Posts Tagged ‘Japanese mahjong tiles’
Yes folks, it’s here!
The “White Tiger” Japanese mahjong set, produced by Taiyo Chemicals Japan Inc, is possibly the world’s most environmentally friendly mahjong set because the mahjong tiles are made of recycled PET. PET, or “polyethylene terephthalate”, is a thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used most notably to produce soft drink bottles.
The White Tiger Mahjong Set
So what is the set like?
The White Tiger tiles (above) compared to a Sango Mahjong tile (below)
The first thing I noticed when I opened the box is that the colour of the tiles is a pleasing pale cream, or restrained off-white, rather than the almost flouescent white of standard Japanese mahjong tiles.
The second thing that struck me was the size of the characters on the tile faces. The tiles themselves are a little larger than standard Sango tiles, and the characters are also very bold, which makes the tiles very easy to read, so good for anybody with weak eyes.
White Tiger Mahjong Tiles: Winds, Dragons, Red 5s
White Tiger tiles are bigger across the face, but a little thinner than standard tiles. They have black backs and no side "notch".
The tiles measure 26 x 19 x 15mm and each tile weighs 16g, which makes them not only wider and higher, but also a little thinner than standard tiles that typically measure 25.5 x 18.6 x 16mm.
The tiles have black backs.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
$85 (+S&H)
DH
David Hurley
S 25.5 × 18.5mm, M 26 × 19.1mm, L 26.7 × 20mm, 2L 27.3 × 20.6mm, 3L 30.5 × 22.6mm
Typically, Japanese mahjong tiles are smaller than their Chinese counterparts. The photo above shows some life-sized standard Japanese mahjong tile face sizes.
Standard Japanese Mahjong Set
The most popular set available today is the Standard Japanese Mahjong Set which consists of S size tiles. The face of the tiles measure 25.5mm x 18.5mm and the tile is 15.5mm thick.
The tile in the photo to the left is actually from the Sango set, which is sometimes available on this site. The tiles are identical in size, weight and design to the cheaper Standard Japanese Mahjong Set.
The tiles of the Take Mahjong Set and the Tenhou Mahjong Set are “L” size, 26.7 x 20mm x 16.2mm and 16mm thick. The Take Mahjong tiles are also flatter across the back to make it easier to stack walls, which makes them a popular choice for mahjong clubs as the walls are that much more stable than regular tile backs, which are slightly convex in imitation of the bamboo backs of traditional sets.
The tiles of the Hichou Mahjong Set are 3L in size and measure 30.5mm x 22.6mm x 17mm.
Buy Japanese Mahjong tiles online.
David Hurley
