Ever since I started streaming as Hikari Taiyo on Twitch and YouTube (for a time), I've been one of those variety streamers who would play anything that came up on my Steam “Popular Now” page. There were weeks and weeks of boring content, stagnating views, and I was burning out. I couldn’t keep buying games I would play a handful of times only to abandon right after, but I didn’t really have a concrete niche either.

Then, one day, while lying in bed and scrolling through YouTube, a video came up on my screen that instantly grabbed my attention. It was a Yu Song video, featuring him playing a game called Mahjong Soul.

I sparsely knew this game, like by a thread of knowledge, when I saw the thumbnail. I remember seeing a tweet on Twitter (I’m not calling it X) about one of the more ‘risque’ outfits coming out for its Gacha and thinking to myself, “wait, I thought this was just Riichi Mahjong, why is it sexy?” Regardless, I was fixated, and I clicked on the video, snuggling into my pillows to watch.

12 hours and tons of videos from Yu Song and others later, I was obsessed. It was right then and there that I decided I would be a Riichi Mahjong Streamer! I downloaded Mahjong Soul on my phone, excited to jump into games, only to be immediately hit with a huge wall of insecurity and fear. It wasn’t after a couple of seconds that I realized, “Wait! I don’t know how to play this game!”

This didn’t deter me, and months, only months later, I have clawed my way out of Novice Rank in Mahjong Soul and into Adept. I’d like to think I have good critical thinking skills when it comes to Riichi Mahjong, but I still have a long way to go until I can call myself a Mahjong Master!

During my journey, I’ve met many wonderful people, many of whom will be writing articles for this magazine and being interviewed for articles! I hope you fall in love with their stories and experiences as I have!

The purpose of “Sparrows Magazine” is to bring you aesthetic, calm, and thoughtful content in digital and physical formats. Each and every article is written by a human being, mostly by me, and published for free to read anytime! On top of this, the Digital Issues of our magazine will ALWAYS be offered for free.

Yes, we will offer physical editions of Sparrows Magazine! We will order 50 copies of each published issue after the digital issue launches and sell them from the Sparrows Magazine Website! Once the initial stock for one issue runs out, that’s it, the physical run is done (unless there is an outcry to restock!).

We want to offer a physical issue for those who love to collect and read physical, printed media, and to support the magazine directly. By selling it at $20 a magazine, if all 50 sell, we will make just enough to order 50 more copies for the next issue! Your support would mean the world to us; however, we understand not everyone has $20 to spend on paper!

This is why we offer Sparrows Magazine for free, FOREVER, as a digital PDF download!

This is only the beginning, and while I’m writing this article, I have the biggest grin on my face. I want to celebrate not only Riichi Mahjong, but all types of Eastern Mahjong styles! Each and every one of them deserves a spotlight and article contributors, and I will work hard to bring you quality articles, listicles, and interactables you can enjoy reading!!

Also, to sway and quell any worries, every article written for Sparrows Magazine is written by a human being! No Generative AI will be used for any articles, and guest writers will uphold this integrity as well! We want the pure soul of Mahjong players and Mahjong itself to shine through the prose!

We hope you love this magazine as much as we love writing for it! Please continue to support Sparrows, Hikari Taiyo, and the future writers who will contribute to this publication!

Articles about how to play certain styles, what some tiles and characters mean, and fun facts are our bread and butter! We will also publish small stories from clubs and big stories from special guests! Cover stories will be long articles. We look forward to writing articles that bring you the important stories from the Mahjong World you might have missed as quickly as possible!

We will also publish cute games like “What To Cut?”, a small mind game where you ask yourself, “What tile would I cut here?”, as well as crosswords, word searches, Bingo, and more!

Digital publications will be monthly! We will work hard to curate, create, and produce a polished product monthly, and physical products right after, as soon as possible!

When it comes to guests, articles, and features, there may be moments we reach out to YOU for a feature! However, if you have a good story to tell, you are more than welcome to email us at editor@sparrowsmagazine.com anytime to inquire about a feature!! Because we’re so small, there is a VERY good chance we will take your story, no matter how big or small you are! Everyone has a right to share their story!

I feel a little emotional writing this. I love to write. I’ve written over two novels and countless blogs. I LOVE to write. So mixing the two things I love the most, writing and Mahjong, felt like the right thing to do.

Every month, I will spend 1000 words here reflecting on the month, letting you guys know how life has been and what’s going on in the Mahjong world! I have high hopes and wishes for Sparrows Magazine, like traveling the world for interviews, photoshoots, and more!

However, with these meager beginnings, I am so excited to see us grow! Thank you for reading, and let’s play Mahjong sometime!!

💌 Hikari Taiyo