From: Reijer Grimbergen ETL GO JP> Date: 1 feb 1996 Subject: Re: pop shogi Jonathan Tisdall POWERTECH NO> writes: Dear Jonathan, > First, I too cannot imagine playing on a westernized set. Second, I cannot > see any more compelling argument to shogi's continued lack of "approval" in > the west than the language hurdle. If one could access the literature, shogi > would automatically leap in popularity. Many people seem to think so, but I do not agree. I think the problem of accessability is not the major problem for popularizing Shogi. I think the biggest problem is the fact that chess is part of the western culture. Every child who is interested in board games will start with chess. If the child gets more involved (addicted, one could say :-)), chess is still very appealing. Being a chess master means something in Western culture. Chess masters are respected. The problem of spreading Shogi in the west is in my opinion just as difficult as spreading American Football in Europe, where soccer is the main game (or vice versa). For the first time in my life I watched the Super Bowl on Monday. However, while watching I missed half of it because I was doing something else (Shogi, washing my clothes, study Kanji). On the other hand, I can watch a J-League soccer game without missing a ball, even though Japanese soccer is a far cry from the real (Dutch ;-)) thing. But saying that American Football is less interesting than soccer would be a hard claim to justify. I am convinced that Shogi is at least as interesting as chess, but we not only need more players, we also need more fathers to teach their sons Shogi instead of chess. Spreading Shogi is not a question of years, but a question of decades. Of course, the first step is to get better known. I would like to get a situation where it is no longer a surprise when a complete stranger sees me reading a Shogi book and says: "Hey, that's Shogi isn't it, I know that game". English publications, Shogi sets in toy shops (even Western sets), bigger presence on the internet, everything helps. > This protectionism theme gives me problems though. Until the font tech that > allowed for figurine notation, chess games could come in an infinite variety > of notations which could cause minor confusion, though given the very > limited number of pieces, this was no big hurdle. And who says that chess > enjoys a universal lingo? From country to country, the pieces have different > names, and no one has a fit when dealing with bishops, alfils, fou, > laufers, etc. Why can't the pieces simply be called what the locals want to > call them?? Good point. However, there is no doubt in my mind that a universal Shogi notation could help in spreading Shogi. When you have a limited number of non-Japanese publications, it would be nice if every non-Japanese player would be able to read them easily. Chess does not have this problem. Every chess player can get whatever he wants in his own language (well, almost everything). I remember how difficult I found English chess notation when I first encountered it. I had bought a great book with games of Mikhael Tal in London once, but it took me years before I started reading it because of the notation. Reijer -- Dr. Reijer Grimbergen Electrotechnical Laboratory Palcious Tsukuba 302 1-1-4 Umezono 1-24-8 Ninomiya Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305 JAPAN 305 JAPAN E-mail: grimberg etl go jp Tel: 0298-59-1606 WWW: http://www.etl.go.jp:8080/etl/suiron/~grimberg Tel: +81-(0)298-54-5080 extension: 67431 Fax: +81-(0)298-58-5918