If it was donated how come they are claiming it back ?

I know they haven't done much in recent years to begin with, but is this a sign that the Nihon Kiin is no longer interested in supporting Western Go?

I know they haven't done much in recent years to begin with, but is this a sign that the Nihon Kiin is no longer interested in supporting Western Go?

Maybe they're trying to send signals that it's time for Western go to grow up and shoulder some of the responsibility themselves.

While the developments in New York are a disappointment, I'll suggest one obvious constructive thing we can do to honor Iwamoto's Legacy.

Remote Annual memberships to the Seattle Go Center.

By snatching the money out of Iwamoto's cold dead hands? He bought this building specifically so that it would be used to promote western go. I'll hold off on completely condemning the Nihon Kiin until its clear what their long term plan is though.

Er, I'd advise even more restraint. Apart from the fact that the Nihon Ki-in has serious financial problems of its own and is surely entitled to look out for number one first, I'm not sure Iwamoto bought any of the buildings on his own.

As early as 1974 he definitely solicited contributions from individuals - businessmen and politicians, including at least one war criminal as it happens - for the internationalisation of go, which was to begin with the London Go Centre.

Iwamoto's plan was to collect 500 million yen, but the timing was not ideal. The Ki-in, and thus its backers, were split over the Meijin Problem (i.e. the argument with the Yomiuri and the Asahi over funding the Meijin tournament) and also the Tajitsu Problem (re Tajitsu Wataru, a Mitsubishi Bank bigwig, then the still new President of the Nihon Ki-in). When Iwamoto went with his begging bowl he was told in no uncertain terms that now was not a good time. The upshot was that he only collected 11.5 million yen, which Iwamoto still regarded as a great success, but that explains why London didn't get a bought building and could not be rescued once the funds ran dry. It's very hard to calculate how much that would be in modern terms, as this was a time (1975) of enormous argy bargy over forex rates and the yen in particular, but at a very rough estimate (I'd appreciate a better one) I'd say it was about half a million dollars. This had to pay for 50 high quality boards and sets of stones at the London centre, plus rent and furbishment of a rather large building in (almost) central London, just to get started, then there was very little income, so in my opinion it did well to last as long as it did. At least it produced T Mark and myself so it got something right

I don't know the precise situation with the later buildings in the USA, Amsterdam and Sao Paulo, but I'd be very surprised if they were not funded in part by a raft of individuals apart from Iwamoto himself, who certainly put in a considerable tranche. Probably the purchase of a building was simply seen as a priority in the light of the experience of the rented London centre, which was unfortunately a little ahead of its time, rather than having any significance as a donation to the countries concerned. Since Iwamoto was also a deputy CEO of the Ki-in, I can't imagine he'd do anything to harm their interests.

Either way, let's await the facts. And, as I've said umpteen times before, it would help the Nihon Ki-in to continue to feel well disposed towards us if there was a bit less slagging off of the Ki-in and Japanese go in general.

On the New York Go Center web page it was mentioned that there would be a meeting with someone from Japan, which may already have taken place. Any news of what happened at that meeting?