＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
There was a previous incident involving the arrest of actor Hirofumi Arai, which resulted in the suspension of distribution of programs in which he appeared on NHK and WOWOW, as well as the postponement of the release of movies in which he appeared, affecting all areas of the industry.
There was some controversy about it, but I think it was an “overreaction”.
Also in March 2019, Pierre Taki, who was playing the role of a quiet, stubborn, and crafty Tabi Shoes store owner in NHK’s “Idaten – Tokyo Olimpic Banashi,” was arrested for violating the Narcotics Control Law.
At that time, similar measures to those taken by Hirofumi Arai were taken. These measures ranged from “termination of programs,” “replacement of actors,” “cancellation of performances,” “suspension of sales,” “suspension of distribution,” and so on.
The only saving grace was that the Toei film “Mahjong Nomad” was scheduled to be released as planned.
１．Tetsuya Asada’s novel “Mahjong Ramblings”
This novel by Tetsuya Asada (1929-1989) is a “picaresque romance” (novel of thugs) set in the do-ya-machi district during the postwar reconstruction period, in which the main characters “Boy Tetsu,” “Dosa Ken,” “Jyoshu Tora,” and other unique characters fight hard to survive. It is a series of “Seishun Hen, Fuun Hen, Gekitou Hen, and Banga Hen.
It is similar to the “Ao no Jidai, Ancient Capital Love Affair, Ru-Ten-Sen-Ten” series of “Hyakumanben” by Hanamura Mangetsu.
It is also similar to Hiroyuki Itsuki’s “Seishun no Mon” series, “Chikuho Hen,” “Jiritsu Hen,” “Horo Hen,” “Corruption Hen,” “Boukyo Hen,” “Re-awakening Hen,” “Challenge Hen,” and “Fuun Hen”.
I had never played mahjong when I was a student. However, when I was in my 30s, there was a senior member of my company who wanted to learn to play mahjong, so I decided to learn it with someone who was good at it.
Around that time, I learned the name Tetsuya Asada as a writer of mahjong novels. I eventually learned that Tetsuya Asada was his pen name and that he was Takehiro Irokawa, a mahjong player also known as “Jansei.
I bought and read several mahjong books. The basic rule of mahjong is “menzen, tan’yao, and pinfu,” and I was told that it is not good to play “chee, pon, and kan” as it is a “cheap hand. However, it was difficult to make yaku, there was no dora, and sometimes, even if I made a “tenpai” and tried to “riichi,” the player would read my “discarded pai” and read my “suji,” so it was difficult for me to get a hand.
I was a beginner, so I was very far behind those who had been playing for many years since their school days. A kind person wrote down the “score calculation” on a chart for me, but I couldn’t remember it and gave up playing mahjong after a few years.
２．Mahjong Nomad 2020, a film by Kazuya Shiraishi
It seems to depict the world as seen by the main character, a gambler who travels back in time from the “postwar” of 1945 and appears in the “new postwar” of 2020.
The introduction of Toei, which produced the film, is as follows
The main character, Tetsu Boy, is in the “future” of 2020. Why? The population is decreasing, labor is being replaced by AI (Artificial Intelligence), and the streets are full of unemployed and elderly people……and the “Tokyo Olympics” have been canceled……is this a lie? True or false? The boy Tetsu, who says he came from the “postwar” era of 1945, sees an astonishing world. What is the death struggle in the game of “Mahjong” that stands in the way of his unexpected situation?
I would definitely like to see the film in theaters, not only because of the bizarre storyline, but also because Pierre Taki’s performance is very interesting.