The Japanese government announced a state of emergency on 7 April 2020, as a result of which all games at the Nihon Ki-in from 9 April onwards will be postponed until at least 6 May. This means the various Nihon Ki-in centres in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are closed. Ordinary go clubs are also closed, of course.

The Nihon Ki-in actually started taking action at the end of February and postponed various events then. Apart from some amateur events it hosts, these include the Nihon Ki-in's World Go Championship. It also closed its own branches early in March. Overseas trips are also banned. This affects the Nongshim Cup in particular, but also the Chunlan and Mlily Cups.

The Kansai Ki-in has acted similarly.

So far, the various events are postponed rather than cancelled. There have been no moves to use the internet for these.

Obviously, internet go is being played, but with new events. One was a series of exhibition games organised by Iyama Yuta. He funds an Iyama Study Group which has the aim of making top players strong enough to challenge the Chinese and Koreans again. Most of the top players have joined. At the other end of the scale, little Sumire is naturally out of action (stuck on 5-7 so far this year) but a major exhibition game with Takemiya is planned for early May.

Some other go activities have continued in truncated form. For example, a ceremony to award Honorary Tengen to Iyama went ahead, but only officials and press were present, no fans. In the group "wedding" shots, no-one was two yards apart - but maybe six inches more than usual! All mask-free. From a British/European/American point of view, I'm not convinced they are actually taking it seriously enough yet. Many ordinary people are, though. The post about a new soundtrack candidate for Hikaru no Go posted here by Ferran was an example of someone creating combating lockdown. The guitarist there wrote a song to the rhythm of stones being played (allegedly) by various pros.

As with so many other aspects of life, unanswerable questions also crop up about the long-term impact. Will people stop going to go clubs, will economically hit organisations keep sponsoring go, etc, etc. But it is just a game.

No one knows how long the pandemic will actually last. Not enough is known about the virus. As a quite senior citizen, I am taking the isolation very seriously. Just because the government says that it is safe to go out and encounter groups of people, I am not going to risk myself. Since the most vulnerable group of the population is the people over 60 years old, and it seems that those people are a large segment of go players in Japan, I would expect a slow move out of social isolation. My own guess is the pandemic will be affecting us for perhaps a year or more. If the truth is close to that there will be major changes in economies and routine life. The best thing would be for an effective vaccine to be developed but that won't happen until the virus is understood better.

I hope this means more people will play Go online. It's one of the best games for online:

- No hardware requirements. Even a potato can play Go.
- Bad internet is fine since it's turn-based (though those Asian countries have amazing internet).
- Replaying, counting etc. are way faster.

Nothing can replace the feeling of touching the stones and facing the opponent, but for people overseas it will be great to see pros play online more.

IIRC, on OGS the number of newly registered players per day has strongly risen, as well as the number of ongoing games.

And I can say for sure that in the FB Group Go (Baduk, Weiqi) Players on Facebook the number of new members per day has doubled, beginning around Feb 26th.

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

Let's hope for continued exponential growth.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

"Even a potato can play Go." We all encounter imo go

Ah, sry, I guess I stated it badly, this number is NOT doubling every day, it is just that daily growth has doubled compared to before Feb. 26th.

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?

Oh, I didn't mean doubling every day, I meant doubling every two months.

Anyway, it was a joke.

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

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

(Not only) when it’s about maths, you need to explain e-ve-ry joke to me

_________________
“The only difference between me and a madman is that I’m not mad.” — Salvador Dali ★ Play a slooooow correspondence game with me on OGS?