PREVIOUS BEYBLADE IN JAPAN REPORTS
Read November/December 2015 Here
Read April 2016 Here

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PART 1 of 3
My Experience with the Japanese
Beyblade Community
[November 2017]

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Hello everyone! On Sunday, November 19th I returned from what has now become seemingly a yearly journey to Japan. I previously traveled to Japan in 2015 and in 2016, writing about my experience with the Japanese Beyblade community each time.

Like the first two parts of this series, this report will focus primarily on all of the Beyblade-related things I did while in there. This time, my report will be split into three parts. Here’s an overview of what you can expect to be covered in each part:

PART 1

• From Toronto to Tokyo: Before the Trip & Arrival
  
• Tokyo, Japan - Saturday, November 4th: G4 Tournament at Bunbuku Toys
  
• Hachioji, Japan - Sunday, November 5th: G4 Tournament at Minamotoya
  

PART 2

• Fukuoka, Japan - Saturday, November 11th: Release of the God Customize Set, Nightmare Longinus & Meeting with Leo Burst
  
• Inzai, Japan - Sunday, November 12th: Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle - Unofficial Tournament
  

PART 3 – Coming February 15 , 2018

• Tokyo, Japan - Saturday, November 17th: G4 Tournament at Bunbuku Toys
  
• Final Thoughts
  

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From Toronto to Tokyo
Before the Trip & Arrival

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After returning from Japan last April, there was no question in my mind that I would return once again in 2017. Luckily for me, I was able to secure an additional week or vacation time for this year, extending the length of my stay from two weeks to three weeks this time!

Needless to say, I was extremely excited about this. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that my two prior trips to Japan and my experiences with the Beyblade team WARI-BEY and the Japanese Beyblade community changed not only the way which I approach Beyblade competitively at a point which I felt like I had already seen and done everything, but the way in which I appreciate the game as something to bring kids, parents, and grandparents of all ages together. This might be more of a general toy/hobby culture that is more prominent in Japan and Asia, but this sort of thing doesn’t seem as prevalent with hobbies like Beyblade in the west. But I will talk more about this at the end of my report.

This time, I wasn’t traveling alone! Despite some uncertainty in the months leading up to the trip, around September 1234beyblade confirmed that he would be joining me for the first week of my trip in Tokyo. Given the profound impact my first two trips had, I was excited to see how a player of his caliber reacted to the environment of the Beyblade community in Japan.

Fresh off a long weekend trip and tournament in New York early in October and a tournament in Toronto a few weeks later, I departed Toronto with 1234beyblade on October 28th. We arrived at our Airbnb–hosted by my friends, the Tokyo Handsome Boys who featured prominently in my previous reports–in Asakusa on the night of October 29th after walking through what felt like a torrential downpour.

The next few days were spent exploring Asakusa, Ueno, Akihabara, Yanaka, and getting my glasses smashed in a mosh pit at the front of the first of two consecutive incredible Halloween-themed the GazettE concerts … but that’s a fun tale for another time.

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Tokyo, Japan - Saturday, November 4th, 2017
G4 Tournament at Bunbuku Toys
おもちゃのぶんぶく

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The first Beyblade-related stop of the trip was a return to Bunbuku Toys in Ikebukuro. Bunbuku was the site of the first Tokyo-based tournament I participated in on my first trip to Japan in 2015, and it’s also the place where I first met members of the famous Japanese Beyblade team, WARI-BEY who I went on to collaborate with on the WBO x WARI-BEY event last year. For those who don’t know, the winner of the Beyblade World Championship 2012–Ryo–was a member of WARI-BEY.

Immediately upon arriving, the first thing I noticed was the number of players already there. You can’t really see in these photos, but there were I believe over 40 participants, a huge increase in comparison to when I first came in 2015 and there was maybe 10-15 at each event in Tokyo I attended (that said, back in 2015 the events in Osaka I attended did have 20-30). It really didn’t seem like Beyblade Burst is going anywhere any time soon.





Because the tournament is actually played in the narrow alleyway beside the store, they had us line up on the opposite side of the street to hand out our assigned numbers and participation gift, which was a 500 point BeyCode Card and a WBBA God Chip.

Before the tournament started, I gave my friend Jumbo–who is one of the more senior members of WARI-BEY and who also helps to run the tournaments at Bunbuku–a gift from Canada: a Hasbro Beyblade Burst K2/Y2 Double Pack! I also gave Hayate–who was my partner in the team event at WBO x WARIBEY last year and also someone who completed the feat of winning at least one G4, G3, G2, and G1 event during the MFB era–Hasbro’s Beyblade Burst Apex Attack Pack! I figured this would make for a nice gift and they seemed to be quite happy with them. :)



In return, Jumbo actually gave me the CoroCoro Ichiban gold Chaos Layer and a stack of 500pt G4 BeyPoint Cards as thanks. So kind! He helps run the tournaments at Bunbuku all the time, so he must have access to these point cards … but don’t ask me how. He also handed me a piece of paper with some additional details on the upcoming Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle tournament on November 12th, which I will cover in a later part of this report.



With all of the players now signed up, Jumbo announced the rules to everyone and while setting up the stadiums I noticed that Hayate was using a small bubble level to check if the stadium was on a perfectly flat surface. I was impressed with this level of attention to detail and surprised I hadn’t thought of using such a device at my events before. I’ve gone ahead and ordered this one as it appears very similar to the one they used. I’d suggest any Organizers’ (or event players) get this if they are playing in areas where the playing surface may be uneven (like in a park). This sort of attention to detail and professionalism would continue at the November 12th event as well.

