AGEJ wrote:
The youngest ever pro 1-dan is about to emerge in Japan and she is female. On April 1, Fujisawa Rina (r) will be inducted at the age of 11 years 6 months, three months younger than Cho Chikun when he became 1-dan, and far ahead of Xie Yimin who was the previous youngest female 1-dan at 14 years 4 months. Rina is the daughter of Fujisawa Kazunari 8-dan, and thus the granddaughter of Fujisawa Hideyuki. She says her style is quite different from grandad's, she likes territory and he liked thickness. Her teacher was Hong Mal-keun Saem, a Korean long time resident in Japan who himself qualified as a pro just last year. Rina qualified in the women's section of the Nihon Ki-in's qualification system, which is not quite as tough as the open section, but women in the Nihon Ki-in have been posting some good results lately; Mukai Chiaki beat Kudo Norio 9-dan in the Oza a fortnight ago.
- John Fairbairn, on godiscussions.com
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AGEJ wrote:
Go figures prominently in Katsuhito Ishii's 2004 film, The Taste of Tea (Cha no Aji). "Although go is not the only focus of the film, it is one of its essential ingredients and appears more often than in other films like Pi and A Beautiful Mind," reports Pete Schumer. "It's worth checking out!" According to Wikipedia, "The film is concerned with the lives of the Haruno family, who live in rural Tochigi prefecture, the countryside north of Tokyo. Nobuo is a hypnotherapist who teaches his son, Hajime, to play go. Hajime becomes an excellent go player, but he has a rough time with girls and puberty. Nobuo's wife, Yoshiko refuses to be an average housewife, and works on animated film projects at home. She uses assistance from Grandfather Akira, an eccentric old man who is a former animator and occasional model. Uncle Ayano, a sound engineer and record producer, moves in with the family. He is looking to restart his life again after living in Tokyo for several years. Meanwhile, Yoshiko's daughter Sachiko, believes that she is followed around everywhere by a giant version of herself, and searches for ways to rid herself of it." "Katsuhito also directed the film Promises of August (1995) and The Shark Skin Man and the Peach Hip Girl (1999) as well as providing some animation in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill vol. I," adds Schumer.