Part I. TOKYO

If you go mah-jongg shopping in Tokyo, and especially if (like me) you also enjoy card games, you will want to visit Okuno Karuta. It's in Jimbocho, between the Jimbocho subway station and the Suidobashi train station (they don't usually use street names in Tokyo, but it looks like this street does have a name -- it's Hakusan Dori.

You want the west side of the street. Just look for a shop with games in the window. If you're lucky enough to meet Mr. Okuno himself, tell him hello for me -- he may remember me as the foreigner who bought a lot of yakitori markers (for the AMJA), as well as several hanafuda decks and various card games (for my personal collection). Here is his card:

I can't read the card, but I found an English-language listing for Okuno Karuta at http://web.reedexpo.co.jp/tibf/english/rightsinfo_a.html (it wasn't there when I checked back in 2002):

OKUNO KARUTATEN CO., LTD.
TEL.81-3-3230-1041 FAX.81-3-3230-1512
(Rights)Nobuo Okuno(President)
Since 1922, dealing with the traditional Japanese indoor playthings, games and cards, GO, SHOGI, MARJAHN*, HANAFUDA, IROHA KARUTA etc. widely, together with imported games. KARUTA. a set of cards & poem have been loved and played as an enjoyment of leisure, or as a tutorial game, from the old era in Japan. This time we exhibit newly launched beautifully woodcut-printed YOJIJUKUGO, KARUTA, SINNKA, MIYAZAWA, adding to another our originals.
* ("Marjahn" is mah-jongg.)

Here's a Japanese-language map to the shop, from the back of Okuno Karuta's 2002 catalog:

Okuno Karuta's website is at www.okunokaruta.com.

And you should go to Hakuhinkan Toy Park in Ginza. It's near the Shimbashi station, at the northernmost point of the intersection where Chuo Dori goes under the Shuto Expressway loop. This shop has a decent selection of mah-jongg and go stuff too (but Okuno Karuta is my first choice for classic games).

Here's a photo I took during the 2002 WCMJ, when I visited the store with Ruth Unger.

Whenever I go to Tokyo, I always visit both stores no matter what. They're both great!

During the 2002 World Championship in Mah-Jongg I learned of the location of "the best mah-jongg shopping in Tokyo." It's located in TAKEYA discount/department store near OKACHIMACHI station (even closer to NAKA-OKACHIMACHI station). The phone number is (03) 3835-7777.

Map showing location of Takeya

Martin Rep has visited the store and he advises that the mah-jongg stuff is hidden away on the 8th floor (I should have mentioned that myself). There isn't a lot to choose from, but it's cheap.

Part II. HONG KONG

There are dozens of mah-jongg shops and mah-jongg parlors listed in the Hong Kong yellow pages. Here are the addresses of a few (unless otherwise noted, these are all shops):

• ENATEK TECHNOLOGY (HONG KONG) LTD. (purveyors of mah-jongg machines), Beverly House (852) 2528-2206
  
• BIU KEE, 26F Jordan Rd., (852) 2730-4028
  
• CHI MING MAHJONG SHOP, 60 Fa Yuen St., (852) 2770-7839, 2384-6570
  
• HIP YICK CO., 6 Wu Nam St., (852) 2552-7167
  
• SUN YAU CHEUNG, Lai Bo Shopping Centre, (852) 2458-0763 and -6935
  
• WING SHING CHEUNG Ma Jong & Ivory, 512 Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay.
  
• HONG KONG MAHJONG CO. (playing parlour), 324-326 Lockhart Rd., Causeway Bay.

The easiest way to get to Wing Shing Cheung is to take the MTR to the Causeway Bay station. Take exit C and turn right. The shop is somewhere near the green "X" I put on the map.

Here is the calling card of Wing Shing Cheung (front and back):

To see photos of Wing Shing Cheung and Hong Kong Mahjong Co., click here (photos of my excellent Hong Kong mah-jongg adventure, January 2002).

More addresses of Hong Kong mah-jongg companies are listed in FAQ 7Q.

On June 1, 2002 I received a wonderful email from Tom Powell, who wrote:

Dear Tom,

I'm just home from Hong Kong and thought I would drop you a quick note to (a) thank you again for your helpful "Where to buy in HK" page and (b) to give you a few more recommendations.

Your directions were spot on for finding Wing Shing Cheung. My mother, who plays Wright Patterson rules, requested a "pretty" set "with really thick tiles" and without western numerals. They had a beautiful black set that fit the bill. Upon request, they gave us four extra blank tiles (just in case she finds a group that plays NMJL rules). My travel friend liked the set so much that he bought an identical set (and he doesn't even play!) I also bought a set of playing card tiles and wind indicators. They threw in one of those large green dragon paperweights. Very nice people to deal with and the prices were reasonable (no doubt, we could have bartered the price down a bit, but it was still much cheaper than in the US). We only regret that we bought the sets early in the morning, as they got heavier and heavier to carry as the day wears on!

We especially had fun shopping for Mah Jongg tiles in Kowloon. There were some good deals to be had at the Temple Street night market. For HK$68 (less than US$10) I bought a very good quality travel set. The tiles are ivory-colored plastic and measure about 18mm x 24mm x 12mm. In retrospect, I wish I had bought several of these. We saw similar sets of lesser quality for the same price, so it pays to shop around. We also bought a bone and bamboo set for a song (used, but it's cleaning up nicely -- I'm about half done at this point...)

