So I figured I'd post a little progress report.
So in Tokyo, I first went to the Nihon Kiin... only to find it was closed for a pro event! I think it was for promotions. I first tried to go to a club in Shibuya, but after wandering around for an hour I couldn't find it. I started to think me playing go in Tokyo just wasn't meant to be. The next day though, I went to a great club in Ueno. Everyone was very nice, but this was my first exposure to japanese rank inflation; I ended up playing as 5d!
I finally ended up at the Nihon Kiin. I had never played go in a place like this. For those who don't know, everyone gets a card with their name and a number corresponding to their rank. You get/lose a point depending if you win/lose. I think it was 6 points per rank. The people working there matched us up. I was winning all my games as 4d(
) So i had to self promote to 5d, where I was pleased to find I could still hold my own. One time there wasn't anyone free around my strength, so the matchmaker dude offered to play me. He gave me four stones and comfortably beat me. I have no idea who he was, but he was mad strong. We were the last ones playing that day, and when we finished I looked up and saw we were surrounded by a ton of people watching!
Everytime I went there, there seemed to be exactly one other foreigner. The first time there was this guy who I was told was from Ohio. I went over to talk to him while he was playing, but as he looked up and saw me he snapped his head back down and started strange autistic-like mumbling
. The next day there was this big guy with a pony tail. I said hi to him, but he just smiled. When I tried to talk to him later, it turned out he spoke french! I didn't remember much french from high school, but I knew enough to ask him if he spoke any japanese for us to communicate in, which would have been hilarious, but alas he did not.
I did a lot of other very fun/cool/weird stuff in Tokyo that I won't spend time going into here.
But anyway after a week it was on to Kyoto, where I currently am. I found a nice local club located pretty close to where I take classes. The woman running it is very nice, she helps to match me with people, especially the first few times when I didn't know anyone. All this it's mostly older folks, I've gotten to know a japanese college student whose my age. And the old folks are actually a lot of fun to talk to. I've gotten a lot of great games in, including playing 2 stone games with people stronger than me.
I then decided to ask about taking lessons or anything of the sort, and it turned out that there are two pros who come twice a week to play simuls as well as teach lessons for kyu players. I decided to play in a simul with the older of the two pros, because he was only playing two other people and seemed nice. His name is Fujiyama, and I've played 3 games with him so far. They were 4 stones and I've lost all of them, but what I appreciate is that he takes his time with each game (it helps that the average number of other players is 1 throughout the whole game) and then reviews it with me afterwards. Even aside from go, it's been great japanese practice!
Overall, I've been having a great time, outside of go too! Below are a few go related pics and my most recent Fujiyama game.
Next week, I'm planning to hit up the Kyoto University Go Club, so we'll see what happens
http://imgur.com/a/8dJNWhttp://eidogo.com/#1N5VINcB"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