Now finally, the tournament began. As is usually the case, the tournament was run using a single elimination format. I have huge dislike for single elimination format generally speaking, especially in a game like Beyblade where there is a sizable factor or luck to go alongside the skill and knowledge based aspects of the game … but it is what it is. I understand that the tournaments are probably run using this format because they are run by retailers primarily as a means of promoting the toy and not entirely for the same purposes the WBO runs events, so something which is relatively simple and quick to run is preferred. But it does suck for players to potentially travel to an event, only to be eliminated after one match. I was able to overcome this a few times during my previous trips, but not on this day haha.



After watching the first few matches be played, 1234beyblade and I observed the distinct usage of Twin Nemesis 7 Revolve and similar variants by a number of players. It was beating down Guardian Kerbeus on Revolve, arguably the best Stamina combo in the game at the time. This was a surprise to both of us as we had never seen this combination used before. There was a delay in my shipment of tN prior to my trip so while I did get it just before I left, I didn’t have a chance to test it, and I hadn’t heard much else about it besides that it might be pretty decent for Attack … so we now not only were up against rules much different than what we were used to, but in a metagame we had never experienced before that featured a part we weren’t familiar with. Great.

Also worth noting is the distinct lack of Frames on many combinations in use. We speculated that perhaps in straight up same spin Stamina match-ups, the combinations with no Frames performed better, but weren’t sure.

1st Round: Kei (mG.Ω.O) vs. ??? (tN.7.R)
In my first match, I sort of panicked a little bit because my opponent was basically already ready when we got to the stadium and I wasn’t 100% clear how much time I had to pick. So, I defaulted to what seemed like a safe combo in that moment: Maximum Garuda Ωuter Orbit. Unfortunately for me, my opponent had chosen the aforementioned Twin Nemesis 7 Revolve and proceeded to win 4-1 via two Burst Finishes (in Japan, they are worth 2 points each). Shocked, I was eliminated from the event. It was only the second time I’ve ever lost a battle with Maximum Garuda in a tournament, and the first that in my opinion wasn’t due to poor launch technique (which was the case when I lost to OldSchool once a couple months ago with mG against his dF). I do wonder if I might have been able to win if Burst Finishes were only worth one point; in fact, that might be what made Maximum Garuda even more overpowered under WBO rules.

In retrospect, something like Drain Fafnir Ωuter Ωcta–which had served me very well in the latest Toronto tournament before my trip–would have been much safer and would have beat tN.7.R. I think I was just worried about dF on Atomic, but ultimately I guess you can’t always counter everything. Even so, it was surprising to see tN able to burst mG on Orbit. mG on Atomic I could understand, but Orbit is tighter on mG and I had never really seen it burst before.

Needless to say, it was an extremely disappointing loss. Having to adapt to different rules you know exist before going there is one thing–that’s fair and you can prepare for it–but losing (partially) because you’re unfamiliar with a particular part due to circumstances beyond your control is frustrating.

And actually, just the other day I noticed two things about the mG and Orbit that I was using which probably contributed to the ease with which my combo was bursted: the mG was 'worn' in the sense that it bursted a lot more than the new one I conducted testing with the other day, and the yellow Orbit I used had a noticeably weaker spring than my blue or black ones for some reason.

1st Round: 1234beyblade (dF.7G.At) vs. ??? (gV.?.At)


Next up was 1234beyblade, who had a relatively easy match-up going up against a kid using God Valkyrie on Atomic. 1234beyblade used Drafin Fafnir 7 Glaive Atomic and was able to win easily.

2nd Round: 1234beyblade (sX.7M.At) vs. Jumbo (gK.Ω.R)




His second and third matches can be seen in the video at the start of this section. In the second round he was paired up with Jumbo who used Guardian Kerbeus Ωuter Revolve. 1234beyblade chose Sieg Xcalibur 7 Meteor Atomic and was able to win handily via Burst Finishes and a KO.

2nd Round: 1234beyblade (sX.7M.Ω) vs. ??? (tN.7.R)



His opponent’s attache case; these cases are extremely common among Bladers in Japan. It’s the reason why I switched to using one last year. Honestly can’t understand why it hasn’t caught on over here. They’re way cooler and private than clear boxes!


1234beyblade’s case

In the third round, he was finally paired up with someone using Twin Nemesis 7 Revolve. We had guessed before the match that this would happen and I suggested he used sX on Ωcta thinking that the weight of Ωcta would help control any recoil experienced versus Twin Nemesis and allow it to KO it. At this point we were still really unsure of what the safest way to beat tN was besides Xtreme which I don’t think 1234beyblade was feeling confident enough to use. A semi-aggressive sX combo seemed like a relatively safe bet … even though like I said above, in retrospect dF.Ω.Ω would have probably been safer. But it’s hard to describe how disoriented we were by Twin Nemesis in the moment haha. It’s difficult coming into any tournament having close to zero experience with a particular part, especially one that is/was so good like Twin Nemesis.

1234beyblade ended up losing the first round via Burst Priority; sX knocked out tN, but bursted itself in the process. In the second round, sX KOed tN as we had hoped it would, but that’s only worth 1 Point. Third round, sX again got some great hits, but ultimate bursted itself giving his opponent a 4-1 victory. I wish I had recorded a little bit longer because the reaction of his opponent winning that battle was so funny; he certainly felt lucky to have come away with the win. The problem here was tN’s great teeth in combination with the Revolve Driver which is tighter than Ωcta. sX had the KO power, but not the burst resistance.



