. For one thing, you don't have to take your clubs. Another advantage is that you are the only one inside the practice area. A further advantage is that one practice session only lasts a few minutes. You put 300 yen into a slot and blast your balls at a screen while a computerised thingummy works out the distance and direction that your ball supposedly went and you get to see a tracer-fire line arching gracefully down a fairway on the screen.

Anyway, apart from a few of those sessions, it has been several months since I last picked up one of MY golf clubs (er, or the ones Jaime gave me when he got a new set)... but I had agreed to play golf with Jaime at the Hiroshima Golf Club on Friday. So Thursday saw me back at Xebio getting in a bit of practice blasting balls at the screen. I tried out a fairway wood and was so impressed with the results that I promptly bought a second-hand one for just under 10,000 yen; a no. 3, 40 cm, 22 degrees loft. Perfect for getting a duffer's ball up the fairway, and for cutting down on the number of clubs in the bag.

My bag now consists of just seven clubs:

1 x driver: This produces amazing banana shots and is sometimes useful for getting balls from the tee to the green on par 3 holes - and over valleys (see below)...

1 x fairway wood: Drives nice and straight on the fairway, if only I could remember to aim for the flag... Also good for getting my ball out of flattish bunkers...

1 x no. 6 iron: A doubtful club that sometimes helps me out of the rough, and sometimes doesn't.

1 x no. 7, 8 & 9: My trusty irons for the shorter game, my relative strong point...

1 x P/S: A most necessary club for deep bunkers and other trying situations. I have discarded the pitching wedge and the sand wedge in favour of the combi. In golf, as in life, fewer is often wiser. Ask Tiger.

Hiroshima Golf Club is easy to get to. Just hop on the tram for two stops and catch a taxi up the hill. Our tee-off time was a civilized 10:15 and there was nobody behind us. Perfect!

Hiroshima Golf Club opened as a 9-hole course in 1952. Today it is a challenging 18-hole hill-top course with fine views of western Hiroshima and the sea and islands beyond.

Hiroshima Golf Club

It was a sweltering day, with temperatures well into the mid-30s centigrade. We survived on bottles of Aquarius Sparkling, "a low-calorie isotonic sports drink. It contains amino acid BCAA, citric acid and D-ribose, and uses a technology called ‘Bubble Smoother’ from Soda Kouryou to suppress the fizz."

None the less, a cleansing beer at the refreshment huts after the 5th and 14th holes, and a beer at lunch, were also necessary to keep the spirits up and the tension down... Lunch - a pretty good yakiniku beef set.

As for the golf, well, it had its ups and downs. The new fairway wood showed promise, but, as I say, it was a difficult course! Hopes of getting round without getting into double figures on any hold were dashed at the third, where my ball insisted on taking the difficult route along the right, through the trees and bunkers...

There were a couple of inspirational moments, one of which Jaime captured on video. The somewhat eccentric swing was fully justified by the result! A workman was lurking under the trees by the footbridge so I aimed at him rather than at the fairway and pulled off a fine banana-shot, causing the ball to land on the edge of the fairway.

Here's a photo of Jaime at the top of his swing:


Jaime using an iron on a par 3 hole.

That evening we met up at The Shack as Kemby's is currently being refurbished under new ownership. If what I hear is right, the music stage is to be removed and the kitchen extended, with a big window put in so that you can see the chefs in action.

Noda and Nobu were waiting for us when we arrived at Kodama. We were on the table in the far right corner - at least we were until the machine swallowed two of the tiles. There then followed a twenty minute session in which we tipped the table back and forth while Jaime worked with a screwdriver and a pair of large tweezers to locate and pull out the two tiles. We then switched table while Mama-san continued in her attempts to locate a phantom "third tile" with the help of Noda until he was called back to the game.

Ah, the game.

There was only one big loser tonight, and that, for a change, was Noda. He finished bottom in the first game, which Jaime won. Then in the second game he ended up owing Nobu 40,000 points. This was put down to the fact that Nobu had been "studying" and came to the parlour armed with TWO mahjong books (although it emerged that he had bought one of them only today).

Meanwhile, David plodded through the middle, conceding little (except a 5-bamboo to Noda on a single tile wait) and taking little, hoping to the last to come out ahead, especially as he was last Oya in the second game, but Jaime pipped him to the finish so he had to make do with -2.

Nobu's good form wobbled a bit in the second game when he committed two Riichi-chombo errors in a row by failing to see everything he was waiting for - including a discarded tile!

Tonights result certainly helped to "tighten up" the game to almost 1,000 points between Noda and Nobu. Jaime's winning streak continues and he is now in second place, and he managed to achieve tonights win in spite of getting distracted by news about the demise of David English House school and Facebook photos of its most beautiful former employee...

Nobu -6, +72* = +66
Jaime +31, +20 = +51
===

David +3, -5 = -2

Noda -28, -87 = -105

DH
Jaopanese Mahjong

Miyazaki: Mahjong, Barbeques, Beer & Basil Fawlty

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 23:09:00 +0000

We played just two games of mahjong during August, on two consecutive evenings at Neil's house in Miyazaki, Kyushu. The results were good for Jaime, okay for David, not so great for Neil or Ray.

In spite of the fact that the 3PMG Cock's-Eye Mahjong Club had never met so far south before, no photos of the historic mahjong event were taken. Just before the second evening's game we had a barbeque in Neil's garden, so a photo of that will have to suffice instead:

Ray, Jaime, a monkey, Neil in front of the bbq.

During the games Eileen-chan watched Flushed Away and also her current favourite t.v. series, Fawlty Towers and spent much of the holiday impersonating Basil Fawlty...

Basil Fawlty: Oh, its my fault is it? I thought it was your fault for falling asleep or Manuels fault for not waking you, and all the while it was my fault. Oh, its so obvious. Now I've seen the light! Well, I must be punished then, mustn't I? [Spanking himself] You're a naughty boy, Basil! [Hitting forehead] Don't do it again! [Chthonic cry of rage followed by panic attack]...

===

Basil Fawlty: Ah, Manuel. There is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: ¿Qué?
Basil Fawlty: There is too much butter on those trays.
Manuel: Ah, no senor. No "on those trays"... uno, dos, tres.

And then there's the scene from The Germans...

Basil Fawlty "entertains" his German guests.

And here's how the games went:

August 6th

Jaime: +50, -21 = +29
David: +10, -2 = +8
===

Ray: -8, -24 = -32

August 7th

Jaime +64
David +10
===

Ray -57

Neil -17

DH
Japanese Mahjong

Mahjong Recess For The Duration Of The World Cup

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Friday evening mahjong has been cancelled for the duration of the World Cup.

The last game of mahjong was played on Friday 4th June. Ray was in town and joined us for the game. He did well enough, despite a Chombo in the second game, gaining sixteen points and playing just enough games to get back his status as a "full time" player.

Noda signalled his intentions by finishing the first game as the only winner. Ray won the second game despite the Chombo.

The second game was the beginning of a disastrous performance by David who gave back all of the previous session's winnings, committed a foolish Riichi-Chombo by throwing away the tile he needed to complete his hand, and then ended up with a Yakitori on the table at the end of the game.

