thanks for the photos!

Very nice pictures! But the picture with elderly people looks a bit sad. I have absolutely nothing against elderly people playing go but where is the youth (unless that was a special occasion for the old)?

Can you roughly give an idea how strong an average club player is? I mean when you approach somebody you don't know for playing, what would be his/her level typically?

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If you say no, Elwood and I will come here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the week.

Nice pics! Was this an AGA related trip? I can't help but wondering as I see Jennie Shen was with you.

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"Those who calculate greatly will win; those who calculate only a little will lose, but what of those who don't make any calculations at all!? This is why everything must be calculated, in order to foresee victory and defeat."-The Art of War

When I was in Kyoto last, in 1998, the Kyoto branch of the Nihon Kiin did not seem to have a lot of amateur players. Other go clubs did. The Nihon Kiin branch was perhaps a little out of the way.

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The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

cool photos ^ ^

These pictures are really great! I'm going to be in japan for a few months starting in Jan., so it would be nice to know the location of a few good clubs (I'll mostly be in Kyoto)

I knew mostly old people played in Japan, but seriously...

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"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level." -- Bruce Lee

Thanks, nagano. Not a Go trip at all. It was a group tour with my karate sensei,
related to the 80th anniversary of the Waseda University karate club.

Thanks a lot for the nice pictures !

Did you get a chance to see any actual copies of the ancient go manuals in the Waseda University Library?
There are links to their online versions on SL via the Japanese Go Books page.

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

Unfortunately, no. There was a tour of the Waseda campus, but I did not attend.
There were ancient Go kifus in the same basement of the Nihon Kiin.
Except for the two Nihon Kiin visits which were planned ahead of time,
all the other Go clubs were found by accident, and impromptu visits so I was already very lucky.

Great pictures!

Now, about the woman professional who presents the NHK go programme you see in post No. 6. Well, she always used to look very glum and serious on TV, but then a few years ago I met her at an event, and she gave me a teaching game (I lost by about 5 points on 5 stones, if I recall correctly). Afterwards, I somewhat cheekily told her that she was very pretty, but she would look much better on TV if she smiled more. Ever since, whenever I have seen her on TV, she has been smiling a lot, as you can see in the picture!!!

I wish I could recall her name.

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

万波　奈穂
Mannami Nao 2d

http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~bg2t-tkg/nhk/nhk.html -- my favorite site for NHK games. Clicking the X between the players names will reveal the host's photo:
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~bg2t-tkg/nhk/nao.jpg

Thanks, Tami. Yes, she's the sister of Mannami Kana 万波　佳奈 4p
http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/htm/ki000375.htm

Mannami Nao 万波　奈穂 2p
http://www.nihonkiin.or.jp/player/htm/ki000411.htm