A Parlor Abroad
by Daniel “Dasuke” Moreno
This article makes mention of mahjong in relation to gambling. Riichi Reporter does not endorse gambling. While Rate parlors are pragmatically tolerated, gambling is still considered illegal in Japan.
– Editor
Japan. Land of the vending machine and home of the convenient store. The forefront of Japanese mahjong, battleground for pro organizations, and of course mahjong parlors scattered across the city offering anyone brave enough to enter the opportunity to play mahjong against a wide variety of players any time of day. With a fresh, hot towel and sometimes a nice drink when you go, what more is there to want? Unfortunately for those who do not speak Japanese, parlors are more often than not an unwelcome place.
I mean, if you are gambling money or even just spending your cash to enjoy a game in your free time, who would want a random person on the table who you can’t even communicate with and may not even know the rules of the game? Certainly not the regular customers that fund the business, nor the staff members that have to deal with such a hassle. This leads to the reasonable conclusion where a non-Japanese speaking player is kindly asked to leave, usually in the form of, “I think it’s too soon for you to be playing here…”
This is where I come in. After reading this even the most Western of John Smiths will be asked if he is half Japanese for his impressive performance at the mahjong parlors.
I first went to Japan in 2013 to study abroad for a year at Sophia University. Like any other random mahjong loving foreigner, I really wanted to play at a mahjong parlor. So with this desire in mind, I searched up Google for the nearest parlor in my tiny part of the outskirts of Tokyo.
On a sunny fall day, I went into this small nearby parlor to find a number of shell-shocked older people playing on hand shuffle tables. With the look of surprise that screamed “did this guy come to the wrong building?” and even an audible exclamation of “It’s a foreigner…” I proceeded to ask in my uncertain Japanese, “can I play here?” An older man stepped forward and informed me I could not because this was a “Set” only parlor.
Set vs. Free Parlors
At a mahjong parlor there are two different ways to play at a table. The first one is called “Set”, which means you rent out a table for a certain amount per hour. This is usually done when you have three other friends and want to go out and play mahjong together. You can’t recruit members for Set at a parlor and most places have this explicitly written down.
The next type is the “Free” parlor which, unfortunately, is not actually free. In Free mahjong players are seated at a table with other customers and/or parlor workers (called Members). In this type of mahjong each player will have to pay a table fee at the end of each game usually ranging between ¥300-¥600.
So that’s what my problem was! The parlor I went to only had Set, so that’s why I couldn’t play. Right? With my newfound knowledge I went and found the closest Free mahjong parlor near my tiny apartment in the outskirts of Tokyo.
As I walked into my new target, I was met with the sight of two automatic mahjong tables and two older gentleman sitting around and waiting for more customers to come. I proceeded to ask and my broken Japanese a question I had over the rules of the parlor. After some clarification, one of the gentleman proceeded to tell me, “But no, it’s impossible for you. You can’t speak Japanese that well and you don’t even know how to play. I think it’s too early for you.” To which I replied, “I know how to play mahjong.” “OK, but you still can’t speak Japanese that good. I still think it’s too early for you…”
Too early for me, also known as please leave.
This place was a small parlor that had its normal customers and wasn’t willing to go out of its way for a possible hassle. It may be asking a question about one of their rules gave off a bad impression? As a general rule, especially for a foreigner that cannot speak or understand Japanese that well, you’ll need to know all the ins and outs of the rules and manners of any place before you go there.
At most large or chain parlors, first time customers will be set down and explained the rules and manners by a parlor worker. But of course, if you can’t understand Japanese that doesn’t do you much good, now does it? So, what can you do? Spend your leisurely time translating and reading the rules and manners online of course!
Most all parlors, especially big chains, will have their rules and manners on a section of their website. Using this and mahjong terminology lists, you can decipher beforehand the rules of the place you want to play at.
So having not being beaten down by two failed attempts, I went in for my third try. This time instead of going to a small parlor on the outskirts of Tokyo I decided to go to a big one in the middle of Shinjuku. On a packed Friday night, after having read all of their rules and manners thoroughly online, I walked into the west Shinjuku Marchao parlor.
When I entered the parlor a worker (Member) asked me if I had and existing membership card. Since I didn’t, I filled out some basic information on the form (usually name, birthday, how you found out about the place, how well can you score, how much experience do you have at parlors) and then got seated at a table to have the rules and manners of the place that I was playing it explained. Having already read them online I replied affirmatively to the Member’s questions. Though playing, or rather sitting, in front of an automatic mahjong table for the very first time in my life was quite enthusiastic to me (maybe too much so), they still had a suspicious look on their face. After thinking for a while, the Member asked me to follow them. They lead me to the door and proceeded to tell me “I think it’s still too early for you…”
So, what was the issue this time? I went to the correct Free mahjong parlor. I read up on all the rules and manners, and I even went to a bigger chain that should be used to new people. So what happened? Why was it that I still couldn’t play mahjong?
Rate vs. No Rate Parlors
Aside from the types of seating I mentioned before, Set and Free, there is also another classification of parlor you’ll be playing at. That is, are you gambling money or not? Parlors where money is being gambled are called “Rate” parlors. If no money is being gambled, then it is called a “No Rate” parlor.
If a new player shows up to a Rate mahjong parlor, especially without any prior mahjong parlor experience, questionable language skills, and on a busy Friday night at that, it might be too much of a hassle that the workers there are willing to deal with. Though, if instead of a Rate parlor, a new player like this goes to a No Rate parlor, then the chances that the staff members and the other customers will be willing to deal with that new player goes up a considerable amount.