David staged a belated fourth game recovery that enabled him to just avoid a treble-digit loss for the evening.

Jaime steered a middle course between victory (Noda) and disaster (David), scoring a total of zero for the last two games and ending down on -23. So the only foreigner happy with the evening was Ray!

Noda +47, +2, +58, -1 = +106
Ray -14, +51,* -7, -14 = +16
===

Jaime -18, -5, +13, -13 = -23

David -15, -48, -64,* ** +28 = -99

* Chombo
** Yakitori

Japanese Mahjong

Friday 21st May: David Recovers Form

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 14:36:00 +0000

Bit of a late report this one. Noda, David and Nobu played three games of mahjong during an early sesson on Friday 21st May, from 7pm to 10pm.

In the first game Nobu appeared to be about to claim the 8-Bamboo from David (Oya, Tenpai) but David pointed at the 8-Bamboo in Nobu's discard row. A couple of tiles later Nobu went out on Noda's 1-Bamboo discard on what he thought was a legal Toitoi hand, but since one of his waits was illegal (8-Bamboo) and had been warned already about Chombo, he was unceremoniously penalized.

Noda staged a minor third game recovery to finish on -18, so his whopping lead is hardly threatened by David's +94 result.

Nobu, in the meantime, sank to a new low at the bottom of the ladder despite a great improvement in his game, his awareness (up to a point) and the pace at which he plays over the last month or so.

David +61, +42, -9 = +94
===
Noda -34, -4, +20 = -18
Nobu -27,* -38, -11 = -76

Japanese Mahjong

Friday 7th May: Nobu Pricks David's Revival With 2 x Kokushimusou

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:03:00 +0000

This evening at Kodama will be remembered for two things, namely:

1. That after two games Jaime found himself +75 ahead and scuttled off sheepishly muttering something about needing to get home before the puppy piddled on the carpet.

2. That Nobu clobbered David with Kokushimusou on not one but TWO occasions after Jaime's departure.

Nobu had been Tempai on Kokushimusou in the second game as well, and Noda was looking, rather obviously, for Kokushimusou in the fourth.

Nobu's first Kokushimusou victory came about when David was Oya and went Riichi. Nobu asked David to clarify whether or not he needed to go Riichi on his hand and when David had a look he was a ready Kokushi hand needing a 9-Bamboo to finish and said, "No, you don't need to go Riichi." Since three of 9-Bamboo were already out, David was not too concerned, but the very next tile he pulled from the wall and had to discard was... the last remaining 9-Bamboo. So 32,000 points were promptly transferred from David's tray to Nobu's.

Nobu's first ever Kokushimusou.

Then, in the South round of the fourth and final game, Noda declared Riichi with a hand that was showing dollar strength. David and Nobu were playing out the hand, or so it seemed. David, who was Oya, ran out of safe tiles and put out a Dora tile (North tile in 3-Player MJ) in the hope of finding a safe tile on the back. (Actually, he probably should have simply discarded the North tile but was still hoping to get a ready hand as Oya.) He drew a Red Dragon from the back of the wall, and as both Noda and he had discarded one he chucked it. There was a sudden motion and cry from Nobu, who had been very quiet up until then...

"Ron!"

And the second Kokushimusou was revealed. So David handed over another 32,000 points to Nobu and had to give up any hopes of a revival of fortunes.

Noda took over the Oya and during a Ryanshi hand Nobu got a bit carried away and went out on a 1-Yaku open hand with South Wind his only Yaku and fell to a Chombo penalty.

In spite of all that, Nobu still came in bottom of the pile.

Jaime +40, +35, --, -- = +75
===

Noda -38, +11, -18, +27 = -18

David -3, -11, -14,* +9* = -19
Nobu +1, -35, +32, -36** = -31

* David gives Nobu Kokushimusou.
** Chombo

DH
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Tues 4th May: Green Day at Takanosu Golf Club

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Thu, 13 May 2010 12:39:00 +0000

Teeing Off At Takanosu

Our party of seven split up into two groups, with four Japanese players in the leading group, and Jaime, Nobu and David bringing up the rear as Nobu was a complete beginner and David an "improving learner"...

Nobu was distinctly nervous at the prospect of teeing-off whereas David was utterly calm. For a start, nobody was following too closely behind us at as we sallied forth to the first hole. Secondly, the prospect of not being the bottom player for the first time in his golfing career was a prospect that David rather relished...

The course at Takanosu consists of a lot of longish narrowish fairways that feature...

a lake that wraps round much of the 18th hole and invites you to lose a ball on the approach and another if you overshoot the green...

an impossibly huge gully that serves as a gigantic maw for weaker players' balls...

a craftily placed stream just right to receive the ball of anybody (such as myself) who needs two shots to get 200 yards from the tee.

a gaping bunker just in front of a par three green, complete with a steep bank on the green side...

Jaime and Noda were competing for a ¥1,000 prize. What Noda didn't know was that our group was playing the Mulligan rule...

Mrs W was playing with a youngish Japanese chap who had a penetrating drive but a poor finish, by all accounts.

Mrs T was competing with David and Nobu, but took advantage of the ladies tee to keep ahead of the losers.

David's practice session the day before paid off and he managed to avoid double figures right up until the 9th hole, despite stopping for a beer at the fifth. However, after a couple of beers over lunch David's performance underwent a dramatic transformation. His driving from the tee dramatically improved as he remembered to apply the "transfer weight over right leg to your heel on the upswing" trick and managed to drive two or three balls up to 200 yards in a straight line and also delivered a straight shot with the number 6 iron off the tee on a par 3 hole, landing just short of the green.

However, when it came to driving the golf buggy, David came to grief as he grappled with three golf clubs, the steering wheel and the accelerator which he kept glued to the floor as he took the buggy over a sharp rise and down a slope where the path curved to the left. David got tangled up with his golf clubs and crashed the buggy straight into the fence. Happily, the fence was made of old railway sleepers and did not give way. A quick application of reverse gear and all was put right again, more or less.

Work with the middle irons also faded somewhat until the 18th when David managed to loft the ball onto the green, but by then he had racked up three more double-figure holes and a total score of 141 and a "handicap" of 69!

Nobu struggled with the driver and sent numerous balls out of bounds just a few metres away. On several holes in the second 9, Nobu reached "10" on the fairway, but David couldn't extend his lead because he reached "10" on the green!

Nobu's final score was 163.

Golfer's Progress: Feeble and Ready-To-Halt bring up the rear.

Jaime came in in the low 90's, pipping Noda to the top spot.

It's well worth playing golf at Takanosu if only because the bath feels like heaven afterwards.

In the evening all but Jaime gathered at a Spanish restaurant in town called Barca to celebrate the day.

Japanese-Mahjong.com

Monday 4th May: Golf Practice Or How To Drive A Ball 100 Yards With Any Club...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Tue, 11 May 2010 03:40:00 +0000

Ah yes, golf.

Having avoided this subject for virtually a year, I found myself having to dust off Mr David Leadbetter's book "The Golf Swing" and haul my neglected clubs out of the attic in preparation for a round of golf at Takanosu Golf Club somewhere in the Japanese countryside north west of Hiroshima.

