From: teruko <teruko <at> PO2 <dot> NSKNET <dot> OR <dot> JP>
Date: 18 sep 1999
Subject: Re: Shogi at work.

It was wonderful to receive James Harnett's excellent and imaginative
posting. I like the sentence about competing and suggesting superiority.
One wonders how exactly the result of the game functions. It's as
tedious to win game after game as it is to lose game after game, there
are also opponents who I have fun with when we play and those whose play
I find unbearably boring, in either case regardless of their strength.
It seems that the game is a tool of social interaction, we find a
partner of a suitable style (not just of play but including the setting
and attitude) and share the honours more or less evenly. It might seem
that in tournament play the result has a different function. In Europe
the shogi scene has always been rather sparsely populated so we formed
strong friendships and the tournaments were more for meeting up with
each other than for the competition. Accomodation being provided by
friends and travel funds coming from sponsors there wasn't even pressure
for prize money, when there was prize money.
On the question of shogi at work, five or six years ago I had a job in a
bar to which the regular customers would come from around midnight. In
the slack period leading up to this shogi enthusiasts would come to play
with me while I had the time. As the customers were also providing the
beer I would be drunk by the time work (more drinking) would normally
begin. Of course it's fun for a while but day after day three to four
hours of shogi is something that my enthusiasm has never recovered from.
For those who have problems finding opponents, on several occasions in
various countries I have found amusing opponents by visiting Japanese
shops located through the tourist office or just by approaching Japanese
looking people in the street.
Posted by Michael Sandeman.