Today, I decided to find a place to play Go (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_(game) if you're not familiar with it). I searched online a bit and found a site where you can search for Go clubs in Japan (http://www.igonavi.com). Let me just say that Google translator is one of the best things ever. In any case, I found that there are about 20 clubs in Yokohama but only 1 in Yokosuka. While I don't claim to be an optimist, I figured one was better than none, so I decided to find it.
I didn't get up until 12:30, and I showered, did a load of laundry, and called mom, so I didn't leave until 3:00. The bus to the YRP Nobi station didn't arrive until 3:22, so I went across the street to the bakery called "Pain de Mie." I haven't mentioned this bakery yet since I jumped ahead, but they have some good stuff. My favorite is the melon bread. It tastes like happiness.
Anyway, I took the bus to YRP Nobi and took the train one stop to Keikyu Kurihama. The club's site had a map with directions from the station (again, yay for Google translator), and it was only about a minute walk away. I walked inside, and as I expected, I was the youngest person by at least 30 years (no joke). There were maybe 15-20 people inside. The woman at the counter gave me a look that said, "Are you sure you know where you just walked into?" She was very surprised when I told her that I wanted to play. Someone (I think the owner, and I think the lady behind the counter was his wife, but I could be wrong) took me in and paired me up with a man who was in his 70's, if not his 80's. When he asked me how strong I was, after I responded, he apologized to my opponent (read: he's much stronger). They put down four handicap stones for me, and I asked what his rank was. He said 5 dan. Now, if you're not familiar with the ranking system, the amateur ranks go from 30-1 kyu, and the advanced amateur ranks go from 1-7 dan (after that are the professional dan levels from 1-9). I'm about 5-6 kyu, so this guy was quite a bit stronger than I am.
Well, it turns out that both he and the next guy I played said that on the Japanese scale, I'm probably closer to 1 dan (the second guy said the Japanese scale is a little more inflated than the American one). I was able to play 3 games. I lost to the first man with a 4 stone handicap, lost my first game to the second man with a 5 stone handicap, but I played another game with the second guy with only a 4 stone handicap and won (I lost a big fight in the first game and couldn't come back from it). I talked with him for probably an hour afterwards. His name was Kajiwara-san. He told me he was 69 years old and works on the floor above me at NTT (about 1000 people work in that building, so it's not too surprising that I would run into someone else who works there). After they closed up, the owner and his wife (or so I think) drove both of us home. Kajiwara-san runs the website for their club, and he posted a picture of us as well as a paragraph about me on it. http://homepage3.nifty.com/hsg/HASE/ I also took the picture below completely by accident, but it ended up being awesome. I'll take a picture of the entrance next time.
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