New go dance

[John Fairbairn]

Kawagoe City in Saitama Prefecture appears to have a lively go scene, as well as being famous for its old-fashioned sweet shops. A sugar rush may have inspired the latest novelty: a go dance. There is a video on its website below.

I couldn't detect much allusion to go in the choreography, but the accompanying song is chockful of go words, and it's good exercise, requiring no partner and no shifting of furniture. Can't say I'd expect it to rival the Gangnam dance, but it seems aimed at children, so with the words as well it may be a nice way to bring go to totland.

The dance is called the Kawago Marumaru Dance (marumaru = Black and White here).

https://igomachi.sakuraweb.com/

[Elom0]

Ten years in the future we'll say:

'We thought it was an innocent dance to make go more popular, but then Japan started coming out with the 13-year-old 9p's. And those 9p's aren't for show or due to dan inflation! When a 25 year old walks into the room, many toddler 1p's to 5p's laugh at how one could hope to play go at a high level at such a ripe old age before going back to watching nursery rhyme videos on their smartwatches, before leaving to continue their Honinbo preliminary A match.'