is a Japanese satirical mahjong manga series by Hideki Ohwada. It was initially irregularly serialized in the Kindai Mahjong Original manga magazine published by Takeshobo, then switched to bimonthly serialization on Takeshobo's other mahjong manga magazine Kindai Mahjong in April 2009. An anime adaptation was released on February 26, 2010, as an original video anime.
The premise of the manga is that international diplomacy is settled on the mahjong table, with real-life politicians depicted as masters of mahjong. The Japanese title is a parody of Junichiro Koizumi's slogan, .
In June 2025, Mahjong Pros opened a publishing imprint and announced that they had licensed the series for English publication beginning in Q4 2025.
Plot In a world where all politics and diplomacy are settled via no-holds-barred mahjong battles by world politicians, Junichiro Koizumi settled scores with the United States, North Korea, and Russia before retiring as Prime Minister of Japan. However, he is recruited by the Vatican to be one of the five world leaders to counter a new international threat: the Nazis, still alive, who settled on the Moon and established the Fourth Reich. The Nazis challenge the world leaders to a best-of-five mahjong match to the death on the Guiana Highlands, but the battle is interrupted by the news of a rebellion on the Moon. After Adolf Hitler returned from the match on Earth and put down Erwin Rommel's rebellion, he beckons Koizumi to the Moon to finish the match. After a tremendous battle, Hitler is defeated while Koizumi becomes stranded on the Moon, his fate unknown. After Koizumi is presumed dead on the moon, the Japanese government under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) established the 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps (MJ-13) in an effort to make up for the loss of Japanese mahjong power. However, the LPD lost the 2009 elections to the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), who promptly tried to eliminate the newly established corps in the name of fiscal restructuring. The MJ-13, headed by Koizumi's hidden son Matajiro Sanada, duels three mahjong greats selected by the DPJ in a battle to decide the fate of the corps. Sanada defeats the incumbent prime minister Yukio Hatoyama in the last round, which causes the latter to lose power. It is then revealed that the LDP is planning to retrieve Koizumi from the Moon through Japan's space agency JAXA, and that MJ-13 was established to prepare for an upcoming war.
A challenge is issued to Japan to send five mahjong greats to the disputed Senkaku Islands, where a mysterious "red box" is threatening the safety of nearby fishermen. The ruling DPJ does not want to get involved in the controversy for fear of angering their Chinese masters, to the point of sending ninja assassins to try to kill Sanada, who desires to sail to the islands to investigate. Eventually, in the face of falling public support, the DPJ strikes a deal with the LDP to call an election early, which the LDP wins and promptly sends the MJ-13 to the Senkaku Islands. There they discover an abandoned Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier being overtaken by Red Guards, and a preserved Mao Zedong inside the dreaded "red box". Mao challenges Japan to five mahjong matches, with each of the 5 main islands of the Senkaku Islands being the wager. Mao cites his ambition to claim the islands for his Neo Chinese Soviet Republic and eventually reclaim China from its current leaders, who he thinks have betrayed the communist cause. After Japan defeats Mao, winning all matches along the way, Lenin himself summons the mysterious figure "Mask of Mahjong" as his aide to challenge Japan to a final match. The "Mask of Mahjong" defeats Lenin in the first round, and is revealed to be Junichiro Koizumi being controlled by the head of Leon Trotsky. The war ends with the ambitions of the Neo Chinese Soviet Republic broken, and Koizumi and Sanada reuniting as father and son, both acknowledging each other's mahjong powers.
After a two-year hiatus since the end of the "Senkaku Islands Bloody Battle" arc, the manga resumed in 2017 with a sequel centering on the imperial princess Hako Mikado (御門葩子) playing against foreign adversaries such as American president Donald Trump.
Characters Though based on real-life politicians, the characters are, as the manga's disclaimer notes, "works of fiction and not really related to any real-life people".
Japan Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)
The Prime Minister of Japan, the main protagonist of the story's first arc. Armed with a natural talent for mahjong, passed down from his grandfather Matajiro Koizumi, Junichiro defends Japanese interests and integrity against the heads of the world's superpowers, even after his retirement from politics. Signature skills include "Goumoupai" (轟盲牌, scraping tiles with a tight grip to make white tiles, or change the numerical value of tiles), "Rising Sun", a 13-tile wait (Kokushi Musou) won by Tsumo with the 1-Pin, symbolizing the Japanese sun, and "The Beginning of the Universe" (all white) which is the single highest scoring hand in the series. He is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa in the anime adaptation.
Member of the Japanese Diet who is perhaps overly eager and enthusiastic about the privileges of being a Diet member and admits his greatest fear is losing his status and "going back to being a NEET". He was held hostage by the Americans twice to lure Koizumi to the mahjong table. Though doubted by his peers who think he won his seat by fluke, Koizumi acknowledges Taizō as a bringer of luck. He appears in "The Blood Relatives of a Lion" arc as the trainer for the 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps. He plays better when in his underwear, a reference to when he was stripped during early chapters by Koizumi's opponents. He is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in the anime adaptation.
