Here I am sitting on my couch watching Hikaru via the Youtube app on my bluray player. In the past I would usually skip over most of the Go No Igo segments, but for some reason it seems like more of a hassle on youtube, so this time around I am letting it play through, though not really paying attention most of the time. I look up and see a cute little 12-year-old Iyama Yuta, brand new shodan braces and all. I think it is in episode 26. It's a little crazy that of the 7 new shodans that year, they chose to interview the one who would dominate the Japanese go scene 15 years later.

Perhaps there's method to the madness:
it is said when he was growing up in Japan, Mr. Iyama had no opponent within his age group.
Another story goes Touya Akira's character in HnG was based on Mr. Iyama.

I watched all those Go Go Igo segments, first when I was learning the game, second when teaching kids to play. The second time I looked up Iyama Yuta to see how he's been doing since then. That made him the first modern Go pro who had name recognition for me.

Really, though, there's some interesting stuff in those segments. Not the beginner lessons so much, but they pay visits to the Japanese Go Institute and the Shusaku museum, so you can see the real-life locations that appear in the series.

I just re-watched this a week or so ago and didn't make the connection. I guess in my mind I wasn't thinking the series is that old yet.

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I'm thinking...