“In 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi founded Nintendo Koppai for the purposes of producing and selling hand-crafted Hanafuda cards painted on mulberry tree bark. Though it took a while to catch on, soon the Yakuza began using Hanafuda cards in their gambling parlors, and card games became popular in Japan again” though previously outlawed in Japan as far back as 1633. (from wikipedia link).

The game is popular back home in Hawaii (where it is sometimes known as “Sakura”) and South Korea, but not in Japan where only the Yakuza still play it allegedly. All ages and races play it in Hawaii, from children to the elderly.

Basically hanafuda is a matching game of 12 sets of 4 cards, which correspond to the 12 months of the year. Thus January is the month for matsu (pine), February is ume (plum), March is sakura (cherry blossom), etc. Two or more people can play the game, though usually best with 3 or 4. Each player tries to match the flowering plant sets and thus gain points to win. Card values range from zero to twenty points.

As a child, I also learned to play a more difficult version of the game, by acquiring specific sets of 3 cards called “yaku”. If a player is able to get a yaku, then the other players deduct 50 points (ouch) from their points. My 101 year old Japanese American aunty beat two of us younger relatives once by acquiring 3 yakus (150 point deduction from each of us). We were literally wiped out of any points!

hanafuda card set

Next meeting of this Japanese Culture Meetup group is Saturday, September 4 at Dao’s Tai Pan restaurant, 446 N. Wilmot Road (between E. 6th St. and Broadway). Drop by if you want to learn to play this game, and/or fold origami. The fun starts at 10 a.m. Contact organizer M Craig at 520-331-0602, email: morigami2@yahoo.com.

sushi sample

Back in July, 2009 I blogged about my favorite sushi restaurants in Tucson (click here). When we first got to the Old Pueblo in 1987, there were only a handful of Japanese restaurants, but later they started sprouting up all over town and sushi became very popular.

Here’s a comprehensive (more or less) list of the thirty and more Japanese restaurants in town, some with or without sushi bars. I once had the lofty (and expensive) goal of eating at every one, but I’m so far behind now as I haven’t been to about 1/3 of these new ones listed below:

Benihana, 6091 N. Oracle Rd., 297-5555 (update: closed March, 2010)

Fuku Sushi, 940 E. University Blvd, 798-3848

Fusion Wasabi, 250 S. Craycroft, #100, 747-0228

Ginza Sushi & Izakaya, 5425 N. Kolb Rd. #115, 529-8877

Hibachi-san, 4500 N. Oracle, 407-8296 (Tucson Mall)

Ichiban, 64 N. Harrison Rd., 393-7777

Ikkyu, 2040 W. Orange Grove, 297-9011

Kampai, 4689 E. Speedway Blvd, 325-6552 (now called Bushi as of March, 2011)

Kampai North, 6486 N. Oracle, 219-6550

Kazoku, 4210 E. Speedway, 777-6249

Kyo, 9040 E. Valencia Rd., 663 – 3717

Oishi Sushi, 7002 E. Golf Links Rd., 790-9439

On a Roll, 63 E. Congress St., 622-7655

RA Sushi , 2905 E. Skyline Dr, 615-3970

Sachiko, 1101 N. Wilmot Rd. #109, 886-7000

Sachiko Sushi, 3210 E. Valencia, 741-1000

Saga, 2955 E. Speedway Blvd, 320 – 0535

Sakura, 6534 E. Tanque Verde Rd., 298 – 7777

Samurai, 3912 N. Oracle Rd., 293-1963

Sarku Japan, 5870 E. Broadway, #556, 790-0818 (Park Place)

Shogun, 5036 N. Oracle, 888-6646

Sushi Cho, 1830 E. Broadway, 628-8800

Sushi Garden, 15 North Alvernon Way, 326-4700 (moving to Broadway/Country Club)

Sushi Garden North, 7401 N. La Cholla, 877-8744 (Foothills Mall)

Sushi Hama, 3971 N. Oracle Rd. 888-6763

Sushi King, 1800 E. Ft. Lowell, 321-4000

Sushi on Oracle, 6449 N. Oracle Rd., 297-3615

Sushi Ten, 4500 E. Speedway, 324-0010

Sushi Tran, 9725 N. Thornydale, 579-6604

Sushi Yukari, 5655 E. River Rd. #151, 232-1393

Takamatsu, 5525 E. Speedway, 512-0800 – closed August 2010, renovating

Tatsu Sushi, 7332 N. Oracle, 219-6989

Yamato, 857 E. Grant Rd., 624-3377

Yoshimatsu/Sushimatsu, 2660 N. Campbell, 320-1574

Yuki’s, 2962 N. Campbell, 326-7727

Blogger “Tucson Metromix” ran an online poll in January, and Sushimatsu won as best sushi restaurant in town. Its companion restaurant Yoshimatsu also won the 9/24/09 Tucson Weekly’s Best of Tucson category for Japanese restaurant. So eating there you can get two great deals.

I know this list probably isn’t complete, so readers, please let me know of other restaurants I may have missed or if you agree with the polls above. I also didn’t list the fast food places like Yokohama’s many Asian Express rice bowl outlets, and Tokyo Rice Bowl on Campbell and Glenn (because they’re more Chinese than Japanese).

And also keep in mind that some of these restaurants combine other Asian food with Japanese food on the menu, such as Korean bbq at Takamatsu, which isn’t quite authentic.

But I bet you can find a tasty Japanese restaurant somewhere near you from this long selection. And if you like the upscale look, check out Fusion Wasabi and/or RA.

Itadakimasu.