Another Diet member, she appears as the Prime Minister's aide and provides relevant commentary about the state of affairs on the mahjong table. Harbours hidden feelings for Koizumi, which she knows will be unrequited. She is voiced by Shizuka Itō in the anime adaptation.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs who eventually becomes the Prime Minister of Japan. Known as an able sharpshooter (since he represented the Japanese shooting team in the 1976 Summer Olympics) and plays mahjong in support for Koizumi. He is voiced by Kinryū Arimoto in the anime adaptation.
The Prime Minister of Japan. In a game against Russian president Vladimir Putin, he places Koizumi's son Kotaro Koizumi in place of his missing father. The swap is seen through by Putin, and Abe is shamed into committing seppuku. The public was told that he resigned due to diarrhea. He returns as prime minister in 2012, his abdomen now reinforced with metal.
Former Japanese Minister of Defense and now Secretary-General of the LDP. As Minister of Defense, he creates the 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps to compensate the drop in Japan's mahjong might due to Koizumi's absence. It is at his suggestion that the Corps' funding be cut, so that the Corps' mahjong training can be put to the test in their struggle to save the unit.
The leader of the LPD when the party became the opposition party. Despite his bookish demeanour, he wields mahjong power befitting of a party leader, to Matajiro Sanada's surprise when Tarō Asō called a match to test Sanada's power. Winning hands include the "Cosmic Cycler" (Four concealed triplets).
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)
Once leader of the opposition, he made his first appearance sexually harassing Yukari-tan. Obsessed with transfer of power when the LDP was in power. As one of the power brokers of the DPJ, he is not above making under-the-table deals with the LDP to ensure the interests of his party and those of his own.
Prime Minister of Japan, first of the Democratic Party of Japan to put the traditional Liberal Democratic Party out of power. In the OVA, he is an obedient puppet to the Chinese leadership. It turns out he acts this way because he had been infested by a squid-like alien. In the manga, he is the primary antagonist of "The Blood Relatives of a Lion" arc and a puppet leader assuming the form of a Flatwoods monster pushed to the fore by the DPJ brassmen. Known for his political gaffes, which are referenced in his play style, where he commits Chombo (foul plays that force all players to rebuild their hands) when he gets unfavorable hands before winning all his points back with one high scoring hand. Voiced by Keiji Fujiwara in the OVA.
The alien-like wife of Yukio Hatoyama. She is his partner in the manga and reveals that she is a skilled player in her own right, having played in seedy underground mahjong parlors, which is reflected in her tendency to threaten her opponents. Despite her rough language and her and her husband's otherworldly behavior, it is made clear that she and Yukio love each other deeply. Voiced by Hitomi Nabatame in the OVA.
The State Minister of Government Revitalization, she relentlessly screens the numerous bureaus established by the LPD, including the 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps, as part of the fiscal restructuring by the new DPJ government. She challenged the corps to three mahjong matches with the nation's mahjong greats of her choosing to decide the fate of the Mahjong Corps. Being the second player of these three matches, her exaggeratedly propped up collars served as receivers of secret communication signals from her sister across the table.
Social Democratic Party (SDP)
The Social Democratic Party representative. Once opposed the rocket carrying Koizumi to the moon on the grounds that it might be used militarily, against the constitution of Japan, but was ignored by the main characters. She later appeared alongside Takako Doi in the first of three matches to decide the fate of the 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps.
Former leader of the SDP known for her ultra-pacifist stance, hence hearing the words "Japan Self-Defense Forces" irritates her like hives on her skin. She is especially transfixed on the number 9, "the number that spells the demise of the Self-Defense Forces", a fact that is readily apparent when she plays on the mahjong table.
13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps
Main character of "The Blood Relatives of a Lion" and "Battle for Senkaku Islands" arcs. Originally the captain and commander of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Destroyer Takao scouring the Indian Ocean for Somalian pirates, he got enlisted into the newly established 13th Autonomous Mahjong Corps for his mahjong skills. Unbeknownst to him, he is Junichiro Koizumi's illegitimate son. Signature skills include Fire "Riichi" (using the Goumanpai 轟盲牌 and switching the neighboring tile with his opponents's next draw), Tomahawk Attack, and Blast Off Riichi.
A stoic and musclebound Sergeant First Class of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force 1st Airborne Brigade. Despite his foul mouth, he dedicates his lives to the safety of the Japanese people.
An engineering officer from the Technical Research and Development Institute of the Ministry of Defense. A "human computer" who "sold his soul to science", he wears tesla coils up his sleeves to optically jam his opponents' vision of the mahjong tiles (based on the Philadelphia Experiment), and has phenomenal powers of computation, able to calculate whatever hand his opponents have assembled.
Others
A foul-mouthed quantum physicist leading the Super-Kamiokande to monitor the neutrinos emitted by mahjong activities. He discovered the secrets of Super Aryan Hitler's "Heisenburg Strike", a devastating move that merges parallel worlds through quantum superpositioning, making one win count as eight consecutive wins, a pārenchan (八連荘).