Spring Pruning and Planting!

The cherry blossom season has come and gone in Hiroshima and now the dogwood trees are out in bloom.

Meanwhile, over at Japanese-Games-Shop.com some pottering, pruning and planting has been going on behind the scenes....

Some items have been pruned from the listings.

OUT:

• Various sized mahjong dice - hardly an "in demand" line since most sets come with dice supplied. Then, when an order comes in I can rely on my supplier to be "out of stock" in the particular size and colour I require!!
• Plywood Shogi boards. Supplies became erratic in this neck of the woods.
• Beige Shogi cloths... Supplies seem to be erratic but a few still get through...

NEW LINES COMING SOON

• An "curvacious" style of high-quality hand-crafted Shogi koma.
• Glass Shogi sets!!
• Plastic Shogi playing mats.
• Igo boards
• Igo stones
• Igo bowls
• Novelty character (Doraemon?) mini igo sets

In short, authentic Japanese games lovers, "Watch this space"!!

David Hurley

http://japanese-games-shop.com/

Two New Items Uploaded to Japanese Games Shop

A couple of new items have been added to the listings this week.

Economy Shogi Board

Firstly there is an economy non-folding shogi board to announce.

It is made of plywood reinforced along its edges so it is light but reasonably robust.

It sits nice and flat and provides a smooth playing surface that looks similar to the surface of solid wooden boards.

The best news is that the all-in cost of the board plus shipping and handling is just $10.

Check it out here.

Hiragana Playing Cards

I have just uploaded details of a novelty item for Japanese language learners who want some help in mastering the phonetic Hiragana script: Hiragana Playing Cards!

The cards can be used as regular playing cards or used to study the Hiragana.

Each card has one of the letters of the Hiragana syllabary on it and a picture of something that begins with that letter. The name of the thing is also given so you can study individual letters and also practise reading and learning whole words.

You can also combine regular cards and Hiragana study by playing a popular memory game called Shinkeisuijaku in Japanese (i.e. Pelmanism, or "pairs" in English) and enjoy a double memory-training bonus of playing to win the matching game and increased familiarity with the Hiragana syllabary!

Check out the card decks here.

David Hurley
Japanese-Games-Shop.com
Japanese-Mahjong.com
Grasp-the-Nettle.com
100-Word-Book-Reviews.com