As this series progresses, and after experiencing battles like these, I’ve really started to take note of the tightness of different Drivers more than ever before when considering what combinations to use. This issue has become even more apparently as of late with the release of the Bearing Driver as well. It’s an incredibly interesting aspect to customization that adds another layer of depth that previously never existed in Beyblade. All combinations are possible, but it’s almost as if TAKARA-TOMY intentionally is thinking about what parts they don’t want to be effective when paired together. Sometimes there is exceptions and things like Twin Nemesis on Revolve come into existence that have both high stamina and burst resistance, but they seem to be uncommon.



Coming into this event I had gone undefeated in four of my past five tournaments in Toronto and New York–which had never happened to me before–but needless to say, this event was a bit of a shock to my system!

A lot of people on the WBO have often treated or talked about me as a player as if I never or can’t lose, which I’ve never been comfortable with. I approach every match and prepare for every tournament seriously because I find it fun to compete at the highest level in this game, and I have indeed won many matches and tournaments over the years. But for as many tournaments as I have won, there is even more that I have ultimately lost.

Even though it was just one match, there’s plenty of circumstances I could use as excuses, and knowing that I’ve done well on some tournaments in past trips to Japan, I still feel like losing at this event was an important reminder for me. I never go into any event–especially one in a foreign country–expecting to win first place, but my loss in this event reinforced to me how much I still have to learn if I want to be a player who can adapt to the new and dynamic circumstances presented by different rules, new releases, and players. It was disappointing, but also extremely humbling and challenging in a positive way.


Hayate, Jumbo, myself, and 1234beyblade after the tournament!

Beyblade with Tokyo Handsome Boys
To finish off the day, later that night we played a few rounds with the Tokyo Handsome Boys back at the Airbnb. Little did we know that a new legend would be born … Running Choochoo!

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Hachioji, Japan - Sunday, November 5th, 2017
G4 Tournament at Minamotoya
みなもとや

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Soon after the tournament at Bunbuku Toys ended, 1234beyblade and I decided that we wanted a chance for some redemption and figured out that there was a tournament in Hachioji at a store called Minamotoya the following day that we could attend.





Hachioji is located just west of Tokyo, but it took us just over one hour via the subway from where we were staying in Asakusa. 1234beyblade and I arrived first, but actually later on one of our Airbnb hosts–Naoki–also came! After playing the previous night with us for fun, he decided to come check out and play in the tournament with us as he had played when he was a kid (as I’m sure basically every kid in Japan did in the early 2000s haha). Never ceases to amaze me the positive memories people have associated with Beyblade from their younger years.




Unlike the previous day, at this event you had an opportunity to win one of the golden Kreis Satan parts if you placed 1st, 2nd, or 3rd!

Not all of the WARI-BEY members were at this event, but we saw several of the players from the previous day, including the player who had beaten 1234beyblade in the third round at Bunbuku.





They had two tournaments running that day with the first one being for children only; I wish more stores in Japan did this. Typically the majority of stores actually only have children only events, but I think this is a shame because in my experience there is very clearly a large older audience who plays the game in Japan. You can find stores that allow adults to play around Japan, but you have to look a little bit harder to find them; I think the number of children only events should outnumber the open age events, but the gap should be lessened a little bit by my estimation.



As the first event was being finished up, we did free play for a little while. The funniest thing that happened was when a kid lost his Drafin Fafnir Layer in some kind of sewer grate … it seemed like a lost cause to me, but the kids then hacked together a contraption to help try and lift it out using … chopsticks?!





To my astonishment, they were eventually able to get it out! It was incredible. Check out the video above to see the moment when it happened.

While waiting for the tournament to start, we also went inside the store to check out what they had and had yet another astonishing moment … they had these:



An HMS Customize Grip and String Shooter! HMS is my favourite series, so naturally, I bought them instantly. I’ve never actually owned the String Shooter before. It works completely differently than the string-based launchers we know and love these days from Metal Fight Beyblade and Beyblade Burst; you have to manually wind the string after each launch. Kind of similar to the old spinning tops where you need to wind the string around the base each time. Speaking of those …

One of the kids at the tournament bought one from the store and was demonstrating how to use it. I completely failed though, as you can see haha. Wish I had been able to try a few more times!

Eventually, the main tournament began. I forget the precise number of players, but I am fairly certain that there was over 40 at least again.

1st Round: Kei (tN.Ω.O) vs. ??? (tN.7M.At)
First round I was thrown into the fire once again and paired up against yet another Twin Nemesis combo wielded by an older player. This match-up was actually quite interesting because while Atomic does have better Stamina than Orbit, Ωuter is clearly better than 7 Meteor and given that this was a same-spin match-up both players would have to launch quite hard and likely circle the ridge of the stadium briefly to ensure they didn’t get outspun, putting them at risk of being KOed.

The night prior to this tournament, 1234beyblade and I spent a lot of time testing Twin Nemesis and were astounded by how powerful it really was. It was beating basically everything when you put Ωuter on it; even on Orbit, tN.Ω.O could OS things like Drain Fafnir on Atomic and defeat Guardian Kerbeus on Revolve. I took a liking to the Orbit variant because it felt a little bit safer than the Revolve variant which could be taken down by Sieg Xcalibur Xtreme-based Attack types (which was definitely the most popular Attack type I saw; many players used it in their decks for finals especially). I really think that if someone had discovered Twin Nemesis + Ωuter in the brief period in which both were released and Ωuter was not banned, they would have been able to dominate tournaments.

