Tokyo - Day 3 (Second Go Club visit)

Since the first visit to a Go club here in Tokyo was a little disappointing, we decided to try another club. As we already were in the Ueno area and since several visits to the Ueno Go Center and the way there were well described by other Go players on Senseis Library and on somebody's Google Maps, too, we thought that this time it was impossible to fail. How very wrong.. (kind of)

After a very long walk throught the Ueno Zoo and through gorgeous Yanaka, we went back to Ueno station, looking forward to rest our feet and finally play some Go. The Go club was supposed to be very close to the station near the Ueno Park and you supposedly could already see the club from one of the platforms at the station. After searching around by ourselves without success (again), thanks to free WiFi, we identified the bulding in which the Go club was supposed to be (that was the buidling we'd already checked). But after a thorough search of this and two other neighbouring buildings and after asking several people, again, we came to the conclusion that the club must have closed or moved somewhere else because it definitely wasn't where it was supposed to be.

Very disappointed we searched for alternatives. It was already getting late (most of the clubs seem to close at about 9pm and now it was about 7.30pm) so we had to be quick. Via WiFi 1k found another Go club in Ueno but since we couldn't read the adresse, we went to a Koban (a very small police station you can frequently see at large crossings and which has huge books with detailed maps of the surrounding area). There, they fairly quickly showed us the way and we set off.

It took us 10-15 minutes to walk to the club from Ueno station and you really cannot miss it when you pass it on the street: It has a big 囲碁 and a black and white Go stone in every window. It is situated on the first floor.

Go Club Counter

View from the Counter (50% of the boards)

This club is a lot smaller than the first one (it has only about a dozen boards) and is definitely not used to see foreigners visit: Everyone (three players, two of them playing a game and the owner) looked at us in astonishment and at first the owner didn't really know what to say. He was actually quite a young guy, we'd guess he was under 30. However, he spoke a little English, enough to ask if we were Go players and what our strength was (he asked us about our KGS ranks). Soon both of us sat down at the board.

1k got to play with the owner who turned out to be a KGS 6dan (1k got a 6 stones handicap). At first it looked like a good game (4k: that's what it always looks like for black at the beginning in a handicap game! ;-P ), but after a mistake the game was over fairly quickly. 4k got to play with the remaining player who introduced himself as a "beginner" (4k: I think he said something about being 6k, but I'm not sure about that). The owner suggested a handicap of five to seven stones for him. The game was played with five stones. Again, 4k made at least one disastrous mistake, which the opponent luckily missed to punish.

1k against Japanese 3dan giving 2 stones

In the meantime, 1k started another game with one of the players who had been playing when we arrived at the club and the owner distributed some kind of flat cake to everyone in "celebration" of our visit. 1k's opponent introduced himself as 3dan (both of us are pretty sure that we heard him say that) but he took the black stones and a handicap of 2 stones against 1k. 1k still won (1k: but the handicap felt right).

By the time the game was finished it was already way past 9pm and the club closed. In the pouring rain we took off for the next train station and decided not to make life any harder for us from now on and go to the Go club of the Nihon Ki-in headquarter in Ichigaya tomorrow.