Reachmahjong.com

Hi all,

I was very interested to read Jamie´s first review of a Japanese mahjong book last week. (If you missed it, you can find it under the Reviews section above.)

I´m starting to learn a little Japanese so I would love to get one or two books about the game. I think I would enjoy the combination of being able to read the basic text (katakana and mahjong terms), practising my dictionary skills on translation and just looking at the pictures. :laugh:

I tried asking in the second-hand Japanese bookstore in Soho (London) a while back. My pronounciation of \"maajan\" wasn´t recognised (and neither was the accompanying mime!!) so I wrote the kanji and the lady in the shop knew what I meant and went to look but came back with nothing.

I´ve also looked on amazon.co.jp which has a ton of MJ books (including the one Jamie reviewed, plus many others with the same title) but I checked their shipping rates and it looks like they want 3400Y per order. That´s about 24 pounds or 38 USD! This seems a bit excessive. (the basic rate from Amazon USA to Europe is only 4 dollars per order)

So, long story short, are there any good (cheap or cheaper) sources for getting Japanese books shipped worldwide, specifically to the UK?

Bart

bk1.jp is my favourite place to get Japanese books. You can choose several levels of shipping and obviously the slow one is cheap, you just have to wait a little longer!

The only draw back is that the site is entirely in Japanese. But I don\'t think it\'s too complicated to get your way through. You can always ask me or anyone else here for some help if you get stuck!

Did you try Daja Mahjong? They\'re in the Netherlands, shipping from there shouldn\'t be nearly so horrendous.

Edit: I just looked, and they don\'t have any books in Japanese. So, never mind! Unless you want Kajimoto-san\'s Discard Quiz. In English

Hi Bart,

I used to feature a small range of Japanese mahjong rule books on my site, just ones I picked up in used book shops. It was a bit too fiddly to keep it up on a tight schedule, but I still have several books so I might start posting them again.

The books would cost around $5-$10 (usually the lower end of that range) and shipping and handling (including Paypal fees, etc) would cost around $15 for Express Mail Service delivery, or around half that for air freight.

Gemma - many thanks for your speedy reply. That site looks great and, after a quick inspection, they seem to have a comparable range to Amazon.

I have a Japanese friend at work who could help me with ordering. I think I´ll wait (impatiently) for a few more reviews/recommendations from JJ before I order.

(after all, impatient waits is what MJ is all about!)

Tom - I remember seeing that site (and book) a little while ago, thanks. I guess realistically there´s not much of a market in Europe for Mahjong books in Japanese...!

David - that sounds great; used/cheap books would be right up my street! I like picking up vintage (musty!) English ones from the 20´s, but would obviously want modern rules in this case.

I´d be interested in details of your current stock if you´d like to PM me through this site or email my username at hotmail.com

Arigato very much for your replies, folks. :)

Barticle wrote:I guess realistically there´s not much of a market in Europe for Mahjong books in Japanese...!

Actually, I was surprised at how few books that shop sells (they don\'t sell my book either, and English isn\'t as bad as Japanese in terms of how many Europeans know it).