It all came about because I happen to "teach" Mrs W, the owner of the club, English. Or, more accurately, we play mahjong along with Mrs T at Mrs T's house while chatting in English - at least in a form of English that includes all the usual Japanese terminology for playing mahjong.

Mrs W is a keen golfer who has become hooked on mahjong. She and Mrs T sometimes join our games of 3-player mahjong on Friday evenings. Both Noda and Jaime are keen mahjong players who happen to be hooked on golf so it did not take long for everyone to agree that it would be a spiffing idea if we made up a party and played golf at Takanosu during Golden Week.

By coincidence, the best day for everybody was May 4th, aptly designated "Midori no hi" or "Green Day".

Now, as I say, I had not so much as touched a golf club for virtually a year. Not since I scored something like 158 on the easy 9 hole course on the Ota river in the northern outskirts of Hiroshima.

So, on Monday 3rd May I hauled David Leadbetter's book and four clubs up to the driving range at Mitaki to do a bit of practice... The four clubs were my driver, and the 6, 7 and 9 irons. Anything below 6 is a complete waste of time and effort as far as I'm concerned.

Just as I feared, I was stuck between a highly competent chap who was blasting his balls all the way up the driving range with his great swinging driver. He was behind me so he could see exactly what I was up to. In front of me was a young lady with a personal "trainer" many years her senior. He sat on a chair and observed in that expressionless way so beloved of the natives of these parts.

I delayed the moment of truth for as long as possible with the rituals of (1) getting clubs out of bag, (2) getting a drink from the drinks machine (3) getting a basket of 50 balls from the ball dispenser and (4) reading David Leadbetter with a great show of concentration...

Actually, reading DL's book did me a lot of good. I picked up a detail I'd missed before - that I ought to shift my weight on my right leg from the ball to the heel on the upswing...

Armed - or footed - with this new nugget of technical know-how, I picked up the most promising of my range of clubs, the trusty no. 9, the easiest iron in the bag and got stuck in.

After a few toppings and slicings I got back into the rhythm and managed to loft a few balls somewhere between 50-90 yards more or less straight ahead.

The next 50 balls were dedicated to the no. 7 iron. The next 50 balls to the no. 6. Both irons, when they made decent contact with the ball sent it around 100 yards up the driving range. Whenever I got tired and started topping the ball, I reduced the swing to a half swing and built up from there. I also found it convenient to blast a series of balls at top speed.

The final 50 balls were dedicated to my driver. By now the bloke behind me and the girl and her chum had disappeared. There was no one around to notice the ball that my driver sent rolling off the tee to end up four feed behind me. As for all the sliced shots, or the ones that set off in a straight line until they reached the 30 yard mark and then scooted off to the right in a sort of delayed slice, I don't suppose many people noticed.

Just as with the 6 and 7 irons, my driver, when it behaved itself, sent the ball approximately 100 yards up the driving range...

I now had a blister on my left index finger and a red weal on the palm of my hand. 200 balls satisfactorily blasted (or topped or sliced) off the tee. Time to go home and sleep off golf practice in preparation for Green Day at Takanosu...

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Friday 30th April: Chombo Wakes Up Noda...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:48:00 +0000

Ray and Jaime were taking on Noda tonight. It seems that all was going along fairly quietly until Noda discovered that he had accumulated too many tiles on his first Oya-ship of the third game and had therefore committed a Chombo.

That had the effect of waking him up. He went on to win that game, with Ray replying in the fourth leaving everything to play for in the fifth and final game.

However, Noda dominated the game to finish on +72, and +107 for the evening with the Anglo-Irish sharing the losses more or less evenly between them.

Noda +26, 0, +24,* -15, +72 = +107
===

Jaime -15, +17, -6, -26, -22 = -52
Ray -11, -17, -18, +41, -50 = -55

* Chombo

DH
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Friday 16th April: Mister Nobu Rising...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:31:00 +0000

The first time Jaime and I met Mr Hanada he was in the company of the former's trouble'n'strife, or rather more correctly, that esteemed lady was in the company of Mr Hanada since he, being her boss, might well be the owner of the company which employs her.

Be that as it may, the plain and simple fact of the matter is that the Lord and Master of that lady's work space was perfectly pie eyed, quite frankly fried to the tonsils and not in full control of his ambulatory facilities.

So it will be understood that it was through no lack of charity on our own part if we failed to take him entirely at his word when he declared (several times as I recall) that he would like to join us one Friday evening around one the mahjong tables at Kodama jansou.

A week or so later the word went around that Hanada-san really did intend to come along for a game of mahjong on Friday and so Noda, David, Jaime and Nobu were in attendance against his arrival.

I must admit that there was a degree of scepticism as to whether or not he would let his countenance shine forth among us, right up until Hanada-san breezed into the parlour without a totter to be discerned in his gait.

Hanada-san was just in time for the second game. After the usual preliminaries in which the conventions of the game were checked out and the new player apologized for his hopeless ineptitude, Hanada-san entered the lists and within about 60 seconds of play had taken Noda for a 12,000 point Ron to the delight of the foreign party!

The jubilation was not to last, however, as Noda turned out to be the only winner of the second game (+51) and after a flat zero in the third, retired for the evening.

It was during this game that David was Oya for less than a minute as Noda declared Double Riichi and went out on Ippatsu Tsumo.

One can only wonder what would've happened had Noda elected to play on, but what did happen was one of the most remarkable events in the whole history of the Hiroshima Cock's Eye 3-Player Mahjong Club and Noda had the devil's own luck not to get caught up in it.

The event to which we allude is this, videlicit, that Nobu started winning, and once he had started he just woudn't stop! Now that was an event which we had thought was beyond the event horizon and as such it pretty much disproves everything we've been told about general relativity.

The first person to succumb to the rise of the Nobu was poor old Hanada-san, who had been sinking gently to the mezzanine floor up to that point was swiftly deposited in the coal cellar thereafter. It was Nobu's achieving his first ever Ryanshi as Oya that did it. Hanada-san declared Riichi forgetting that it was Ryanshi, confessed his error and thereby committed his first Chombo of his hitherto brief career at our tables.

Mr Hanada's tray is as empty as the rest of the mahjong parlour...

It may have been David who triggered the change in fortune. David was Oya when Nobu declared Riichi and was able to discard a couple of safe tiles but would need to get rid of the 6-Bamboo Dora if the hand took the fast route to Tempai. With 3s and 9s pretty much out in the open he had already decided to take the risk if the hand developed. It did, and so he did - and lost the bet!

Nobu took over as Oya and went on to rack up +102 in a single game, and then pulled in a further +34 in the final game of the evening, turning a -50 deficit into a +86 victory.

Mr Nobu rising out of the event horizon....

Mister Nobu rising
Nobu rising
Got the Nobu rising
Mister Nobu rising
Got to keep on rising...

Yes, Nobu must keep on rising if he is to excite the discomfiture of a certain lady just above him on the 3PMJ Grand Accumulated Results Table 2010.

