Good News for 'Mah-jongg' lovers out there on the web!
Mah-jongg is a gambling game originated in China. The game is played by four pe
ople facing each other on a square game table with 136 small blocks made from i
vory and bamboo. For those who heard a loud rattling from the windows at the Ch
ina town $B!$ (Jthat's it. Mah-jongg was introduced to Japan around the end of Meiji,
 and the first licensed Mah-jongg house was opened in the cozy area of Ginza in
 Tokyo in 1927.

A startup museum of this game shall open in Misaki-cho of Chiba-ken on April 20
, 1999. More than 10,000 objects related to Mah-jongg have been gathered by the
 Japanese Mah-jongg magazine 'Kindai Mah-jongg' (Take Shobo Publications, Tokyo
/ voice: +81 3 3264 1576) including the private belongings of China's last empe
ror PU-YI (1906-67), and the wooden set made with hand by the "A" Class prisone
rs of the WW2 at Sugamo Prizon.

Yours Truly remembers of his college days in Kyoto in the 70's that there were
a lot of Mah-jongg houses around the campus where one can find students devotin
g their precious time for study in these days. (nowadays, it is hard to find th
em in numbers anymore) Yours Truly believed only those who had no girl friends
nor boy friends (!) were the common customers of the houses!

How about me? I did not go to any of them as, most of my time was occupied by d
ates! And still cannot play Mah-jongg...... My girl friend in those days was a
strong player. She told me one day that she had learned the art from those many
 "ripping-off-money" wins and loses in those houses before she met me!

For those living in Ontario, you might find Mah-jongg collections at the Museum
 and Archives of Games at the University of Waterloo. If not, visit the China T
own of Toronto. You shall hear a lot of loud rattlings of this game from the wi
ndows out there.

Finally, here is a tip for the first learner. Beware! It is illegal to play mah
-jongg for money out here in Japan!

Ryo
Ryo Yasui
Museum Consultant
Machida-shi, Tokyo
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