From: "'Shigeki Masui'" BANET NET> Date: 27 may 2000 Subject: Re: SV: Re: SV: Re: A World Shogi Federation and a Dear Danerud Martin, DANERUD MARTIN wrote: > Yes. Once again you acknowledge my first contribution to this discussion. > In chess we have this sad situation because of the weakness of the corrupt > World Organisation. One extra difficulty in the boardgames is of course that > the potential champions have strong wills and egos, which emphasizes the > need for a strong World Organisation. Why don't you show us to organize a strong World Federation of Chess first of all and show us how you guys are capable to demonstrate the Chess World Championship Tournament. It seems your understanding about Japanese and Shogi is very poor and you are not yet at the level to discuss the world championship of shogi including Japanese Pros. You wrote: > No, to common sense there is no explanation, but the real reason is the following: > Our Japanese shogi friends are the kindest people on earth. We all know them > to be joyful, nice, and generous. But basically (and I think to some extent correctly) > they do not trust us. If shogi will become a truthfully international game, they are > afraid that we (the gaijin, the westerners etc) will change the game and violate > its traditions. They are afraid that we will introduce Swiss pairing systems, new > names or symbols of the pieces, a set of exact rules, or whatever may be a violation of the > old traditions. You may just read the contributions to Shogi-L, and it is easy to see > that there are many ideas like these around. In his nice contribution "Shogi as Culture", > Teruichi Aono expresses this type of concerns indirectly by referring to judo. When > he visited Sweden in 1998, he expressed such concerns more directly regarding shogi. Dear Mr. Martin, You wrote as if you have enough knowledge about Japanese and their culture. However you may not recognize that many Japanese including myself are very upset by your prejudice and may seriously demand your apology. I am afraid you may still wonder why I say this. Let me ask you following: 1. How many days did you spend in Japan? 2. Do you speak Japanese? 3. Which kind of books about Japan and/or Japanese Culture did you read in the last 5 years 4. What is your shogi rating? 5. Do you know that "Igo" is much more popular board game than shogi in Japan and there are a few professional champions of Gaijin in Igo? These Gaijin Champions are highly respected among Japanese. 6. Do you know that not only in Japan but also in outside of Japan "Igo" is much more popular board game than Shogi ? 7. Do you know that "Igo" is the most traditional Japanese game as Japan is it's origin contrary to Shogi? 8. Then how do you explain that there are Professional Gaijin Champions and they are on the top of Japanese News Papers and Magazines as a hero in Japan and that they are highly respected in Japan? 9. Do you know that in Judo, most of Japanese, including myself still remember and respect the olympic champion from Netherlands. Do you know that majority of Japanese are not regrettable at all to introduce Judo to overseas? Do you know that there are more than 1,000 Dojos in outside of Japan and more than 100,000 gaijins are playing Judo and it is still popular both in Japan and overseas? Do you know that most of Japanese are not regrettable at all that Judo became international supports? 10. Do you know the reason why none of Sumotori (including Japanese Sumotori) use their own real name and using "Shikona" instead? 11. Do you understand why I feel so sad reading your statement about Japanese saying "Real reason is following? To this question, I can answer that you have a lot of misunderstanding about Japan and Japanese calture. Dear Mr. Martin, I must insist that you must learn a lot about Japan before you present this kind of statement. Please do not influence many innocent people with your prejudice. Dear Mr. Martin you wrote that This thought is well spread in Japan. Then imagine the embarrassment if, say, a black person from Nigeria became the World Champion of shogi! OK, maybe it would do if the person was given a Japanese name, like the Hawaiian natives who are sumo Yokozuna, and then include him in the professional circuit. But maybe that would not be that realistic with a black person. Dear Mr. Martin, You are absolutely wrong again. Please do not mislead innocent shogi friends. If African or American, even European became World Champion of Shogi, I guarantee you that he becomes national hero in Japan. He will be on the cover story of all kind of Japanese Media and will be truly respected as a great hero. How do you explain the fact that in Igo, these Gaijins are using their own real names without any problem in Japan? It seems that you introduce Sumo without knowing Shikona-Sumo Name. All of the Sekitori (regardless to Japanese or Foreigner) use "Shikona". Do you know that the only running game that Japanese had a chance to win the gold medal in Olympic? It was Marathon and it is even today. Do you know the fact that in Tokyo Olympic (almost 30 years ago, not today), Mr. Abebe, Ethiopian (indeed a black person from Africa) won the gold medal passing by Mr. Tsuburaya, Japanese runner at the last lap in Tokyo Olympic Stadium 400 meters before the goal. Do you know how Mr. Abebe was treated in Japan for many years when Japan was not modernized like today? The African runner who beat the Japanese Hope in Tokyo Olympic became hero in Japan for many years. Ethiopia became very popular in Japan with great respect and even today many Japanese older than 40 years will chose Ethiopia as their most favorite country among African countries due to the bear foot runner, Mr. Abebe who beaten Japanese before the goal. Dear Mr. Martin, I do not insist not to talk about Japanese nor Japan but I sincerely request you to be extremely careful and learn enough before you make these statements in public about the other nation and their culture. Best Regards, Shigeki Masui > > > >