The scores for the evening's play were as follows:

Nobu --, -34, -16, +102, +34 = +86
Noda -16, +51, 0, --, -- = +35
Jaime -4, --, +36, +5, -36 = +1
===
David +20, -8, --, -49, 0 = -37
Hanada --, -9, -20, -58,* +2 = -85

* Chombo

DH
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Going With The Flow At Jeff's Texas Hold'em Party...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 05:27:00 +0000

How many times do you have to come second at a game before you can win it? When it comes to mahjong, I'm quite happy with "second and in the black", but at Jeff's Texas Hold'em party there is only one winner unless the last two agree to split the pot. I never think of doing that when I'm one of the last two and until now I hadn't got my mitt on the loot...

There were only five players on Saturday evening and so the odds were not too bad, but the winnings were not so huge either... Joe was the first to go out, followed by Jeff's son, Kenta and then Jeff. Atsuko was hoping to fund her family's Sunday barbeque party but the luck was with me.

My game strategy was to build large towers of the colour of the moment and then let it flow away. Call it the wave strategy. It usually involves waving goodbye to your cash. But tonight the tide turned one more time and I escaped with the mula.

David with his winnings...

Thanks for the party, Jeff. I look forward to the next one!

DH
Japanese-Mahjong.com

The Wolf And The Lamb Shall Graze Together...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 04:41:00 +0000

On Friday 2nd April we were able to have two mahjong tables in action at Kodama mahjong parlour with seven people playing. Noda, David and Jaime were joined by Kenyon, who made his 2010 debut. Tonight was also Ladies Night, with Hatsue-san and Aimi-san in attendance. The seventh player was Nobu who beetled in just as play had started, but not to late to take the fourth seat at the Ladies' table where Noda was holding court and resisting all attempts to elicit from him a gentlemanly promise not to clean up at the ladies' expense...

David thought it might not be such a good thing to let a wolf play among the lambs, but as Jaime sagely noted, it was better to have the the wolf lying down with the lambs of another sheepfold than to have him graze together with us in our own...

Table 1: Noda, Hatsue, Aimi, Nobu
Table 2: David, Jaime, Kenyon

After a couple of games we drew lots once again for tables: The situation was that Noda had built up a commanding lead at the expense of the ladies.

Table 1: David, Kenyon, Nobu
Table 2: Noda, Jaime, Hatsue, Aimi

By the end of the evening Noda was approaching +200 points while Hatsue suffered two Yakitori games and was in minus triple figures. Aimi had also suffered severe losses but was able to recover some ground in the second game.

Meanwhile, Nobu, who had been holding his own, suffered at the hands of Kenyon, who finished the evening in the +90s. David also took advantage of Nobu's generosity and in one case Nobu obliged David with a 5-Character when he had deliberately opted for a tricky Kanchan wait (4_6) on a Oya Riichi with only two 5-Character tiles left in play....

Noda +75, +27, +6 = +108
Kenyon +24, +22, +20, +28 = +94
David -15, -3, +49, -12 = +19
Jaime -9, -19, +3, +37 = +12
===
Aimi -90, +62, -9 = -37
Nobu +12, -69,* -16 = -73
Hatsue +3, -92,** -34** = -123

* Chombo
** Yakitori

So, at the commencement of the second quarter of 2010 the Grand Accumulated Results Table looks like this:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
Noda	33	0	2	+465
David	38	1	2	+154
Kenyon	4	0	0	+94
Aimi	5	0	0	+26
Ray	4	0	0	-1
Neil	6	2	0	-9
Hide	10	0	0	-68
Jaime	28	0	1	-108
Hatsue	6	0	2	-205
Nobu	16	3	2	-348

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Noda's Zombie Mahjong - Hit By Yakitori & Chinrootoo But Still UnDead!

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Last Friday evening Noda played mahjong like a zombie. He failed to win a single hand in the first game and was stuck with his Yakitori on the table. In negative figures in the second game, and caught out by David's Chinrootoo Ron in the third, Noda just kept coming back. Jaime was devoured in the fourth game and Zombie Noda ended up on top of the pile.

Noda had begun to show signs of revival in the third game. Then David opened his hand to claim three sets of Terminals and was left with a pair of 9-Bamboo and a pair of White Dragons. He drew a fourth 1-Characters and made Kan.

Then Noda declared Riichi. David picked up and discarded a series of friendly safe tiles, and then picked up the 1-Coins and discarded one of the White Dragons. That proved to be safe as well. Next he drew a South and discarded the other White Dragon. Next he drew a second 1-Coin and threw the South even though it was Table Wind and none had been discarded before...

Silence from Noda...!

Then Noda drew and discarded the 1-Coins!

Ron!! As David was the Oya with 1 x 100 Tenbou on the table Noda had to cough up 49,000.

Noda gives David Chinrootoo & 49,000 points

In the hand that followed, David was somewhat deflated by one of his more foolish Chombo attacks. Noda declared Riichi again and threw a 2-Bamboo which David claimed only for Noda to instantly declare "Chombo!" - for there was a 2-Bamboo sat snugly in second place in David's discard row!

From that moment on the zombie could not be killed and the Chombo payout ultimately worked to consign David to second place...

Noda -23,* -8, -5, +72 = +36
David +20, -14, +26,** -13 = +19
===
Jaime +3, +22, -21, -59 = -55

* Yakitori
** Chombo

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

The Fiery Flying Dragon's Ode To The West Wind

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:41:00 +0000

Hiryu no Kane
There was an excellent programme about the temple bells of Japan on the BBC radio Heart and Soul series the other day. Part of the programme was about the biggest bronze temple bell in the world, Rengein Tanjyoji Temple’s Flying Dragon bell (Hiryu no Kane) on the south coast of Kyushu, the boom of which dominates the airwaves and can be heard up to 30 miles away on a fine day.

The greatness of that bell reminded me of another Great Booming Dominator, Noda the Flying Dragon Mahjong Tensai of Kodama Jansou in Hiroshima..

The great flying dragon has scored a total of over 200 points in the last two sessions.

Three weeks ago Hide and David got somewhat singed in the fiery heat of the dragon's breath...

26th Feb 2010

Noda +33, -27, -3, +30, -2, -32 = +53
===

Hide -46, +11, -20, -16, +17, +40 = -14

David +13, -38,* +23, -14, -15, -8 = -39

* Yakitori

Last Friday Noda and David were joined by Nobu and his duck.

Anyone For Dorian?
Noda had been entertaining some Malayan clients and had been presented with a processed dorian sausage which he had had Mama-san serve in a couple of dishes for Nobu and I to sample. Noda seemed to be hoping that one of us would be so enamoured of it that we would want to unburden him of the rest of the sausage but was disappointed.

Double Chombo
It was an interesting opening game. David was making all the running, but twice Nobu claimed "Ron" off David's discard and on both occasions was penalized for Chombo! In each case his hand was indeed Tempai but on an illegal wait. The second Chombo was due to his not spotting all his finishing options on a 3 tile wait, and the option he had not spotted was for a tile he had already discarded.

Harsh, but perfectly fair!

In the same game, David declared Riichi again and Nobu asked the beginner's question about Chiitoi - i.e. "can you have a double pair" - to which the answer is now, has always been and ever shall be "NO!"

That left Nobu in a bit of a pickle. David, having gone Riichi, had a peep at his hand and pulled a face. Nobu then threw one of the four identical tiles in his hand, a 3-Coins, and David declared "RON!"