Going into this battle, I was also using the Digital Sword Launcher which I had just bought a few days prior in Japan. Both 1234beyblade and I really liked the launcher (of course, 1234beyblade’s infamous superhuman launch strength broke his while we were there and had to buy another though lol) as it’s clearly the most powerful and feels so effortless use. You would think that this would give me another advantage for this battle, but I was unable to control it properly and self-KOed in at least one of the rounds, ultimately losing the battle …

So I was now 0-2 overall on my trip so far ha … haha.



1st Round: 1234beyblade (???) vs. ??? (???)
1234beyblade actually played his first round at the exact same time as me, so I didn’t get to see it … and he can’t remember what the matchup was. But he won!





2nd Round: 1234beyblade (Alter Chronos Ωuter Ωcta) vs. Naoki (Guardian Kerbeus 7 Glaive Revolve)
Prior to this battle, I had given 1234beyblade Ωuter and Ωcta in case he wanted to use them, but we also knew based on the bracket that Naoki would end up being the one facing him! To be fair, 1234beyblade suggested I give him another Beyblade to use as an option since we had only given him one before (an Attack type … I think Sieg Xcalibur).

I decided to give him gK.7G.R as I thought it was decent, but shouldn’t be impossible for 1234beyblade to beat … but he ended up going with aC.Ω.Ω out of nowhere because I guess he thought he’d use attack! You can see how the match played out in the video at the start of this section. But (spoiler): Naoki won. :)

This meant that Naoki was our only horse left in the race …



Right after their match was finished 1234beyblade and I spent some time trying to strategize on what the best combo to give Naoki was. We ended up choosing Maximum Garuda 7 Glaive Atomic and it felt like it would be the easiest to use/safest. Even though I lost to it (of course), there was actually not much Twin Nemesis present on this day for some reason, and there appeared to be a lot of Drain Fafnir with Atomic, so mG seemed like a fine choice as it can beat dF on Atomic.

He actually ended up playing another mG, but lost due to launch strength essentially. The competition was getting harder with each passing round.



I can’t remember too many specifics about the combos used in the Deck Format final, but two things which stood out to me were the wide range in age of the finalists and a round where one kid was actually up 2-0, but ended up losing 3-2 ultimately on a KO from Galaxy Zeus Xtreme versus Drain Fafnir Atomic (which was launched way harder than it should have been).



Speaking of launch strength, it seemed to me that while people do understand when to apply weak launching there (with obvious exceptions like the above), there seemed to be more situations where players were unafraid to launch at full strength than there is here.


With Naoki, 1234beyblade, and some kids who played in the tournament!

Naoki had to leave a little while after his final match, but 1234beyblade and I stuck around because they were actually planning to run an unofficial single Layer tournament afterwards. We both had basically no single Layers with us, but 1234beyblade luckily had an Odin.

I took Odin Ωuter Revolve into my first battle, which you would think is completely overpowered in this context, right? Well, I somehow managed to lose against an Odin Heavy Revolve which must have been perfectly balanced unlike the O.Ω.R I put together on the spot. It just wasn’t my day (or weekend)! I believe there was one burst finish, leading to a final score of 3-1.

Finally, I just have to take a moment to mention how kind the shop owners and really, all of the participants were. The shop owner even tweeted me after the tournament, and had given me two extra WBBA God Chips. Like I said in my response:

“I would love to come back someday. Every Blader was very serious, but also so kind and was having so much fun. It was inspiring!”

It really makes me wish I could communicate with them better in Japanese.


Winners of the Single Layer Tournament

Finally after night had fallen, we returned from Hachioji and again hung out at the Airbnb, spending some time playing Beyblade with the Tokyo Handsome Boys once more. The legend of Running Choochoo continued ...

Beyblade with Tokyo Handsome Boys - Part 2

More Photos (Click to View)

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Part 2 of 3 coming in the next post on February 12, 2018!
Part 2 will cover my experiences in Fukuoka and single day back in Tokyo for the Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle before heading to Tanegashima.

• Fukuoka, Japan - Saturday, November 11th: Release of the God Customize Set, Nightmare Longinus & Meeting with Leo Burst
  
• Inzai, Japan - Sunday, November 12th: Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle - Unofficial Tournament
  

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PART 2 of 3
My Experience with the Japanese
Beyblade Community
[November 2017]

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Fukuoka, Japan - Saturday, November 11th, 2017
Release of the God Customize Set, Nightmare Longinus
& Meeting with Leo Burst
Yodobashi Camera, Bic Camera, Toys R Us

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A few days after the tournament in Hachioji, 1234beyblade headed back home for Toronto. He had wanted to stay a bit later and I felt bad because he would arguably be missing out on the best part of the trip with the release of Nightmare Longinus and the God Customize Set, and Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle tournament looming on the horizon.

But … alas, after spending a ton of money on a coat in Harajuku, the option to change his flight went out the window. ;P He left on November 7th, and then a few days later on the 9th I was off to Fukuoka for the first time!

On my previous trips to Japan I’d visited mainly the areas surrounding Tokyo and Osaka, so this time I had wanted to choose a couple places that were in the southern Kyushu region of Japan. I had heard good things about Fukuoka and also knew that Leo Burst lived there, so I thought … why not! I took the shinkansen all the way to Fukuoka from Tokyo; a 6-7 hour trip, but it was a nice way to see the country.

November 11th was the big day. Perhaps one of the biggest release days in Beyblade Burst history so far. Nightmare Longinus.Ds, the God Customize Set (with Deep Chaos, Arc Bahamut, Bearing, Bump, and the plethora of other competitive parts included), the clear BeyLauncher L, and also the limited store campaign white God Valkyrie were all launching simultaneously.



I woke up early that day and set out to Yodobashi Camera near Hakata Station first as they opened 30 minutes earlier than Bic Camera, which was closer to me. When I got to Yodobashi there was already a huge crowd of people around the store waiting to enter for probably a wide variety of different items, but once I made my way up to the floor that toys were located on there was somehow already a line up of maybe 10 people right away waiting to buy the new Beyblade releases!

I made my way over to the shelves quickly and picked up the Beyblades I wanted to buy and then proceeded to the cash register. I was the only person holding a stack of God Customize Sets and I knew the reason, but didn’t want to believe it. Going into the day I knew that store limits would be an issue … and they certainly were.

• Yodobashi Camera: Limit of 2 God Customize Set and 2 Nightmare Longinus
  
• Bic Camera: Limit of 1 God Customize Set and 3 Nightmare Longinus
  

I had been hoping to purchase around 10 God Customize Sets in total to support the Toronto Beyblade community, but this hope was dashed swiftly after learning about how severe the limits were. However, I had been in communication with Leo Burst throughout the morning and learned that at the Toys R Us near where he lived, he had been able to basically buy everything they had: there was no limits at all.



So, I decided to take the time and go to the closest Toys R Us to where I was, even though it was relatively far away at the Marinoa City shopping mall. After arriving, I discovered that they had limits as well … one of basically everything, even old items. They were fully stocked with everything Beyblade Burst, but it certainly had to be because of their ridiculous limits. It was even worse than Yodobashi and Bic.

It was quite frustrating having to travel around all morning trying to just get a handful of these items. I understand having limits in place to prevent people from buying out your entire stock, but especially in the case of Toys R Us, a limit of one on everything for a game like Beyblade where parts can wear down or break is unfair. It’s entirely reasonable for any single person to want to buy two of something, whether it be for themselves or even for a friend.

I suppose the limits vary depending on the location and level of traffic the stores receive, but I don’t think there should be any situation where there is a limit of 1 on everything, or a situation where it is unlimited. It has to be somewhere in between.

In any case, I was actually happy to have made the trip to Marinoa City in the end because it was an interesting area along the coast!



I ended the day with 4 God Customize Sets, 6 Nightmare Longinus, 3 clear BeyLauncher L and I believe six of the white God Valkyrie. And regarding the gV, you actually had to ask the cashier to give it to you after your purchase of 5,000 yen or more, which I didn’t realize on my first trip to Yodobashi and forgot about it. So I had to go allllll the way back there later in the day to pick those up.



It was a tiring morning and afternoon, but I had no time to rest: after the ordeal of trying to pick up all of the new releases, I headed back to my Airbnb to meet up with Leo Burst!

As I’m sure is the case with many WBO members, I had been watching his videos for some time and was excited to meet him. WBO members from Japan have been few and far between over the years, so I’ve been happy to see his channel succeed not only for himself but so that the English speaking Beyblade community has another more tangible link to the community of players in Japan. That’s something which I will always feel is important for us to strive for; not only for players in Japan, but also for other communities in Asia that we might not have connected with as strongly as is possible yet. We are the World Beyblade Organization, after all.

After Leo Burst arrived, we dove straight into testing out all of the new parts that had been released. It was hard to know where to start! But, you can see some of the battles we did in these videos Leo Burst recorded for his channel:

View More Videos (Click to View)

After we finished testing for a few hours, Leo Burst seemed distraught with the mess of parts we had created, which was strange to me since it seemed normal after testing so many different parts. But I guess not everyone keeps their parts disassembled at all times unless they’re in use like I do!



Once we cleaned up, we said our goodbyes and Leo Burst headed back home. I wish we had more time together or had been able to attend a tournament together, but it was still so much fun being able to meet and play with him!

What stood out to me after our testing was that Drain Fafnir + Bearing would likely be a common opponent in the tournament I would be attending in Tokyo the next day. The only ‘safe’ combo I really could think of at the time that actually beat it was right-spin Bearing. I didn’t know if rules allowed for Legend Spriggan to switch spin direction at this next tournament, so something like Nightmare Longinus did seem a bit risky. Although in retrospect it did actually do well against both dF and tN (which I also figured would be common), so it might have been a better choice than I gave it credit for at the time.

But that’s the thing: in retrospect it’s always easy to see what you should have done. In the moment, having this wave of new parts dumped into the game all at once was both exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I would have liked to have a bit more time to not only test but just think about all of the new potential match-ups.



Despite my inner doubts and protests however, time continued forging ahead and I was soon heading off to bed to wake up the next morning at 5AM to catch a flight to Tokyo for the “Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle”!

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Inzai, Japan - Sunday, November 12th, 2017
Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle - Unofficial Tournament
BIG HOP Garden Mall Inzai

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Even though I was winless coming into this tournament, it all ultimately didn’t matter so much in my mind because I knew this event was on the horizon.

After landing in Tokyo at around 9AM, I headed straight to the venue at BIG HOP Garden Mall Inzai after dropping off my luggage at my Airbnb. I arrived at around 11:30AM.





