international promotion of Shogi - as a consequence of the
groundbreaking decision that has been taken by NIHON SHOGI RENMEI in
order to stage the International Shogi Forum 2011 outside of Japan for
the first time, namely at Paris, France.
With regard to the ambitious goal of popularizing Shogi globally, it is
very good news that the German edition of music-channel MTV plus the
German-language music channel VIVA, both have aired a feature on Shogi!
Please check out the link as follows:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
There you will see the Hamburg-based author Dr. Rene Gralla who makes
the case for Shogi by outlining the historical background of that great
strategic game - the BATTLE OF SEKIGAHRA that has marked a watershed in
the history of Japan on October 21st, 1600 - and by demonstrating the
rules of Shogi on a three-coloured big board that is crowded by figurine
pieces in 3D. That innovative set has been hand-made by Dr. Rene Gralla
himself; you can watch some close-up views of board and chessmen
Japanese style after 2:04 minutes running time of the Shogi-clip on
Youtube.
The creator of that prototype of SHOGI IN 3D is convinced that his
version of Shogi with eye-catching figurine pieces complies with the
viewing patterns of the Manga- and MTV-Generation. "Figurine SHOGI IN 3D
is the perfect tool to get modern kids to turn to Shogi - be it in Japan
or outside of Japan", says Dr. Rene Gralla.
At least that set of SHOGI IN 3D has been very helpful for the purpose
of convincing SIMON and BUDI - the popular presenters of that very
TV-magazine GAME ONE that has featured Shogi on MTV and VIVA - that they
should produce a TV-reportage on Shogi. And BUDI gets that thrilled by
Shogi that he even sits down at the board of SHOGI IN 3D and battles out
a match against Dr. Rene Gralla.
That feature on MTV and VIVA is a QUANTUM LEAP with regard to the
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION of Shogi, since GAME ONE - that TV-magazine that
has now featured Shogi - normally covers EGames only but NO BOARD GAMES!
Therefore the very fact that Shogi, the board game par excellence, has
been featured by GAME ONE, that is a real media sensation: Shogi has
succeeded in getting accepted by the young and modern community of
Egamers.
Now SHOGI has become POP itself - by having been covered by music
channels MTV and VIVA!
And that is the perfect prelude for the ESC/WOSC 2011, this year's
second big event of Shogi in Europe from July 14th, 2011 to July 17th,
2011, at Ludwigshafen/Germany!
