Mahjong Travel Journal: Kanazawa (part 2)

I started my journey last time up to Kanazawa to visit JPML’s Kourin’s parlor. You can read part 1 here.

Now, on to the tournament and the games!

After a good night’s sleep I was back in Kanazawa at Nankuru’s sister parlor, Gal-nan, a parlor that employs only girls. This time it was a tournament, the monthly tournament for Kanazawa and Toyama players. Many of the JPML pro’s living in Kanazawa play and the parlor and tournament is run by JPML’s Ms. Kourin.

I got this job from Kourin and her associate. They were in Tokyo and took the time to come visit me at Fairy. It seems the idea was to get to know me and invite me out to Kanazawa, so we played a few games together and I gave them my card. Kourin e-mailed me right away and we arranged a time when I could come up as a guest, which happened to be last weekend. The only problem was the time.

Sunday morning’s tournament was to start at 11am and so if I was there by 10:30 it would give me ample time to get ready and say hi to everyone. Or so I thought. Thanks to a bit of traffic I was set to arrive at 10:45. And then the call came at 10:30. Thinking I would still make it in time for the tournament and they were just worried, I answered the phone and let them know my status.

Only the tournament was to start at 10:30, not 11am.

I had never been to the parlor and now besides being late I also risked getting lost. Lucky for me the parlor was easy to find.

So after parking in a spot NOT belonging to the parlor (which ended up not being a problem) I rushed out of the car and up the stairs, frantically searching for this door that I had never been through.

When I walked in it was like a bad nightmare, the kind where you show up late for a test or a big presentation and you’re naked and everyone is staring at you. Luckily I wasn’t naked but the rest held true. The only open seat in the house was saved for me and everyone else was ready to go, staring at the door, waiting for the only white girl pro in their league to show up from Tokyo.

If any of them had showed up at the same time as me it would have been a penalty.

Luckily I had confirmed the incorrect time with the manager of Nankuru the day before, so all was forgiven quickly enough. I quickly took off my boots and took my seat with the others.

We played 4 games of JPML A-Rules and despite my great run since last month, especially with A-Rules, I couldn’t pull it together this time. I didn’t get last place though, so I, as the guest, got to present the 2nd to last player with the bag of rice he won, and the cash prizes to the top 3.

I am choosing to blame my performance for the day on lack of breakfast.

I spent the afternoon and evening playing in the free games at the parlor and did much better than the day before. Not to say I did great, but it was a fun time and I ended up with more than I started with.

Since I had to be at Fairy by 10 the next morning, the 6 hour drive home was brutal, but Luna was happy in her cage in the back of the car and I got some naps in and took advantage of the weekend discount.

All in all it was a great trip and I can’t wait until they call me up to Kanazawa again. I also can’t wait to find out where Mahjong will take me next!

RM on Social