There are also at least three mahjong shops/kiosks within easy walking distance of the Jordan Street MTR station:

(1) Your listing of shops included Biu Kee (26F Jordan Road), and we bought black wind indicators and bettors there (to match the sets we bought previously). I also bought a nice set of Mah-jongg kards (HK$35 -- later I saw the very same kards at a stationery shop for only HK$12!).

(2) Cheung Kong Ma Jong Tin Kau is located at 156A Temple St (we actually entered from Saigon St.). Very large selection. I bought Singapore-style flowers that *almost* matched my travel set. (I can scan a business card with a map if you like).

(3) Nearby, is another shop on Woosung St. (No. 58, I think -- the shop keeper had no business cards and his writing is not too clear).

I also saw a new mah-jongg computer game in several stores. It apparently uses speech recognition and a head-mounted microphone is included. I resisted the temptation to buy it...

Finally, I bought a very interesting item at the Toys R Us (!) store in Ocean Terminal Mall (also Kowloon). It's a mah-jongg style board game with miniature plastic tiles and a nice felt-covered playing area (cost: HK$130). Rather than traditional designs, these tiles picture different types of dim sum! The rules are bilingual Chinese/Japanese, and I've not yet been able to track down an English translation. Nevertheless, it's an interesting addition to my game collection!

Again, thanks for your most excellent web pages.

Cheers
Tom Powell

And on January 8, 2003, I got a wonderfully informative email from Dan Glimne, a games writer in Sweden, who had participated with me at the 2002 World Championship in Mah-Jongg in October 2002 in Tokyo. And again at the 2005 OEMC in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

Dear Tom,

Hope 2003 has begun in style and that this is the year when we will all finally become rich, handsome and famous!

I have now done some sorting out, and with this mail, and several following, please find info on that mahjong shop in Hong Kong [mentioned in http://www.sloperama.com/hk/hkmj.htm]. [We] were directed to it by serendipity: as we were standing in that little shop in 512 Lockhart Road (after the tip from you -- the proprietor even showed me your business card from his files, and I added mine!), a young Chinese came downstairs and I shanghaied him into doing some translating work, since I was mystified by some of the stuff in the shop. When it dawned on him that I was a mahjong collector, and that [we] had played in the World Championship in Tokyo, he X'ed a place on my HK city map and told me to go there, as it would be "a much better shop".

And indeed it was, this Ying Fat Cheung shop. Fantastic assortment, I finally could add a complete Vietnamese and Taiwanese set (the latter with the four "Hundred Matches" joker-style tiles) to my collection. The owner, Huen Kwok Leung, spoke a quite passable English and was very attentive, polite and pleasant. As we spent time there (about an hour!), several persons and couples came by and bought mahjong sets, "tailoring" them to their respective tastes (size, backs, colours, with [or] without Western markings, choice of tally sticks or chips, etc etc etc). Quite interesting. I append several pictures with the following emails. That establishment comes highly recommended from me, not least because they also had several other interesting games (for example a Money Stick dice game) which I also bought! And as you can see from the pictures, they do a nice business in carving ivory too.

The only things I could not find were an 88-set Malay set and a 168-tile Thai set, but the proprietor turned out to be familiar with both. (Not in stock right then, those they usually only make to order.) I also gave him one of the brochures from Tokyo, with pictures from the Mahjong Museum.

Right next door to Ying Fat Cheung was another mahjong shop, as you will see for yourself, but it does not match up. Not even a tenth of Ying's inventory! Nevertheless you might as well pop in, it's only another 20 feet away...

You may of course freely use these pictures on your web site, with suitable text.

All the best!

- Dan

My thanks to Dan for the wonderful story, and for the permission to share it with the readers of the FAQ. I hope to put some of the pictures up someday. - Tom

Part III. OTHER PLACES IN ASIA

From: "Sushila Singh" <sushilla©hotmail.com>
To: <tomster©sloperama.com>
Sent: Friday, April 14, 2006 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: mahjong

> Pranam Gurujee,
> MJ shopping in Singapore for your info.
>
> Capitol Plastics Co
>   Blk 335 Smith Street
>   #01-016 Chinatown Complex
>   Tel: (65) 6220 8398
>
> ·   Yit Fatt Mahjong Centre
>   1 Park Rd
>   #03-K73 People's Park Complex
>   Tel: (65) 6532 6461

Namaste Shushila,
This is great! I'll add it to FAQ 7m. Thank you.
Tom Sloper (湯姆スローパー)
Tomster©Sloperama,com
Los Angeles, CA (USA)
The Ides of April, 2006

Some photos of mahjong shopping in Taiwan, sent in by mahjong newsgroup regular John Low!

Photo 1: Gold tiles.
Photo 2: Colorful choices.
Photo 3: Chinese Chess tiles.
Photo 4: Water Margin tiles.
Photo 5: Wall decorations.
Photo 6: Paigow tiles.

Thanks again to John Low for the photos! John reports that you can do mahjong shopping in Taiwan at: