portugal:

Actually, I am from America (Detroit area), but I am living in Kyoto. When Japanese order at McDonald's, they don't say small and large, but rather the letters "S" and "L". I don't think I have ever heard anyone in America or in London when I was there say S and L. They always said small and large. Another example of abbreviating is "pasocon" which is a combination of "personal" and "computer". A German student in my Japanese class in college was surprised to hear "arbaito" for "part-time job". She would say, "It's arbeit, no o at the end". However, the only consonant Japanese use to end words with is "n". So, I guess, as long as you have a reason you are free to mangle the language to fit your needs LOL

portugal:

I like the kanji too, it wasn't centering unless I wedged it up to the top to get space in between. So, instead I made the character for quail smaller and that gave room for the kanji.

I am not sure if I picked the right flag. I am living in Japan, but I am not Japanese. Should I change my profile so it reflects where I am originally from instead?

jadarite [flags]: the right flag is the one you feel suits you better.
It never crossed my mind that one could be of a country and live in another - and as such, i read nationality rather than location. :)
Nationality makes a bit more sense inside my head, but that's a personal choice i guess. :)

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[Western Representation]
About the promoted pieces and their representations...
It might become a tad harder for people to remember what it promoted from if the piece changes name.
For the less experienced players, that is.
Still, it's part of the game, i guess. To know the pieces and what they promote to/from.
If the objective is to have the original game represented fairly, i think one ought to use the "real names".
(Although that would, in all honesty, make the process of learning the game harder.)

I like to see the movement indicators on the pieces.
I hope that is something to be kept in the more "exquisite" games.
Though i'm curious how we'll manage to represent Tori Shogi's exquisite movements - namely the Eagle's back moves. =]

There could be 2 sets of westernized pieces for Tori Shogi. One set is the same size as the Japanese set, it would have "G" for goose, "E" for eagle. You would be expected to know how the game is played, but not the Chinese characters.

The other set would have bigger pieces and could have the word "goose" under "+Sw", "eagle" under "+Fa" along with movement indicators.

portugal: One way to show the Eagle: arrows up-left, up-right, down. short lines up, right, left. longer lines down-left and down-right.

This is closest to how the current Shogi/MiniShogi pieces are: straight arrows for slides, curved arrows for jumps, lines for steps. (Mini)Shogi doesn't have pieces that can step two places though, hence the short/long lines.

Alternatively, I'd settle for images of falcons, geese, quails, eagles, cranes, swallows and phoenixes.

Another option, that I would like, would be to have pieces with movement indicators along with the Chinese/Japanese characters. That way people who didn't know the characters could play the game and also learn the characters.

harmy:

If there is interest in learning the characters, I can make something to help learn them. I think that aspect is better to be kept separate from the actual playing of the game.