After two games David was soaring on waxen wings and thought he might overreach the great flying dragon himself... He had survived giving up 16,000 points to Noda by promptly reclaiming them from him in the next hand...

Ode to the West Wind
The third game commenced with Noda moving from the North to the West seat. North had indeed been a bit chilly for Old Noda and the Great Bronze Bell was silent, but, as one of our lyrical poets put it in a poem so aptly titled that he must have been thinking about mahjong at the moment of inspiration,

When winter comes, can spring be far behind?

Noda's ode to the West Wind was full of fire and smoke, such that the Poor Little Cypriot's waxen wings did melt as Noda conspired his overthrow and served it up with a cindered Yakitori, the second in two weeks. Thank you very much.

Kokushimusou
In the final game of the evening was more evenly balanced until one hand towards the end of the session when Noda was conspicuously throwing out middle tiles. David risked a few early terminal discards and wondered as terminals gradually emerged from Noda's hand whether he had given up. Meanwhile, Nobu played on oblivious to everything except his own hand to which a South tile plucked from the wall made no contribution and out it went.

The Great Flying Dragon bell boomed out a resonant "RON!" and Noda and turned over his tiles to reveal Kokushimusou and claim 36,000 points off a shaken Nobu.

12th March 2010

Noda -6, -9, +86, +42 = +113
David +42, +19, -59,* +12 = +14
===
Nobu -36,** -10, -27, -54 = -127

* Yakitori
** Double Chombo

3PMJ League Table

Noda +321
David +116
Aimi +63
Ray -1
Neil -9
Jaime -65
Hide -68
Hatsue -82
Nobu -275

So is it all over bar the shouting already for the 3PMJ league in 2010, with both top and bottom places already decided and only the black and the red to play for for everybody else?

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Two Ladies Join The Lists

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 03:42:00 +0000

On Friday afternoons I play mahjong with two Japanese ladies, one of whom was a complete beginner a few months ago. Mahjong has replaced English conversation, except inasmuch as I offer advice and game analysis in English.

We play 4-player Riichi-style, but with elements of 3-player Mahjong thrown in. For example, the North tile is used as a "Dora" bonus tile, and we use the convenient scoring method of 3-player mahjong.

Last Friday, with Jaime back in Blighty whacking balls around St Andrews, and with Nobu's nose firmly attached to the grindstone, it didn't look as if Noda and I would be able to play mahjong that evening until I hit upon the idea of inviting the ladies, Hatsue-san and Aimi-san, to join us.

Happily, they agreed.

So, Aimi, Hatsue and I spent the afternoon on an intensive 3-Player MJ training session. Our party broke up around 5pm and we arranged to meet in town at 8pm.

It was a beautiful day, so I hopped off the train at Yokogawa and strolled along the river bank into town, negotiating my way across three branches of the delta until it brought me close to the entrance of Kemby's bar.

It was too early for a quick snifter so I headed past and went for a good old soak in the middle of town. There is nothing quite like relaxing in a hot spa in the middle of a city teeming with sweating multitudes. The closest anybody has come to it was that chap who took pleasure in observing from his casement window a storm-tossed barque toiling upon a stormy sea while he was sat warm and snug in front of a cosy fire in the upper room of a secure stone tower.

I recovered from the heat of the bath and sauna by ordering okonomiyaki and beer from a decent little teppanyaki restaurant called Hana-chan, located between Chuden-Mae and the river.

While I was there, Hide-san called up to ask if there was a game...

I arrived at Kodama Jansou via a quick snifter at Kemby's and told Mama there would be five of us. She said something or other and I popped out to meet Aimi and Hatsue.

When I returned with my charges, Noda had arrived, and so had a steaming dish of yaki-meshi and a cleansing beer to wash it down with. It seems that Mama had thought I'd ordered dinner as usual. Well, it would have been rude to have left it, so down the hatch it went while Noda, Hide and the ladies played the first two games.

Aimi-san is an experienced player of "standard" 4-player Riichi mahjong and I think she had a fine time of it at the table because whenever she needed a tile the wall seemed only too pleased to oblige.

Hatsue-san coped well but was especially impressed by the pace of the game and the speed with which hands were made during the third game when all three regular players were involved.

The funniest moment of the evening was when Hide-san was exchanging pleasant chat with Hatsue across the mahjong table about playing golf and it was quickly established that they both were familiar with a certain golf course in the area.

Hide: "Do you work there."

Hatsue: "I am the owner."

At this point Hide's eyes turned into saucers and there was a loud "CLANG" as his jaw dropped onto the table.

Hide represented himself as a "tada no sarariman" - just an ordinary employee - though I can't say that I've ever thought of him in those terms. However, I hear that his charm had a positive effect upon the evening.

There was quite a scrap in the third game with all three regular players looking for a big win. In the end David came top after winning a couple of "okake-riichi" competitions (as Oya) with Hide. Noda finished in a strong second place.

The ladies left after that game. Aimi-san finished on +63 and so enters the lists in third place. Hatsue-san finished on -82, sandwiched somewhere between Nobu and Jaime.

No sooner had the door shut than Hide claimed "Ron" off David's North Dora tile and revealed Kokushimusou (as a "ko" player, for 32,000 points). Funnily enough, David finished the fourth game on exactly -32,000 points and Hide was not able to build on the result even though he came top because David fought a rearguard action and Noda only shed 5 points.

However, the result was enough for Noda to extend his lead by a few points over David at the top of the table.

The final results of an entertaining evening were:

Noda -30, +36, +41, -5 = +42
Aimi +49, +14, --, -- = +63
David --, --, +63, -32 = +31
==
Hide -2, -34, -55, +37 = -54
Hatsue -17, -16, -49, --, = -82

David H
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Has Nobu Found His Bottom?

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:17:00 +0000

Two weeks ago Nobu achieved his first positive result for 2010 by finishing on +1 for the evening. The result was achieved by finishing "second-and-in-the-black" in the first and third games.

There was a moment in the opening game when the gap between Nobu and Jaime narrowed to fewer than fifty points as Jaime found himself in the middle of yet another "opening game disaster" complete with a Yakitori grilled and served on his plate at the end of the game.

Apart from Nobu's first game result, the first two games were a one-way street for David, who began to harbour hopes of knocking Noda off the top spot again.

Indeed, Noda did the honours in that regard in the third and final game of the evening, but the loot flowed Jaime's way as he made his customary "end of evening recovery" to get back from -81 to -25 for the evening and keep some space between himself and Nobu.

So, Noda stays on top (just)... but the question is, has Nobu found his bottom? If so, will he be able to get out of it?

David +54, +49, -12 = +91
Nobu +13, -22, +10 = +1
===
Jaime -64,* -17, +56 = -25

Noda -3, -10, -54 = -67

* Yakitori

David H.
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Neil's Birthday Mahjong Bash...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 02:08:00 +0000

Neil, a former Lang Education Center English language teacher who now works as a roving Japanese translator and resides in the nether regions of Kyushu, emerged from his self-imposed exile and returned to Hiroshima to celebrate his thirty-somethingth birthday with a night of mahjong at Kodama jansou.

