I learnt go at the age of six, but even when I was little I loved Go and found it interesting. At first, I really enjoyed it when I captured a lot of stones. As I got stronger, I was moved when I learnt new tesujis and josekis and so on, and I found playing really exciting.

As a game, I like the fact that there are so few rules, so you are free. As you experience success and failure through developing your own strategies, you alternate between joy and sorrow.

Go is also called communicating with the hands. One of the charms of Go is that you can enjoy it with anyone regardless of nationality or age; if there's a difference in strength, you can use handicaps.

The other day I acted as referee at a children's tournament, one in which not only Japanese children but also children from China and Taiwan could take part. In the open division, a game between a Japanese child and a Chinese child was very exciting and I admired them as a spectator, but I got a real surprise after the end of the game. The Chinese child, who had won, took the position back to the key fight and asked by placing a black stone what would have happened if they had played a different move. The Japanese child replied by placing a white stone, and that started a prolonged but silent review of the game. Even without a common language, they could communicate through Go. This scene really convinced me of how apt it is to call Go "hand communication".

I hope to do as much as I can with my limited ability to enable as many people as possible to know of Go and to enjoy it.