Some context: prior to this trip I had contacted Jumbo from WARI-BEY and asked if he would be interested in hosting a “WBO x WARI-BEY Part 2” event when I visited. He told me that he was unfortunately busy with hosting at Bunbuku during the time I visited, that he would have needed more notice, and that he was also organizing this huge event called the “Kanto Strongest Blader Decision Battle”.

The idea for this event was to–as the name suggests–determine the best Bladers in the Kanto region and to also mimic the environment of TAKARA-TOMY’s G1 tournaments. Members from not only WARI-BEY would be participating, but many other Beyblade teams in the region as well. The event was to be invite only and would consist of two tournaments: Regular Class (Children) of 64 Players and Open Class (All Ages) of 128 Players.

Jumbo invited me to play in the event, so of course, I had to go. My plans actually had originally called for me to stay in Fukuoka until November 13 when I would then fly down to Tanegashima. However, I completely re-worked my plans to fit in this event on the 12th. It was pretty crazy flying back to Tokyo for just one day and then flying out to Tanegashima the next day! All for a Beyblade tournament; how absurd haha.

But it was hard to say no given the sheer scale and ambition behind this event. Even among the 100+ WBO tournaments I’ve personally played in, none have ever exceeded 65-70 participants.









And it was really a sight to behold. Before I even get into the tournament itself, I have to commend how professionally run this event was. While their method of running the bracket was still done the old-fashioned way via paper, the venue was excellent, there was plenty of space, the space was clearly organized with pylons, fences, mats, chairs for the judges, and they even had a microphone and speaker setup to communicate with the audience and give commentary during the final battles particularly. I’ve never been to an official TAKARA-TOMY G1 event yet, but I feel like they came pretty close to matching the environment. They even had enormous trophies with gold-plated God Valkyries fastened to the top. The only thing missing was cameras, the giant screen showing the battles, and the real Blader DJs haha.

Every single person at this event seemed so legit too. Everyone had attache cases filled with multiple copies of competitive parts/combos and was practicing before the event. Don’t think I’ve ever been so impressed at a Beyblade event. It’s due to a variety of circumstances, but I feel like this–at this particular scale–was something that could never be matched in the west with Beyblade as it stands and how it is perceived by the general public currently. Like, it’s hard to describe just how much more competitive the group felt over there in comparison to many players in the west. Maybe the language barrier has something to do with it, but there’s just this aura to them as a whole that makes you feel like they’ve ‘figured it out’. It was the same thing at the WBO x WARI-BEY event last year, but this took it to another level with the number of players who were participating.



When I arrived at around 11:30AM, the Regular Class tournament was already underway. Even though the tournament was organized excellently, the setup of the playing area meant that it was difficult for me to get close to the stadiums while watching. But you can see some footage from both the Regular Class and Open Class tournaments in the video at the start of this part.

I didn’t see most of it, but from what I understand the first stage of the Regular Class event was set up using a Winning Streak format, which I actually greatly would have preferred to the purely single elimination format of the Open Class. It’s particularly brutal given how important of an event this was. As always, I would have preferred something that allowed for each player to play a few matches at least, but what can you do … I understand especially with an event at that scale, to keep it at a short length single elimination almost becomes necessary. However, as someone who used to play in massive Yu-Gi-Oh! Championship Series or Regional tournaments years ago where there was 8 Rounds of Swiss and they took all day … you can understand why single elimination might seem especially harsh to me. If I lost in one of those events, it was because I didn’t play well consistently enough, not because I lost once (whether it be due to something that is my fault or an unlucky match-up), which is far easier to accept.

1st Round: Kei (tN.?.Br) vs. ??? (tN.?.O)
So I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this: I lost in the first round again lol. I used Twin Nemesis ? Bearing expecting Drain Fafnir on Bearing (of course, I had no knowledge of my opponent himself) and lost against none other than you guessed it: Twin Nemesis (on Orbit). The score was 3-2, and there was one round where he missed the stadium completely (no launcher malfunction) and it would have been a loss under WBO rules, but in Japan they often allow you one “Shoot Miss”, so he got that and went on to win the match.





Of course, later on in the tournament I saw a couple dF Bearing mirror matches and could only sigh … But actually there was some variety on display: I saw Nightmare Longinus Xtreme, Sieg Xcalibur Xtreme, Guardian Kerbeus Revolve, Deep Chaos Revolve, Drain Fafnir Atomic, Maximum Garuda Orbit/Atomic, and more on display. In the finals you can even see in my video that Jumbo used Legend Spriggan on Ωcta and was able to guess the spin direction correctly and get the ideal match-up against Drain Fafnir.


Regular Class Champions


Open Class Champions. I donated a Hasbro Beyblade Burst Master Kit to the winner of this tournament! Everyone seemed amazed by it, ha.

I won’t describe too much more from the battles in this event since I think my video showcases it quite well, so I just wanted to also mention a few other things:



Before the tournament a man approached me and introduced himself … it was kentatto_tomita! I had been following him on Instagram for quite some time and was really happy to meet him. He gave me a few stickers and I gave him some WBO cards in return and I was able to play a few rounds with him before the tournament began.



