日本麻将

　　麻将于1907年传入日本，在1920年成为极受欢迎的游戏。麻将游戏在1937-1945年的抗日战争期间在日本被镇压，但战争结束后，其受欢迎程度很快就被恢复，并继续在今天的日本流行。

　　日本麻将保留经典的游戏：例如，得分点基本设置和付款计划这两个方面，其中由东支付和接收双倍。另一方面，如在所有的现代亚洲版本，只有赢家支付。日本的规则也省略了鲜花和四季，和大多数经典极限手牌相似。

　　日本麻将的最鲜明特点是回报的规划，失败者根据获奖瓷砖discarder支付。因此，防御性战略的意义大大增加。另一个典型的日本麻将的特点是对部分高损失的风险的解释是在一个隐蔽的奖励模式（或隐瞒模式）中。除了支付额外的双重的一个完全隐蔽的手法和三隐蔽三胞胎（中国古典规则），日本的规则是支付双倍打彭手与三个隐蔽三胞胎。现代的日本麻将这种倾向将进一步加剧。日本规则还推出了一个新的模式，例如，所有单纯在每一集的顺序。其他典型的日本人制定了包括如何放弃的规则。

　　在1950年，一些玩家一起形成了一个组织，被称为日本的麻将协会，其目的是要建立日本官方的规则，并尝试设置一个新的模式和规则的限制。该协会仍然是具有积极意义的，其拥有约20,000名会员，协会所规定的正式规则是人们普遍承认的，不仅在日本，在欧洲也是如此（四风的日本古典规则，是以这些规则为基础。

　　然而，日本选手使用现代模式的数量进一步增加，利一规则就是此类规则。此外，现代的规则几乎无一例外地使用称为多拉红地砖。日本现代法治预设四风代表的现代日本麻将（这是最常见的麻将的不同版本在今天的日本所扮演）的阿里版本，而日本的过渡则是在古典与现代之间。

　　其他亚洲版本

　　在台湾有一个特殊的16瓦麻将的演变，这个版本现在不仅在台湾，在菲律宾也是一样是非常受欢迎的。这里正手必须包含五个松狮、 Pungs 、 Kongs和一双套。这场比赛比传统的13瓦游戏更加困难，但也失去了一些经典游戏的灵活性和平衡性。

　　译文

　　Japanese Mah Jong

　　Mah Jong was introduced to Japan in 1907 and became extremely popular in the 1920's. During the Sino-Japanese War in 1937–45 the game was suppressed in Japan, but after the end of the war it soon regained its popularity, and continues to be popular in Japan of today.

　　The Japanese Mah Jong has retained much of the classical game: e.g., point-scoring for basic sets and a payment plan where East pays and receives double. On the other hand, as in all modern Asian versions, only the winner is paid. The Japanese rules also omitted Flowers and Seasons, and most of the classical Limit hands.

　　The most distinctive feature of Japanese Mah Jong is the payoff scheme, according to which a discarder of the winning tile pays for all losers. Thus the meaning of defensive strategies is greatly increased. Another typically Japanese feature – partly explained by the risk of high losses – is rewarding patterns in a concealed hand （or concealed patterns）。 In addition to paying an extra double for a Fully concealed hand  and Three concealed triplets （as the Chinese Classical rules）， the Japanese rules pay 2 doubles for a Pung hand with three concealed triplets. In the modern Japanese Mah Jong this tendency is further accentuated. The Japanese rules also introduced a number of new patterns, e.g., All simples, Terminal in each set  and Sequential Chows from one suit. Other typically Japanese inventions include the rule of Sacred Discard, Missed Discard and Riichi.

　　In the 1950's a group of players formed an organization called the Japanese Mah Jong Association the purpose of which was to establish official Japanese rules and attempt to set a limit to the invention of new patterns and rules. The association is still active and has about 20,000 members, and the official rules laid out by the association are widely acknowledged not only in Japan, but also in Europe （the Japanese Classical rules of Four Winds are based on these rules）。

　　However, the great majority of Japanese players use modern rules where the number of patterns is further increased and where the rule of Riichi is used; in addition, the modern rules almost invariably use bonus tiles called Dora. In Four Winds the Japanese Modern rule preset represents the modern Japanese Ari-Ari version of Mah Jong （which is the most common of different versions of Mah Jong played in Japan of today）， while the Japanese Transitional presents a sort of mid-point between the classical and modern.

　　Other Asian versions

　　In Taiwan a special 16-Tile Mah Jong was evolved, and this version is enormously popular today, not only in Taiwan but also e.g. in Philippines. Here the regular hand must contain five （instead of four） sets of Chows/Pungs/Kongs and a pair. The game is more difficult than a traditional 13-tile game, but has also lost some of the flexibility and balance of the classical game.