My mom was in a high school abacus club back then. When she told me a story that she went to a tournament as a part of the school team, my response was "what th

My mom was in a high school abacus club back then. When she told me a story that she went to a tournament as a part of the school team, my response was "what the heck is an abacus competition!?" Competitive abacus is already quaint enough to most Japanese people, but I imagine it was a bit like today's e-sports. She said it really trains your mental arithmetic skill, and indeed she's been extremely good at adding up 6 or 7-digit numbers in her 70s. She passed away last year.