Pro Blogs
I often get asked about translating Japanese pro blogs. My almost immediate reaction is “Why?”
There seems to be a feeling that Japanese pros will be revealing exciting mahjong secrets through their internet scribblings. I can assure you they are not. They save those for their books and articles. After all, mahjong is their bread and butter. Unless you’re a fan of that particular player, their blogs are fairly banal.
Let’s take some examples:
http://saki-pico.seesaa.net/article/296456018.html
Here we get to learn about a special pillow her mother gave her as a birthday present. It seems it was quite an expensive pillow…
http://ameblo.jp/kaoru-aisawa/entry-11374461231.html
Talk about haircuts and fashion…
http://ameblo.jp/mutirv/entry-11364806678.html
Food, this is quite a staple of Japanese blogging. I work with a lot of Japanese people and I’ve now trained myself to not start eating until I’ve seen a camera flash go off.
I am exaggerating here, to be fair. But I think you can see that mahjong is not the staple of their blogs. They’re letting fans into their lives so they can keep their fanbase.
If I delve further, there are indeed comments on mahjong.
http://ameblo.jp/masa0418/entry-11372991429.html
Ah! Something about mahjong. Three sentences…
http://ameblo.jp/northavenue/entry-10992635622.html
Some more mahjong news, but it won’t help me because I live far, far away.
http://ameblo.jp/northavenue/entry-10814429588.html
This is interesting. I’m amazed that anyone can write that neatly if anything else. But again, no strategy tips.
So, in general, I don’t think Mahjong Pro blogs make for the most interesting material. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of interesting material out there. Maybe pro blogs aren’t the place to look and other places in the blogosphere will be more profitable.
Either way, if you feel I’ve overlooked something within pro blogs, please point me in the right direction!
