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Just got back from three weeks in Japan.

Played for the first time in a Jansou (Machao in Shinjuku, Non-Smoking!). It was fantastic, definitely recommend it to anyone who gets the chance.

Freaked everyone out with a Suu Ankou tenpai on my first ever turn, but that was probably the high point!

Handling the table and the tiles took some getting used to, mostly because of the incredibly fast pace. Online my average time to make a move is about 2 seconds but I still found it fast, especially having to handle the tiles and look around at the table. Online you can see everything at once more easily.

One guy in particular was really kicking my ass, seemed like a real pro from the way he handled the tiles. He stared at me whenever I looked at the board and seemed able to shut me down pretty well. Definitely lowered my winning average for the trip.

Over two evenings playing at .5 gambling rate I almost broke even, down about 1500 yen ($15) by the end. Got the sense that the level was really high. Is it just me or non-smoking parlors attract good players who tend to be quite serious?

I visited a couple of other Jansous first (way too smoky to play) and the crowd seemed very different.

Next time I\'m in Tokyo I\'ll definitely play more, and would love to meet up with other board members in the area!

I thought we hadn´t heard from you for a while! Sounds like a great trip. (did you actually complete the yakuman?)

The speed of play sounds scarily fast! :blink:

How good is your Japanese reading and spoken vocab BTW? I´d be interested to hear how you managed both at the jansou and in generally getting around the city.

Also did you do any MJ shopping while you were there?

No, just tenpai.

The speed was ultra fast. Basically you already had to be drawing as soon as the previous player discarded and make your move immediately on drawing. Basically you had to be thinking ahead at all times. Nobody liked it if you took time on your turn at all. The staff frowned on it too.

Also, every player I came across could score a hand just by looking at it in a matter of two or three seconds. Scary.

My japanese is reasonably good, having studied 2 years intensive (daily in university) and lived in tokyo for 6 months in the past.

I\'m not sure the jansou experience would be possible without japanese speaking skills.

Dude! Let us folks who live here know the next time you come so we can meet up :) I used to go to Machao Shinjuku alot but then I switched to Zoo

Machao\'s not that fast of a parlor you know :P Try Tanu (Takadanobaba area) next time you\'re around

Will do!

The speed seemed to depend on the table. Once they put me on a slower table, another time on a mega fast one. Seemed to be a lot of different sorts of customers there.

That said, I could definitely imagine it getting faster! I shudder to think.


Why did you switch to Zoo? Is it non-smoking? I would never subject myself to the smoky ones, personally. I went to one of the Zoo parlors in Shibuya (I think that\'s where it was, found it by accident) but it was both filthy and smoky.

They were about to let me play when the manager pretty much kicked me out. He seemed to have a hard time believing I could play and kept saying how is parlor was not a mahjong classroom.

BTW, are there any parlors that are not lit with ultra florescent lights? I found that slightly uncomfortable.

HotelFSR wrote:No, just tenpai.

Doh! Still pretty cool though.

My japanese is reasonably good, having studied 2 years intensive (daily in university) and lived in tokyo for 6 months in the past.

I\'m not sure the jansou experience would be possible without japanese speaking skills.

I don´t have any illusions about being able to do this myself but I was curious how you managed as a foreigner. Obviously your Nihongo (and MJ) skills are up to the task!

I am toying with the idea of a trip to Japan one day though. I´m English but I can read katakana (slowly). I know a few kanji and basic phrases, and of course would make an effort to learn a few more before I went. How easy is it to find your way around and negotiate transport and shopping?

Fairly easy, since pretty much all signs are in english too.

Finding places can be hard though since there are no exact addresses per se in Japan. You need to ask around and know the landmarks in the area.

Okay, cool. Thanks.

I´ve heard about the address system in Japan (or lack of) - buildings numbered chronologically etc!

Also Tokyo´s spiralled street layout which was specifically designed to dumbfound invaders!

I love maps so I´d buy a good one.

Barticle wrote:I love maps so I´d buy a good one.

Get one that\'s bilingual. That way a native can read it too, and point to things on the map for you.

Wise words. Thanks Mr S!

They were about to let me play when the manager pretty much kicked me out. He seemed to have a hard time believing I could play and kept saying how is parlor was not a mahjong classroom.

Which Zoo was that? I will have words with them. That is ridiculous ;)

Did you send me an e-mail and I missed the dates?? I\'m so sorry!!! I had it in the back of my mind and I must have thought that it was later in the month!

If anyone else is in town, I\'ll be at New Sentenbo in Kinshicho next week. I think it\'s on Thursday.