Now zero for three, I thought to myself, “Maybe mahjong parlors are just too far out of my reach right now.” At that time, one of my sempai in my university mahjong club told me to come and play at the mahjong parlor he worked at—a place by the name of The Zoo in West Ikebukuro.
As before, I thoroughly checked the rules and manners of the parlor before I actually went. The mahjong parlor in question was a No Rate parlor that charged by time. After I entered the parlor I was asked the usual question of did I have a membership card or not. Because I didn’t, I filled out the information for a new membership. The day that I went, my sempai was not working, so in passing I mentioned him to the other staff members they proceeded to tell me, “Oh, you’re friends with him? He’s really good!”
This brought up an interesting point that I proceeded to use anytime my foreign friends came to Tokyo. That is, if they’ve never played any mahjong parlor before, go with a friend that has. Once you get that first mahjong parlor membership card, even if you go to some other chain or parlor, then you can show them the card as proof of having actually played in a mahjong parlor before.
Friends that have played at a certain mahjong parlor before are the easiest way in. Even if you’re not that confident in your mahjong skill, if you can get a couple more friends to play with you can even go to a Set parlor and play for cheap.
At the time of writing this in 2019, things are a bit different than when I first came to Japan. Most noticeably the amount of No Rate parlors is on the rise, and there are even two parlors that are quite friendly and experienced with foreigner players.
The first is the M-League Stadium in Takedanobaba, a No Rate parlor that charges ¥500 for games. This parlor has a constant influx of guest pros, including active M-League players! Best of all, a member of the Pacific Mahjong League who now lives in Tokyo named Ayako, translated the entire rules and manners for the staff. Any time a foreign player comes in, they have a sheet explaining all the rules and manners in English!
The second is the Japanese Professional Mahjong League Dojo (JPML Dojo) in Sugamo. This is a mahjong dojo so the set-up is a little different here. Games start at at 5pm and began all together at the top of the hour. In total there are 6 sets of games. You can play for however many you wish, though you only have to pay for 5 if you play all 6. The rules depend on the day of the week, trading off between WRC rules and JPML A-league rules. Currently they don’t have an English sheet of all their rules and manners, but hopefully that will be changing soon!
TLDR: Go with a friend who frequents parlors and it will save you a lot of headache!
Playing for Money
Note: I don’t suggest going to a rate parlor without proper experience at another parlor or suitable Japanese skills. If you do go stick to larger chains to avoid walking into a place where you lose ¥100,000 in a few games, or might have bad associations leading to a possible police raid and being evicted from the country.
Rate parlors come in a few different flavors, namely the amount of money your playing for. Most often you’ll find Tenpin (¥100 per 1,000 points) and Tengo (¥50/1,000 points). Sometimes you can even find cheaper variants like Tenni (¥20/1,000 points). Anything higher than tenpin is usually illegal and only found in some very, very shady places. Along with this most parlors play with a few more ways to get money, namely Shuugi (chips), Uma (placement bonus), and Oka (first place bonus).
Shuugi are one of the biggest differences between regular mahjong and parlor mahjong. Shuugi is a chip that you get when you win from other players by meeting a certain criterion. Usually these are: one for every red dora (sometimes 5 if you have all three red dora), Ippatsu, one for each ura-dora, and some for a Yakuman (usually 10 for ron, 5 for tsumo). The best part about these shuugi is if you rob someone they pay the amount, but if you tsumo EVERYONE pays the full amount.
So why is shuugi such a game changer? Consider that the usual value of shuugi is about ¥100 for Tengo (about 2,000 points each), and ¥500 for Tenpin (5,000 points each!!!) Some places can have lower amounts, like ¥50 Tengo and ¥300 Tenpin; at the same time some places have Tenpin and ¥1000 shuugi!
Oka is a standard -5000 points from everyone and +20k for first. Uma is usually a standard 10-20 or 10-30. All in all, even though they bet, it’s not something that will break your bank or anything you can live on, especially when you consider you have to pay a table fee on top of all this (¥400-¥600 standard).
“So, what is there to be scared of? I thought you said I could lose ¥100,000 in a few games at some places?” The answer to that comes in the different types of Tenpin games. These are referred to as Soft Pin, and Hard Pin.
Soft Pin vs Hard Pin
Soft Pin is the standard rates of Tenpin + ¥500 shuugi with a 10-20 or 10-30 uma + oka. Even with a REALLY bad game it’s pretty difficult to lose over ¥10,000 at these places, especially since games end if someone busts or if someone gets over 50k/60k points. The Tenpin that you’ll find in chain parlors is usually like this and sometimes cheaper.
Hard Pin on the other hand is floating dangerously close to the illegal status and a lot more likely to be raided by police. While on paper they are still ‘Tenpin’ they make up for the flow of money in other rules. Often this can come in the form of upping to shuugi to ¥1,000 each. Other places add a higher uma in place, like 50-100. Still others shorten the game to an East only game and provide placement-only games, like +9k, +2k, -4K, -7k respectively for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Others methods include Tobi payments (falling before zero points), gold/special red 5 that give multiple shuugi for each, and even a place where everyone instantly pays you shuugi whenever you call a closed kan. Throwing these rules together can form some very costly rules but are still considered “Tenpin”.
Whether you choose to play Set or Free, Rate or No Rate, make sure to investigate the places you want to play before you go there. Otherwise, between a special rule set that you’re not familiar with (and the regulars are!) and a large rate, you could end up losing your funds very, very fast.