L to R: Nobu, Neil, Jaime, Noda

Noda held on to the starting Oya of the first game long enough for David to finish his chow and take the fourth seat. Noda rampaged through the first game scattering all opposition.
Nobu joined us in time for the second game, which Noda also won while Neil seemed to be suffering from mahjong collywobbles and turned into a serial tile-snatcher and then forgot which tile he'd taken out of turn and was awarded a special birthday Chombo.

As well as bringing along his 2009 Mahjong Duck Nobu had got himself a natty plastic miniature year-of-the-tiger tiger in a "lucky" sake box which sat on display alongside the duck on the corner of the mj table for the duration of Nobu's game (see photo above). Nobu declared his determination not to end 2010 on the bottom...

So how did Nobu do?

Nobu finished the first game with his Yakitori tessera stuck firmly to the table.
Nobu finished the second game with his Yakitori tessera stuck firmly to the table.
Nobu broke the "lowest score" record for the year so far.

Meanwhile, Tim joined us and he and David (who sat out of the second game) chewed the fat about the virtues of the Amazon Kindle.

Noda won again and called it a night on +152 - the best result so far this year.

Seats were reallocated for the third game, and with all parties in the mire it seemed an appropriate moment to present Neil with his birthday present, supplied by Jaime. It was a Carp baseball team official's happi jacket, reputed to bring good luck to the wearer. Or was that what we told Neil to persuade him to try it on? Anyway, he popped it on and began to concentrate on getting lucky (see photo)...

Happi Birthday Neil!

The result was disconcerting at first as he pretty quickly managed to commit a second Chombo for the evening. He didn't carp and from that point on his luck was markedly happier, but just as the old text says that it is better to give than to receive,

beatius est magis dare, quam accipere...

and that the ox should not be muzzled as he tramples out the grain,

non alligabis os bovi trituranti...

so it proved tonight as Jaime grazed to his heart's content for much of the rest of the evening.

The chief victim was Nobu who bore up well for the most part, but was gutted to get trapped with a single tile wait - I mean he only had one tile left in his hand after ponning all the triples - only to see Jaime win another big hand at his expense!

Nobu grimaces at his unhappi luck.

David also completed his worst performance so far this year so Noda goes back on top, with David still in the black on +19 for the year so far. Neil came in on a creditable -9, while reduced his deficit and opened up a gap of 109 points between himself and bottom-placed Nobu.

Noda +99, +53, --, --, --, -- = +152
Jaime -34, -12, +63, +23, -16, +25 = +49
===
Neil -27, -12,* +31,* -5, +37, -33 = -9

David -38, --, -39, +1, -21, +8 = -89

Nobu --, -29,** -55,** -19, --, -- = -103

* Chombo
** Yakitori

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Jan 2010 - Noda Breaks 3 Yearly Records In Two Weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:16:00 +0000

A quick glance at our 3 player mahjong scoreboard for 2010 will show that Noda is registered as having achieved the highest score so far this year, the best result AND the worst result after just two evenings of play.

Higest score = Noda +124
Lowest score = Jaime -89
Best result = Noda +124
Worst result = Noda -96

Friday January 15th

The first game took place on January 15th amid the smog of cigar smoke as David and Jaime puffed away in celebration of David's birthday.

Those two had spent the previous couple of hours in Kemby's along with Noda, Ray, Tim (and his new Kindle), Don, Alex, Tim. The cigars had been procured from the upstairs bar, which really deserves to be better frequented as one of the few cigar bars in town. A worrying sign was that the number of cigars available was considerably fewer than the range of cigars on offer on the menu...

Don accompanied the mj players back to Kodama and was present at the brief prize-giving ceremony in which Noda was awarded a natty Saint Andrew's golf tin containing a divot tool and ball place markers and Nobu was awarded a chopstick rest in the form of a DUCK. (There are five more chopstick rest ducks available for award ceremonies for the years 2010-2014.)

David presents Nobu with the 2009 3PMJ DUCK!

The air was thick with chatter and smoke, so it is no surprise really that Noda started the year as strongly as he finished the previous one.

The amazing thing is that David managed to get into double figures on the beer front, go through two cigars and end up in his favoured position of "second and in the black".

Noda +33, +91, --, --, -- = +124
David --, -14, +36, -14, +3 = +11
===
Ray -2, --, +3, +21, -23 = -1
Nobu -24, 0, -22, --, -- = -46
Jaime -7, -76, -17, -7, +20 = -88

Friday January 22nd

The second evening of play was a much quieter affair as far as the peripheral activities are concerned and all the activity was focused on mj play.

Noda, David and Jaime got through six games in the evening. David ran away with the first game at Jaime's expense. Noda threatened to take over in the second but was contained.

We changed seats. Noda moved into the unoccupied seat to his left and David and Jaime switched places. David continued to do well, but the real focus of play shifted as Jaime recovered from the minus 90s and Noda languished and even got caught with his Yakitori on the table, the first of the year!

The score sheet was left at Kodama, but the final reckoning was as follows:

David +97
===
Jaime -1
Noda -96**

** Yakitori

David Hurley
Japanese Mahjong

Noda's Mahjong Parlour Putsch

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:37:00 +0000

Here is a belated history of the 2009 winter campaign at the Cock's-Eye Mahjong Club.

The last time I wrote anything here, Noda had got into second place while David was shedding points and defending gains and Hide was also threatening to take the crown.

Noda's year-end winning streak continued to the end and he was in first place by the close of play on 9th November, the 85th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, while David performed a belly flop under fire.

The following week, Noda's "march on Berlin" saw him break the highest score record for the year.

On St Nicholas' Eve Noda won again, but Santa Claus was kind to Jaime, who finally managed to finish an evening in positive territory and began something of a mini-revival.

Jaime's winter offensive rolled on, and over the lightly defended American sector commanded by Kenyon, who made a rare visit to the front on 10th December.

Would Sepp Dietrich really achieve a breakthrough and reach the sea before the end of the year?

On 14th December Noda's advance continued, while David suffered a treble disaster in a single game by committing TWO chombos and ending up skewered with a Yakitori on the table and began to wonder if he would finish the year in the black after all... It was the siege of Bastogne all over again!

"Surrender?"

"NUTS."

And the evening was salvaged with a last game revival.

David's two chombos were his first of the year, but not his last...

By now it was clear that Noda would be the winner. The questions remaining were, "Who will finish in second place?" and, "How far will Sepp Dietrich get before running out of fuel?".

The final game of the year was not played at Kodama, but at a new janso near Takanobashi, Hiroshima, which Hide recommended. The janso had previously been a love hotel.

David finished top in each of the first three games and began to fondly think of a year-end shock victory over the absent Noda when he threw away the West tile...

Hide cried "Ron" and revealed Tsuuiisoo (4 Winds). David had to pay out 64,000 for the hand... and his winter counter offensive came to a halt, although he had made up enough ground to finish the year in second on +303 points, enough to keep Hide at bay.

David gets caught by Hide's Tsuiisoo (4 Winds) hand.

Nobu joined us and broke the year's bottom record in a single game.

Sepp Dietrich's advance was hampered by lack of fuel and clear weather. His armour was blasted in a series of air strikes from Hide and David. Jaime abandoned his panzers and retreated on foot...

So the year ended as it always ends, with Noda on top.