I also reunited with Rick, Miyu and their father! You might remember them from my November 2015 and April 2016 reports. I hadn’t seen them on this trip up until this point, so it made me very happy to see them again. Rick, Miyu, one of their friends, and I played together for a little while after the tournament. We tested mainly Nightmare Longinus Xtreme, which seemed to be tearing through basically everything except a combo I made on the spot: Deep Chaos 7 Glaive Destroy. That combo, and Destroy in particular actually went on to play an important role for me in my win at WELCOME TO A&C GAMES V in Toronto after I returned.



Finally, I also met Keep, who also was featured in some of my previous Japan reports. Before the tournament he asked me if I was going to be the champion and I replied 「もちろん！」”Of course!” … Glad that turned out just as planned!

When the tournament was finished, they also gave out a ton of extra 500 BeyPoint Cards and WBBA God Chips to everyone who participated. We all formed a line and raced back to the end of the line each time we got a card or God Chip to try and get another one before they ran out. Lots of fun!

As everyone was saying their goodbyes, I actually started to head out from the mall back to my Airbnb but Rick and Miyu’s father came running up to me a minute later and invited me out for dinner with all of the other WARI-BEY members! I was really touched by the offer.

We went to a buffet style restaurant and I spoke with Jumbo and Rick/Miyu’s father about a lot of different things related to Beyblade: I showed them Hasbro’s Beyblade Evolution and the new Layers they had designed, talked about the differences between our rules, the Hasbro’s Beyblade Burst tour, the world championship I had been told about by one of the people involved with the tour, the BEYBLADE NORTH 2017 video, how Hasbro’s version of Beyblade Burst has been received by us …

After we finished, they kindly drove me back to my Airbnb and I basically crashed. It had been a long day coming all the way from Fukuoka and jumping straight into the event! The next day I was off to Tanegashima and would return to Tokyo on November 17th for a few more days–and one more Beyblade tournament–before heading home to Toronto on November 19th.

More Photos (Click to View)

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Final Part coming in the next post on February 15, 2018!
Part 3 will cover my experiences at my final tournament back in Tokyo before heading home to Toronto, as well as set of final thoughts on differences between WBO and TAKARA-TOMY rules, the nature of Beyblade in Japan versus its perception in the west, and a reflection on my experience meeting people through Beyblade across the globe over the past ten years. Please look forward to it.

• Tokyo, Japan - Saturday, November 17th: G4 Tournament at Bunbuku Toys
  
• Final Thoughts
  

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PART 3 of 3
My Experience with the Japanese
Beyblade Community
[November 2017]

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Tokyo, Japan - Saturday, November 18th, 2017
G4 Tournament at Bunbuku Toys
おもちゃのぶんぶく

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After returning from Tanegashima on the morning of November 17th and an extremely late night attending a Miyavi concert in Tokyo, I finally got to sleep at around 5AM, but had to wake up by around 10AM to get ready for the final tournament of my trip! This was my second last day in Tokyo.



It was a bit of an overcast day, so on my way over to Bunbuku Toys I was wondering what would happen if it started raining. It turns out they actually have a tiny bit of space in the back of Bunbuku Toys for one stadium, so they ended up putting one back there and with the other remaining outside in the alleyway beside the shop. It didn’t rain too much, but eventually someone started just holding their umbrella over the stadium to keep it dry.



It had been a week since Nightmare Longinus and the God Customize Set had been released, so I was excited to see how the metagame would be after everyone had actually had some time to properly test all of the new parts. Unfortunately for myself, I didn’t have time (or a stadium anymore) to test while I was in Tanegashima, so I was going in blind and just based on my experience and testing from the previous weekend. However, I had seen enough to be relatively well-informed.



1st Round: Kei (tN.?.Br) vs. ??? (dC.?.R)
There was a lot of Drain Fafnir Bearing, Deep Chaos Revolve, and Maximum Garuda Orbit/Atomic going around at this tournament before my first match, so I figured going into this that tN Bearing would be a safe choice. I only saw one other tN user, so I wasn’t afraid of a mirror match like the previous week. There was a handful of Nightmare Longinus users who were finding some success (there was even a match where someone beat Hayate’s dF Bearing with nL Bearing), but I decided to place my bets on facing a Stamina type and predicted correctly.

I ended up winning this match, I believe 3-1 or 3-2 … the last round was pretty funny because Hayate was judging and prematurely called dC the winner of the round, but my tN just kept going and going very slowly on Bearing right as he was saying that. He reversed his call and gave me the win.

It was my first tournament win of the trip! Hallelujah! Don’t think I’ve ever been so relieved to win one match.

2nd Round: Kei (tN.?.Br) vs. ???
Honestly can’t remember this second round, but I do believe I used tN on Bearing again and was able to win. Wow, a winning streak; how novel.

Quarter Finals - 3rd Round: Kei (tN.?.Br) vs. ??? (mG.?.O)
By this point, we had now reached the quarter finals and all matches were taking place inside Bunbuku Toys one at a time. I had seen my opponent play earlier, but couldn’t for the life of me remember what he used. All I knew is that he had everything (well, pretty much everyone did).

I decided that overthinking is perhaps what caused me to lose over the past few weeks and went for Twin Nemesis on Bearing once again. He chose Maximum Garuda on Orbit and I was pretty confident! My combo could outspin his based on what I could remember from my testing. And I wasn’t scared of bursting even though I was using Bearing because I was up against a nearly perfect circle with no teeth. There’s no way I could burst, right?

Wrong. I ended up losing the match 4-1 via Burst Finishes. All I could do was laugh, smile, and shake his hand at this point! Can’t believe that happened and actually do want to test that match-up again for fun. But I was happy to have at least ended my trip on a slightly more positive note with a couple wins in this tournament.



