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Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

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Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#41

Post by gpt5 »

yakubin wrote: post #37
nikanj wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The emphasis here is on chill, those are all outdoor spaces and Tokyo gets quite cold during the winter

Is that true? According to Wikipedia: > The coolest month is January, averaging 5.4 °C Doesn’t sound very cold to me. If anything, I’ve only heard complaints about how hot it often is in Tokyo (and most of Japan, except Hokkaido).

Compare Brisbane and Tokyo: https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/144671~143809/Comparison-...

Brisbane has "Comfortable" temperature every single day of the year. Tokyo's winter is cold and Tokyo's summer is hot.

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#42

Post by kenhwang »

Pxtl wrote: post #32
falsandtru wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is painful to spend long time chasing in chess after a few pieces in the endgame.

By that logic Xiangqi would be the best because the king is least mobile and so there's basically no chasing.

That's why my dad never got into chess.

He said the openings were all really routine/reactive, and the endgame was way too much chasing. To him, it was fairly obvious who was going to win after the midgame if it isn't evenly matched, but you're still spending most of the time repeating the same moves to advance pawns and pretty much waiting for mistakes in the endgame.

Xiangqi has a much more tactical opening, longer more varied midgame, and usually the game ends pretty quickly if someone has an advantage coming out of midgame, but otherwise at least the endgame doesn't get repetitive. But also because no matter how far behind you are in the endgame, you're still a threat because of the flying general rule so it doesn't feel as bad being on defensive.

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#43

Post by jokoon »

BryanLegend wrote: post #2

It's because Go is a much better game. Shogi is inferior though to Chess because it takes too long to play with the pieces being returnable.

Inferior? It's just different.

Why do people always put things in hierarchy or in better/worse?

Just give your opinion, apples are not better than oranges.

I don't even play chess or shoji.

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#44

Post by nwienert »

kenhwang wrote: post #42
Pxtl wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic Xiangqi would be the best because the king is least mobile and so there's basically no chasing.

That's why my dad never got into chess. He said the openings were all really routine/reactive, and the endgame was way too much chasing. To him, it was fairly obvious who was going to win after the midgame if it isn't evenly matched, but you're still spending most of the time repeating the same moves to advance pawns and pretty much waiting for mistakes in the endgame. Xiangqi has a much more tactical opening, longer…

Most anyone just resigns if they know they're in a losing position, there's no rule forcing you to play it out.

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#45

Post by rtpg »

LZ_Khan wrote: post #23
rtpg wrote: post #19

One thing that kinda sucks in Tokyo in particular is a dearth of just chill public spaces. I think Go and Shogi both benefit from incumbent status, with club spaces and the like existing. Chess meetups right now seem to be relegated to city community spaces (glad they exist!). But I was real jealous when I was in Brisbane for a bit and visisted a chess meetup that was just happening in a cafe. Also saw some kids play…

There's an abundance of chill public spaces in Tokyo! So many cool parks, public rooftop spaces, and so on. I think it's just cause chess isn't popular.

There are nice spots, but a lot of them do not want you organizing events inside them. Like many things this is all pretty funancialized (it doesn’t help that new constructions are almost all filled with chains staffed by part-time staff).

On top of that parks don’t tend to have that many tables (Yoyogi exists but Yoyogi is one park).

Community spaces kinda work but you need a quorum of people who live in the ward, so there’s some startup difficulties there.

Chess isn’t that popular but it’s a hell of a lot easier in many places to just take over a space during sleepy weekend AMs.

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#46

Post by rtpg »

nikanj wrote: post #35
LZ_Khan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an abundance of chill public spaces in Tokyo! So many cool parks, public rooftop spaces, and so on. I think it's just cause chess isn't popular.

The emphasis here is on chill, those are all outdoor spaces and Tokyo gets quite cold during the winter

Maybe not too cold, but definitely too hot to be in direct sunlight.

I meant chill in the “not caring that you are playing chess in the place”. Most cafes or restaurants here have express rules against playing card games or the like at tables, for example (for good reason)

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#47

Post by rtpg »

intruder wrote: post #28
rtpg wrote: post #19

One thing that kinda sucks in Tokyo in particular is a dearth of just chill public spaces. I think Go and Shogi both benefit from incumbent status, with club spaces and the like existing. Chess meetups right now seem to be relegated to city community spaces (glad they exist!). But I was real jealous when I was in Brisbane for a bit and visisted a chess meetup that was just happening in a cafe. Also saw some kids play…

There's a group meeting every Wednesday in a pub in Shibuya. See https://www.tokyocheckmates.com/ for more info.

Thanks for this info! I’m over near Asakusa so it’s a bit of a trek but seems fun

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#48

Post by jstanley »

rtpg wrote: post #46
nikanj wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The emphasis here is on chill, those are all outdoor spaces and Tokyo gets quite cold during the winter

Maybe not too cold, but definitely too hot to be in direct sunlight. I meant chill in the “not caring that you are playing chess in the place”. Most cafes or restaurants here have express rules against playing card games or the like at tables, for example (for good reason)

What's the good reason?

Re: Why isn't chess popular in Japan?

#50

Post by bobthepanda »

rtpg wrote: post #45
LZ_Khan wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an abundance of chill public spaces in Tokyo! So many cool parks, public rooftop spaces, and so on. I think it's just cause chess isn't popular.

There are nice spots, but a lot of them do not want you organizing events inside them. Like many things this is all pretty funancialized (it doesn’t help that new constructions are almost all filled with chains staffed by part-time staff). On top of that parks don’t tend to have that many tables (Yoyogi exists but Yoyogi is one park). Community spaces kinda work but you need a quorum of people who live in the ward, s…

At least in US which is also usually pretty commercial it is a lot more palatable to propose to a business owner if you promise to come in during an extremely slow time period (e.g. Monday for a bar). But otherwise the worst for the owners is a bunch of slow people sitting a long time ordering very cheap things, taking seats from more spendy, higher turnover customers.

It also doesn’t help that my impression of Japan when I went there, was that a lot of these small businesses have room for maybe a dozen people at best.

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