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
Noda	80	2	0	+494
David	91	3	6	+303
Hide	50	0	0	+278
Koji	5	0	0	+143
Neil	3	0	0	+94
Ray	13	0	0	+77
Kenyon	21	0	0	+61
Kiyo	1	0	0	-39
Jezz	6	1	0	-44
Yasu	4	1	0	-152
Jaime	96	6	3	-469
Nobu	30	7	2	-746

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Tight At The Top...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:22:00 +0000

The situation remains very tight indeed at the top of this year's 3-Player Mahjong table.

Two weeks ago Hide enjoyed a big win in the final game of the session, largely at Noda's expense, which was a good enough result for him to come top for the evening, overtake Noda and get into second place on the Grand Accumulated Results Table for the year.

David finished the evening "second and in the black" which secured his position at the top of the table for the time being.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the table, Nobu tweaked the bottom record with -15, while Jaime continued to move closer to Nobu by finishing in the red again.

Results, 16th October 2009:

Hide --, -10, +122 = +112
David --, +30, +11 = +41
===
Nobu +9, --, -24 = -15
Jaime -42, -5, -- = -47
Noda +33, -15, -109 = -91

That result left the situation at the top of the table like this:

David +292
Hide +228
Noda +156

However, in last night's game, which was between David, Noda and Jaime, Noda came top in three games out of four and ended the evening on +98.

Jaime was chief sufferer in the first three games, starting off the night with a Yakitori on the table.

David held his own until the fourth game, and ended the evening as Jaime had started it with his Yakitori tile still stuck on the table.

Noda +29, +35, -5, +39 = +98
===
David +5, -8, +22, -48* = -29
Jaime -34,* -27,** -17, +9 = -69

* Yakitori
** Chombo

So now the situation at the top of the table looks like this:

David +263
Noda +254
Hide +228

Noda And David Swap At The Top

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Noda finally made it to the top spot, bringing David's five-month reign to an end in a session played at Kodama on Friday 3nd October. Actually, both Noda and David advanced in the course of the game, at the expense of Jaime whose progress up the table to second place was reversed in the middle of July.

Here's the score sheet for 2nd October:

Noda -6, +9, -17, +40, +61 = +87
David +46, -44,* +38, +14, -30 = +24
===
Jaime -40, +35, -21, -54, -31 = -111

* Yakitori

When those results were plugged into the "Grand Accumulated Results Table 2009" it looked like this:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
Noda	55	2	0	+211
David	64	0	4	+201
Koji	5	0	0	+143
Hide	32	0	0	+111
Kenyon	19	0	0	+105
Ray	10	0	0	+96
Neil	3	0	0	+94
Kiyo	1	0	0	-39
Jezz	6	1	0	-44
Yasu	4	1	0	-152
Jaime	61	2	1	-173
Nobu	18	3	2	-553

Play resumed at Kodama last night. This time Noda, David and Jaime were joined by Ray and Hide. David finished top at the end of the West round of the first game and sat out the second game for dinner.

Noda won the second game but crashed in the third when David returned to the table. Ray cut his early losses in half.

In the final game of the evening Hide made the early running as starting Oya with a series of fast wins, but his position eroded through the game and Noda came out strong at the end, but not quite strong enough as David managed to cling to top spot for the evening with enough points to reclaim top spot on the "Grand Accumulated Results Table 2009", something which has not been seen before as late in the year as this...

Jaime's descent continued, and produced a fine Chombo in the last game by not claiming Tsumo on the 6-Bamboo on a three-tile wait (6 & 9-Coins, 6-Bamboo).

The score sheet:

David +39, --, +47, -36 = +50
Noda -18, +51, -60, +63 = +36
Hide --, 0, 0, +5 = +5
===
Ray -21, -17, +19, -- = -19
Jaime --, -34, -6, -32* = -72

* Chombo

So the top of the table now looks like this:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
David	67	0	4	+251
Noda	59	2	0	+247
Hide	35	0	0	+116
Kenyon	19	0	0	+105
Ray	13	0	0	+77

It promises to be an exciting last quarter...

Catching Up A Little...

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:27:00 +0000

I have a little catching up to do.

As we left things, Yasu had departed the scene on -152/1 and David had broken the year's best game record and landed in the top spot. Meanwhile, Jaime was busy maintaining a steady upward march as well.

One more game was played in May, on Friday 22nd, and it served to confirm that May was a Golden Month for the foreign party, no doubt helped by the presence of Nobu:

David +25, -11, +40, +3, -7 = +50
Jaime --, +45, -12, -15,* +3 = +21
Hide 0, --, -12, -12, +49 = +25
===
Noda -5, -3, --, --, -- = -8
Nobu -20, -31,** -16, +24, -45 = -88

* Chombo
** Yakitori

June saw the fortunes of the foreigners split apart as David went on the defensive while Jaime continued to make progress.

The first game, on Friday 5th June, was recorded on the 3PMJ Results Table and since then the score sheet has gone AWOL.

Friday 12th June saw Noda return to form after a long quiet spell. According to the crumpled score sheets, this is how the game panned out:

Noda +3, +2, +58, +28, -- = +91
Jaime -24, +44, -63, -1, +74 = +30
===
David +46, -1, +22, -95, +7 = -21
Kiyo --, --, --, --, -39 = -39
Hide -25, -45, -17, +68, -42 = -61

According to some appended notes, at some stage during the game, David got hit with Daisangen by Jaime - and it was an OBVIOUS wait as Jaime had Haku and Hatsu open, but David was dozing and threw the Chun - ah, it is all coming back to me now!

Jaime then got hit for double Ron by Noda and David.

Noda left and was replaced at the table by Hide's younger brother, Kiyo, who started his Cock's Eye 3PMJ Club year midway through on -39/1.

Moving on to Friday 19th June, we find the longest session coinciding with the longest weekend.

However, the most notable event occurred in the opening hand of the evening, which was abandoned after just a couple of discards when Noda declared he had committed a Chombo by drawing too many tiles!

As is often the case with a marathon session, despite the ups and downs, very little had changed by the end of the night and the gap between the best and worst score was a mere 16 points, with only one winner for the evening!

Jaime -3, +102, -28, -36, -20, +16, -3, -17 = +11
===
Noda -17,* +8, -13, +19, +1, --, --, -- = -2
David -8, -82,** +35, -13, -12, -12, +61, +27 = -4
Hide +28, -28, +6, +30, +31, -4, -58, -10 = -5

* Chombo
** Yakitori

There was a break of several weeks before the Cock's Eye Club reconvened again, on Friday 17th July. David was the only foreigner, but the numbers were augmented by the substantial presence of Yasu, who paid his debt to society and sat in for three games this time, considerably improving his batting average from -152/1 to -179/4.

With defensive June behind him, David made a fine start, but then gave most of it away to Noda as their fortunes reversed through the course of the evening. Noda escaped a Yakitori in the final hand of the second game, but David could not get rid of his Yakitori tessera in the final game of the evening.

The chair David occupied for the first two games also proved lucky for Yasu in the third. When he vacated it, it remained empty and the game shifted in Noda's favour, although it must be admitted his recovery began in the third.

David managed to stay in the black, but only just. It was enough to put him back over +300 on the Grand Accumulated Results Table, but Noda is now in triple figures as well...

