Summer in Japan sees a series of big Shogi match, in addition to the Shogi festival targeting at the people who play Shogi for fun. I watched Shogi lessons on You tube last summer almost every day to learn how to play. To my regret, I ran out of time and could not finish, thus I still do not know how to play. But I do enjoy seeing and hearing the news of the Shogi games and Shogi players.
The game No. 4 of Shogi Oui sen title match was finished with the win for the defending Oi, K. Fukaura. For A. Hirose (6 DAN), the challenger, this is the first major title match and he won the first and the third game. I have been very interested as Hirose represents the new and upcoming generation of Shogi players. It will be exciting to see the rest of the Title match, as they are tied at 2-2.
The tournament to become a challenger for Ryuo, another major Title of Shogi, has been underway. Now the final match is scheduled to start on August 16 between Yoshiharu Habu with four titles and Toshiaki Kubo with two titles. The will have 3-game series to decide the challenger to Ryuo Akira Watanabe. This will be a great match as well. It is very exciting time.
I began re-reading the book by Mochio Umeda entitled Shogi from Silicon Valley in Japanese. I loved the book the first time I read it, but reading it again gives me many more new insights that I did not notice the first time around.
Yoko Ishikura is a Professor at Hitotsubashi University ICS in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy in Japan. She has held positions as a professor at the School of International Politics, Economics and Business of Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo, as a consultant at McKinsey and Company Inc. Japan and a visiting professor at Darden School.
Professor Ishikura is a consultant to a number of multinational companies and has been a frequent speaker at management conferences, seminars, and workshops throughout the world. She was a member of the Regulatory Reform Committee for the Japanese government and the International Competitiveness Commission for METI. She is currently a Forum Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
She is the author of Strategic Shift from OR choices to AND paradigm, Building Core Skills of Organization , and the co-author of the following publications: Managing Diversity in the 21st Century, Strategy for Cluster Initiatives in Japan , and Building a Career to the World Class Professionals – all in Japanese. Her books in English include: Asian Advantage, Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management and Trust and Antitrust in Asian Business Alliances.
Professor Ishikura’s current research interests are focused on global competition, innovation, and knowledge management. She received her BA from Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; MBA from Darden School, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia; and DBA from Harvard Business School.
