Hanayama Honkaku Shogi Set

Hanayama produce some excellent games sets. They are always well designed and attractively packaged.

Recently, Hanayama added a new shogi game to their listings: The Honkaku Shogi set.



The board and pieces are made of plastic and the board has two built in drawers where the pieces are stored. The neat thing about the drawers is that they are set in each side of the board and you can pull them out and use them as trays to hold the pieces that you capture during the course of the game. (In shogi, when you capture a piece you can use it later as one of your own pieces and "parachute" it onto the board.)

If you are looking for an unusual and attractive Christmas present for a youngster, this would be ideal!

All orders will be shipped from Japan by Express Mail Service, so if you order before 10th December, you'll get it in time for Christmas!

To find out more and order a set, go to http://japanese-games-shop.com/shogi.html

New Combinations At Nice Prices, Just In Time For Christmas!

The Christmas decorations have been in evidence here in Japan since HALLOWEEN (and the first Halloween decorations made their appearance sometime in September). Some private houses already have Christmas decorations up - it's CRAZY, and what's DOUBLY CRAZY is that this isn't even a Christian nation!!

As far as I'm concerned, we're not even in Advent yet.

There are still four more weeks before the little Christmas tree that I put in a pot and set outside our house last January will be brought back in again - the amazing thing is that it has SURVIVED. It will have earned itself the right to a bigger pot on 5th January 2008 - assuming it survives the shock of being brought back indoors for the Christmas season (which begins on 24th December, NOT 24th October or November).

So, it is not Christmas yet, and this is NOT a Christmas blog in any shape or form whatsoever...

New Shogi Combination Set At A Nice Price

A few months ago I introduced some cloth shogi "boards" to my website. They are hardwearing, convenient to carry around and cheap - oh, and very easy to ship around the world too.


Hardwearing, highly portable and cheap!

They have proved very popular and so today I combined the shogi cloth with a set of shogi pieces to make a new basic set for a reduced price of just $12.50 (down from $14.75), plus shipping and handling.

The set now heads my shogi and is the all new "Shogi Set 1". See Japanese-Games-Shop.com for details.

The other good news about the new combination set is that it is much easier to post than the previous "Shogi Set 1", which was a folding board that required protective wrapping and a larger envelope and was shipped by air freight (8-28 days delivery). Because the new set is lighter the shipping method has been upgraded to "small packet airmail" which usually takes between 5-10 days to get from Japan to Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.

In other words, there is still time to take advantage of the nice price in time for... er, CHRISTMAS!

Express Mail Shipping From Japan For Premium Items

Talking about shipping times, the premium shogi koma sets, mahjong sets, and the new lighter and smarter mahjong "JUNK" mat are all shipped by Express Mail Service, which almost always gets parcels from the Japanese Post Office to your door within a week of shipping.



This sleek Black Mahjong Set and Junk Mat combination could be yours... in good time for Christmas too! Supplies are VERY limited, however, so CLICK HERE NOW to secure your set.

It may not be Christmas yet, but when it comes to ordering stuff from the other side of the globe it is worth remembering the wise words of Solomon to avoid disappointment on 25th December:

"The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing." (Prov: 28.26)

Have a pleasant Advent, one and all - neither too antlike, nor too sluggardly!

David Hurley
Japanese-Games-Shop.com