Noda -4, -30, +13, +38, +32 = +49
David +56, +61, -35, -42, -26** = +14
===
Hide -34, +15, -15, +4, -6 = -36
Yasu -18, -46, +37, --, -- = -27

So at present, the GART09 stands as follows:

Name	Played	Chombo	Yakitori	Score
David	57	0	3	+304
Jaime	47	2	0	+127
Kenyon	14	0	0	+125
Noda	48	2	0	+119
Ray	7	0	0	+83
Hide	32	0	0	0
Kiyo	1	0	0	-39
Jezz	6	1	0	-44
Yasu	4	1	0	-179
Nobu	12	3	2	-496

David Hurley
Japanese-Mahjong.com

Japanese Riichi Mahjong Tournament To Be Held In Britain, 22nd August 2009.

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:28:00 +0000

What is believed to be the first Japanese Riichi Mahjong Tournament ever to be staged in the UK will be taking place on August 22nd, 2009, at the Guildford Golf Club in Surrey, England.

The organisers, Ian Fraser and Peter Langford participated in the European Riichi Mahjong Championship in Hanover, 2008 and promptly decided that they shouldn't keep that much fun all to themselves.

Thus was born the grandly titled UK Invitational Tournament, hopefully to be followed in 2010 by the UK Open! The field looks set for the growth of Japanese mahjong in Britain...

For most of the participants this will be their first mahjong tournament. The early indications are that there will be at least 24 players including a handful of invited participants from mainland Europe.

The field so far is composed of both some relative newcomers to the game as well as some long standing players who have had their own social game running for well nigh 30 years, since one of the group returned from having spent a couple of years living in Tokyo.

If you want to find out more about the event contact Peter Langford or Ian Fraser, or visit www.mahjongnews.com for a quick rundown.

Was It The Carp That Caused The Crash?

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Mon, 11 May 2009 14:49:00 +0000

Jaime and Nobu came over to David's place for a quiet afternoon's mj last Tuesday, right in the middle of the Golden Week holidays.

The first game was a relatively quiet affair. Nobu went out on "Ron" on a 3-Coin, 6-Coin wait not noticing (a) that he was waiting for the 3-Coins and (b) that that tile was sitting in his discard row.

David finished the only winner of that game, on a modest +17.

The second game proved disastrous for Nobu though, perhaps because just before Mrs H took Miss H to the park, DH asked her to switch channel from the cartoon network that had absorbed Miss H for much of the afternoon, to the baseball, more particularly the game between the Hiroshima Carp and... and... well I forgot who it was. Nobu had been checking the progress of the game on his mobile phone from time to time, but I guess having the game live on t.v. must have distracted him from the mahjong game as he gave away 82,000 points to Jaime.

David also conceded a bit of ground, even more modest than the ground he gained in the first game, so the recent good form of the foreign Old Guard continues (for the time being)...

Jaime -5, +93 = +88
David +17, -11 = +6
===
Nobu -12,* -82 = -94

* Chombo

May Day Riot

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Bazzer was in toon...

A few weeks ago, when Bazzer was in toon, we happened to stumble upon Yasu in Mac bar; Yasu of whom neither hide nor hair has been seen for a couple of years or so, which is saying something I can tell you. I don't think the inscrutable presence at the end of the bar would have acknowledged us had not Jaime pointed out to me who it was, and I not gone over and slapped him about a bit until he promised to come back and play mahjong at Kodama...

Yasu made good on that promise on May Day evening and was sat taking his ease over a beer with Noda at the table in the far corner of the parlour when I arrived.

Noda had been drinking after his missus returned home too late for their date. I mean, Noda had been drinking more than usual and seemed to be having difficulty getting a grip.
Jaime was starting Oya in the first game, and by the time he had finished he was on a comfortable +53, with nobody else going anywhere, and Yasu and Noda had committed a Chombo apiece.

Then David went all over the meadow a-gathering with gusto while both Yasu and Noda went nuts giving up many a blossoming bough so that he could bring home the May.

The Four-of-Coins was a particularly ripe morsel that Yasu gave up twice in a row to David's one-tile waits. Noda got clobbered on David's Ryanshi Double-Riichi on the West tile when Noda threw the Hatsu which David needed to complete Chitoi...

Yasu began to get restless, and the inscrutable facade began to slip. Checking his watch (for the game did extend over the two hour mark as David racked up 13 tenbou as Oya...), Yasu seemed shocked to find that it was already past ten o'clock, appeared anxious to be elsewhere and was heard from time to time to express the opinion that mahjong was "taigi", as it can indeed seem to be at times...

By the end of the first game the situation stood thus:

David +217
Jaime +53
===
Noda -118
Yasu -152

Yasu bailed out, leaving only a few coins on the table... and David fondly supposing that he had popped out to fetch some cash.

So the Old Guard settled in for the rest of the evening, with the foreign parties quite expecting Noda to enjoy a mid-evening shochu-revival. Noda, however, had pushed the boat out a bit too far and the best he could manage was second-and-in-the-black in the third game, which Jaime won.

The games either side of that, however, went to David and by the end of the night the scores were:

David +217, +36, -22, +54 = +285
Jaime +53, +1, +20, -26 = +48
===
Yasu -152,* --, --, -- = -152
Noda -118,* -37, +2, -28 = -181

* = Chombo

The result saw David catapult up to the top of the table, breaking this year's best score and top score records. Jaime also continues to head upwards, with Japanese players sinking...

Eliot On Lilacs And The Burial Of The Dead & Nobu's Game Of Mahjong.

noreply@blogger.com (hirohurl) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:35:00 +0000

It was old T. S. Eliot who opined that April was the cruellest month. Something to do with innocent lilacs and the burial of the dead...

... which reminds me, last Friday Nobu-san appeared on the scene, lilac like, like a harbinger of spring and joined Noda and I for his first game of mahjong of this still rather chilly year.

April is indeed the cruellest month. Here we are nearly at Golden Week in Japan and tonight it was brass monkey weather, cold enough to blast a few innocent lilacs in the flower, I shouldn't wonder.

Anyway, here is the way the game went. It was a game of extremes. David won the first game in triple figures, with Nobu conceding the majority of the points and going out on a Chombo hand at one stage.

Then the flow of the game began to move Noda's way, but David finished in the black and received a further boost from Nobu's Yakitori.

David changed seat in the third game, which was a pity for him as he proceeded to give half of his winnings to Noda who was in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Still, since Nobu committed his second Chombo during this game and finished it owing David 12,000 and Noda 30,000, David didn't feel he ought to complain too much.

It was only twenty minutes to midnight so a fourth game was offered, but Nobu seemed somewhat dismayed by his blasting in the bud and elected to call it a night.

Noda -18, +40, +150 = +172
David +103, +9, -58 = +54
===
Nobu -85,* -49,** -92,* = -226

* Chombo
** Yakitori

So, in a single swipe, we have a new top player (if one can seriously call Noda "new" in any sense of the word) and a new bottom player, and a new top record and a new bottom record, and a new best result and a new worst result, and to cap it all, a new worst ever form record of -226/3.

Yes, April can be a cruel month for the lilacs.

David H
Japanese-Mahjong.com