Apparently (transparently?) a new fad in Japan is Transparent Mahjong... where 3/4 of the tiles are transparent.
Ahhhh... veddy veddy interesting.
EDIT: Can anyone confirm this for me...
Transparent Mahjong is called Akira Tooru (麻雀 透明).
True or False. And if true can you explain why the phrase Akira Tooru refers to transparent mahjong, since those two words translate to names not adjectives.
> Apparently (transparently?) a new fad in Japan is Transparent Mahjong... where 3/4 of > the tiles are transparent. > > Ahhhh... veddy veddy interesting. > > > EDIT: Can anyone confirm this for me... > > Transparent Mahjong is called Akira Tooru (麻雀 透明. > > True or False. And if true can you explain why the phrase Akira Tooru refers to > transparent mahjong, since those two words translate to names not adjectives.
After 10 minutes in google i got this:
1. As you know the game is called Transparent Mahjong. 麻雀 stands for mahjong and 透明 (toumei) for transparent.
2. The game is also called "Washizu Mahjong". It's a fictional mahjong game variant from a manga titled Akagi. Character Washizu Iwao created the game.
3. According to this article the fictional game is gathering popularity because of the anime and manga. For that reason, it's starting to get official rules.
Interesting, in the manga the currency for bet is blood. The more you lose, the more your blood gets drained till your own death.
> 1. As you know the game is called Transparent Mahjong. 麻雀 stands for > mahjong and 透明 (toumei) for transparent.
My reply is heavily edited since I've learned much today...
In Japan best I can tell the sets do show up as Akira TooruToumei Mahjong (麻雀 透明), not Washizu Mahjong. If you google 透明 you will find similarly transparent things, so somehow that title translates to transparent... or maybe to acrylic, I dunno.
I can find Japanese sights with photos of the manga Akagi promoting the clear mahjong sets... so your post is most likely correct that this manga is the origin of the variation... but me being somewhat of a fact-checker, I'd still like to find confirmation that the clear sets did indeed start with the manga, and the manga didn't borrow the idea... difficult research considering I don't speak Japanese... this minuscule detail only matters to me since I compiled what I want to be a complete authoritative guide to mahjong... and getting my facts right is important. It's safe to say the manga certainly made the clear set popular.
Your reply was most helpful, even if at first I was a doubting Thomas. Thanks.
> In Japan best I can tell the sets do show up as Akira Tooru Mahjong (麻雀 > 透明, not Toumei Mahjong or Washizu Mahjong. If you google Akira Tooru, or > even 透明 you will find similarly transparent things, so somehow that > title translates to transparent... or maybe to acrylic, I dunno.
I don't know where you got your idea from, but 麻雀透明 is read as "majantoumei" and means transparent mahjong. 透明 is read as "toumei" and is means transparent or clean.
In that video, sometimes the players after they draw from the wall (or bag in this case) they lay their new piece on top of their hand tiles horizontally... I've never seen that in any rule set. Is that just laziness on their part, not wanting to shift the tiles over to put it with their planned set, or does this indicate something specific?
> Maybe you know this too... > > In that video, sometimes the players after they draw from the wall (or bag in this > case) they lay their new piece on top of their hand tiles horizontally... I've never > seen that in any rule set. Is that just laziness on their part, not wanting to shift > the tiles over to put it with their planned set, or does this indicate something > specific?
Well, even when i like mahjong i still unknown half of the rules (laziness from my part to learn them). So it would be more accurate to get an answer from alien_mame or someone else.
I recall you put a tile horizontally when you call for a discarded tile and depending from whom you got it. Its placed left, center or right from a chi or pon set. Of course and as you said that's just for discarded tiles and not for a draw tile.
In the first video i posted you can notice at 0:49 (Washizu's hand) a tile is placed right at a chi set, then at 0:51 a diagram shows it placed in the middle for maybe ordering purposes. At 1:42 the same hand is showed without the tile Washizu discarded at 1:06 but horizontal tile is now arranged into the hand. Sometimes the tile over doesn't make sense as in 5:39 except for being below a tile with a near value. My guess is players put the tile horizontally after a draw and next to where it should be sorted. Then they arrange their tiles after they discard and as game progresses for the remaining players. All in order to avoid unnecessary time waste.
About word 透明 (toumei), you probably were reading the kanji as individual characters. Each kanji has different readings (on reading/kun reading) depending on kanji being read alone or in company with other kanji or group of kanji. As for names anything goes depending on personal choices and regulation laws for japanese names. One of 透 kun readings is (tooru) and one of 明 kun readings is akiraka. If there really is someone named Akira Tooru and choosed that kanji group, he was very clever.
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3/4 transparent mahjong! I never knew such things existed!
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