Sports Japan National Yo-Yo Contest 2023!

[nice gaijin]

This weekend, the 25th annual 2023 Japan National Yo-Yo Contest (全日本ヨーヨー選手権大会) is happening in Sakuragi-cho, Yokohama



From their Contest Site:

The 2023 All-Japan Yo-Yo Championships (commonly known as the JN) is Japan's premier yo-yo competition, organized by the Japan Yo-Yo Federation (JYYF), to determine the best competitive yo-yo player in Japan. The winner of this competition will be seeded to represent Japan in the semi-finals of the Yo-Yo World Championships scheduled to be held in Osaka in August 2023.

Starting with the "Coca-Cola Yo-Yo" in the 1970s and 1980s, followed by "Sukeban Deka" ("Delinquent Girl Detective") in the late 1980s, the "Hyper Yo-Yo" that enjoyed a huge boom in the late 1990s, and the new "Hyper Yo-Yo" that started in 2010, the yo-yo has been enjoyed by many people across generations. Today, yo-yo has transcended the boundaries of "toys" to become a sport (competition), art (expression), and culture (culture) that is enjoyed by many.

This year marks the 25th edition of the yo-yo competition, which began in 1999. At the venue, you can not only see the forefront of yo-yo evolution, but also experience firsthand the passion and seriousness of the players who devote all of their daily practice to this event. Please come and experience the charm of yo-yoing that can only be felt live.

I was introduced to yo-yo 16 years ago as an exchange student in Japan, and happened to make friends with a world champion and one of the primary organizers of the JYYF. After giving me my first yo-yo and showing me a few tricks, he asked if I wanted "to see some real yo-yoing." And so I volunteered as "security" for the 2007 contest in order to sneak a peek...

It blew my mind. I had never heard of a "skill toy" before that. Nearly two decades later, I'm still blown away at the creative ways players are wielding these simple precision machines, harnessing the power of physics to make mesmerizing magic. I also have made amazing friends along the way, and today one of my many trades is in partnership with that friend, who heads a major sponsor of the event.

This is not the "walk the dog" and "rock the baby" you may be imagining; there are 5 distinct divisions of competition and contestants train seriously like it's a full time job. That's why I'm tagging this under "sports." There are other events throughout the year, including the World Yo-Yo Contest... but no competition is hotter than JN.

Here's the contestant lineup in English, if you search for just about any of these names (especially on the last page, as all the seeded names are winners of regional contests in Japan) you're sure to find some amazing yo-yo videos. These are some of the best in the world.

I wish I were in the area... I might have to come to Osaka in August for Worlds...

 

[Mikawa Ossan]

It's amazing how good even the average kid seems to be with yo-yos. This contest must be absolutely insane! (As in intensely impressive)

 

[nice gaijin]

And another contest is in the bag! The full raw stream is available here, you can scrub through it to catch some of the freestyles. Each player is given 3 minutes to pack as many tricks in as they can.

https://live.nicovideo.jp/watch/lv341017277

congratulations to everyone who came together to make this happen; the organizers and volunteers, sponsors and spectators, winners and all the contestants!

Some great photos and the winners announced on the JYYF instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/jyyfofficial/

I guess I'll change the title of the thread since it's no longer "happening now..."

 

[nice gaijin]

OK, I just spent a good deal of the day going through the 10-hour livestream from Day 2

In each division the top players from preliminaries (Day 1) play first, followed by the seeded players who have won regional contests, and the very last to go is last year's winner, but they're all quite amazing to get to this level. That being said, even top players miss tricks, get their strings tangled, and have to swap out yo-yos sometimes. The contest stage is a pressure cooker, and the tricks they're attempting demand an insane level of control and precision. I'm in awe of everyone who stepped up to the contest stage, and although I suck at yo-yo I am inspired to practice more!

Timestamps are all links to jump through the video:

5A (counterweight/freehand) Division - 0:31:00

• Winning Freestyle: Shigehiro Yamada (0:51:25) - Central Japan 5A Champion
• 1st Runner Up: Sora Ishikawa (1:13:30) - Last year's Japan National 5A Champion
• 2nd Runner Up: Naoki Uemae (1:00:19) - East Japan 5A Champion

4A (off string) Division - 1:25:00

• Winning Freestyle: Kaoru Nakamura (2:00:00) - Last year's Japan National 4A Champion
• 1st Runner Up: Koyo Hashimoto (2:08:38) - North Japan 4A Champion
• 2nd Runner Up: Taiyo Katsumata (1:58:55) - East Japan 4A Champion

3A (double hand string trick) - 2:24:55

• Winning Freestyle: Tomoya Kurita (3:14:25) - Last year's Japan National 3A Champion
• 1st Runner Up: Minato Furuta (3:10:41) - Central Japan 3A Champion
• 2nd Runner Up: Sora Tahira (2:56:42) - West Japan 3A Champion

3:18:20 - halftime! end of 3A and a little break for the MCs to unwind a bit (pardon the pun). If you're studying Japanese, this is good listening practice for some niche vocabulary, and experience some banter with Nakamura Meijin, a Japanese yo-yo legend and former member of Team High Performance before they break for lunch.

2A (double hand looping) Division - 4:10:00

• Winning Freestyle: Hajime Sakauchi (4:51:59) - East Japan 2A Champion
• 1st Runner Up: Arata Imai (5:01:01) - West Japan Champion, Last Year's Japan National 2A Champion
• 2nd Runner Up: Yuki Takami (4:56:43) - Central Japan 2A Champion

1A (single hand string trick) Division - 5:18:43

• Winning Freestyle: Kouhei Nishimura (6:29:16) - East Japan 1A Champion
• 1st Runner Up: Shion Araya (6:33:22) - North Japan Champion, Last year's Japan National 1A Champion
• 2nd Runner Up: Akitoshi Tokubuchi (6:25:09) - West Japan 1A Champion

Over 40 Freestyle Division - 6:59:24

• Winning Freestyle: Toshiaki Nakamura (7:13:39) throwing 5A
• 1st Runner Up: Fumiaki Daito (7:17:00) throwing 1A
• 2nd Runner Up: Tomiyuki Watanabe (7:26:29) throwing 2A

Women's Division - 7:29:22

• Winning Freestyle: Reia Torita (7:43:44) throwing 1A
• 1st Runner Up: Tomoyo Iizuka (7:34:37) throwing 2A
• 2nd Runner Up: Miku Hanai (7:31:22) throwing 2A

7:47:45 - Brandon Vu introduction - Australian 1A champion who has become a viral sensation on youtube and social media.
7:49:47 - Brandon Vu special exhibition performance

There was an international category but it completes on the first day and I couldn't find the feed for it. For the record here's the podium
優勝：Leo Matsumoto (Hong Kong)
準優勝：Kim Dong Young (Korea)
3位：Ng Lok Hang (Hong Kong)
4位：Nick de Valpine (United States)

Lastly, some special awards!
The Extreme Trick Award went to Arata Imai in the 2A division
The Judges' Special Awards went to Hajime Sakauchi in the 2A division and Kaoru Nakamura in the 4A division.