A measure of fame?
Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2011 3:24 am
I suppose many of us have been in the position of trying to explain to fellow westerners what sort of place go holds in Oriental societies. It's never easy. I tend to cheat (though only a little) and say it's a bit like the status of golf here. That sometimes causes its own problems as some people have thought I was referring to golf in the first place - a problem acerbated by those snobs who insist on pronouncing golf as in the first part of gopher.
However, I just came across a possible measure of national fame, one not very useful for dealing with non-go players but one that may be illuminating for go players themselves. The Japanese economic daily the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, which has sponsored the Oza since 1953, began a now-monthly series in 1956 called "My CV". In all they have now interviewed 900 people. Normally the subjects are of the stature of politicians, economists, and writers, but over the years six go players have appeared. I don't think chess players have anything like matched that. In fact, i can't recall a single example, even though players like Fischer have made the news for other reasons. Does this square with other people's experience?
We have similar columns today, with titles like "60 seconds with..." or "My favourite things", but at least 9 times out of 10 the subjects are pop singers or actors that I have never heard of. Certainly nothing like chess players.
The list of the Nikkei's go subjects is interesting in its own right: Hashimoto Utaro, Segoe Kensaku, Takagawa Kaku, Sakata Eio, Fujisawa Hideyuki and Rin Kaiho.
No Go Seigen, no Kitani Minoru, no Takemiya Masaki. Obviously it's possible that some people were asked and declined, though it's hard to imagine Takemiya ever turning down a chance to be in the spotlight. In Go's case, maybe he was seen too much as the child of the rival Yomiuri.
Still, 6 out of 900 doesn't seem too bad as an indicator of go in the Japanese national consciousness.
However, I just came across a possible measure of national fame, one not very useful for dealing with non-go players but one that may be illuminating for go players themselves. The Japanese economic daily the Nihon Keizai Shinbun, which has sponsored the Oza since 1953, began a now-monthly series in 1956 called "My CV". In all they have now interviewed 900 people. Normally the subjects are of the stature of politicians, economists, and writers, but over the years six go players have appeared. I don't think chess players have anything like matched that. In fact, i can't recall a single example, even though players like Fischer have made the news for other reasons. Does this square with other people's experience?
We have similar columns today, with titles like "60 seconds with..." or "My favourite things", but at least 9 times out of 10 the subjects are pop singers or actors that I have never heard of. Certainly nothing like chess players.
The list of the Nikkei's go subjects is interesting in its own right: Hashimoto Utaro, Segoe Kensaku, Takagawa Kaku, Sakata Eio, Fujisawa Hideyuki and Rin Kaiho.
No Go Seigen, no Kitani Minoru, no Takemiya Masaki. Obviously it's possible that some people were asked and declined, though it's hard to imagine Takemiya ever turning down a chance to be in the spotlight. In Go's case, maybe he was seen too much as the child of the rival Yomiuri.
Still, 6 out of 900 doesn't seem too bad as an indicator of go in the Japanese national consciousness.