And the player I faced actually went on to win the tournament. The finals themselves were actually quite interesting. I’ll talk more specifically about their version of Deck Format in my final thoughts below, but two memorable moments for me were an Sieg Xcalibur Ωcta mirror match (probably the heaviest combo in the game right now) and one person who tried using Deep Chaos Ωuter Bearing, but got bursted faster than you could blink hahaha. That combo probably is the best 100% pure Stamina combo in the game right now, but it’s unusable in my eyes because of how easy it is to burst.

Memorable Moments
A couple other moments throughout this tournament that stood out to me were:



Someone using Maximum Garuda 7 Star Destroy for who knows what reason, and then proceeding to somehow beat Deep Chaos Ωuter Bearing in one round of the match (dC won 3-1, though).





Rick/Miyu’s father using tN.7B.R versus a Nightmare Longinus Xtreme combo and proceeding to win 3-1 after going down 1-0 and performing some masterful weak launches. The tN vs. nL matchup is usually in nL’s favour pretty easily. You can see this in the video above starting at 2:01.



One young girl who used Nightmare Longinus with the newly released Ultimate Reboot Driver and beat an adult using Drain Fafnir on Bearing … obviously nL has the upperhand in this matchup, but it was a classic example to me of how you can find success no matter how old you are in Beyblade. You can see this in the video above starting at 1:43.

After the Tournament
With the tournament now complete, I had to head out all the way to Yokohama for a Dizzy Sunfist concert (my schedule really was non-stop for these last couple days) but actually spent longer than expected hanging out afterwards talking with Hayate, Tatsuki, and another woman. The woman knew a little bit of English, so which helped us communicate alongside my minimal Japanese speaking ability. We talked about how long I’d been playing Beyblade, how long they had been playing Beyblade and their past experiences at tournaments in previous generations, our favourite the GazettE songs, and also work we did professionally.



And after the tournament on the 12th, Rick/Miyu’s father had asked me if there was Beyblades I was looking for; I replied that the gold Orbit you could win at G4 tournaments before was one I wanted. He wasn’t able to find that, but after this tournament Miyu came up to me and handed me the gold Wild Wyvern Layer and purple/’evil’ Valkyrie Layer that you could win at some events in Japan before!

As I was about to head out Jumbo took a group photo of a few of us and Tatsuki asked if I could come back early next year for the G1 tournaments at the winter World Hobby Fair. Attending a G1 tournament is still on my list of goals, but that one was coming up a bit too soon so I’ll have to plan to go back for one next time … I actually found out after I returned from Japan that it would be possible for me to work remotely for a few months next year, so I may do that and go to Japan again which would mean a great opportunity for more reports like this!

More Photos (Click to View)

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Final Thoughts

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With Hayate, Tatsuki, and two other WARI-BEY members!

Having recounted each step of my trip now, there was a number of things I felt were important to touch on before this chapter comes to a close:

• TAKARA-TOMY’s Deck Format vs. WBO Deck Format
  
• The Importance of a Stable Community & Rules
  
• Usage of Revolve
  
• The All Ages Nature of Beyblade in Japan
  
• Connecting Through Beyblade Across the Globe
  

TAKARA-TOMY’s Deck Format vs. WBO Deck Format
One of the things I was disappointed by was not having a chance to play a match using TAKARA-TOMY’s Deck Format in any of the tournaments I participated in. Even though I still love our version of Deck Format, I found it theirs to actually be quite engaging.

When you look at the WBO’s Deck Format critically you should realize that in crafting it, one of our goals was to allow for a battle where players had the opportunity to make choices about their opponents based on concrete information (hence losers being able to request a rematch, counter-pick the winner, winners being allowed to change, etc). The first stage of our events with double-blind picking a single Beyblade creates an environment filled with uncertainty, so the idea was to inject some level of certainty into the final stage which would allow for the strong players who reach that stage to demonstrate and execute strategies based on their knowledge and skill more easily or at least in a way that challenges them differently than the first stage of our events.

After observing TT’s Deck Format I’ve come to feel that it lands itself somewhere in between the uncertainty of our first stage battles are like and the certainty of our Deck Format matches. This is because there is much that is predetermined (your three Beyblades and their order), but also much which you have the ability to think about critically (like the whole construction of you and your opponent’s Deck or what order they will pick if the match makes it past the first three Beyblades, at which point you will have seen everything they have). This version of Deck Format also is longer than a regular match, but probably shorter than our version of Deck Format.

I certainly don’t love it enough to suggest replacing our Deck Format, but it might be interesting to look at implementing it as an option for WBO Club Format events.

The Importance of a Stable Community & Rules
One thing I’ve come to appreciate after my three trips to Japan thus far is just how important a stable community and set of rules are. I really appreciate what we try to do here with the WBO because with a more standard set of rules for all players around the world, it becomes much easier (but still difficult for other reasons like player knowledge) for any player to travel to and compete in another community on an even playing field. As a result, it also becomes easier to gauge the strength of particular players with the playing field level globally.

Travelling to Japan is challenging not only because of things like the language barrier and not being familiar with the players you’re going up against, but mainly because the rules are different (and not as 100% consistent across the country) than the WBO. You can certainly overcome that as I have a few times in the past, but it’s challenging.


Naoki practicing his launch stance at our Airbnb in Tokyo. November 2017

Usage of Revolve
Minor thing, but one thing I’ve been wondering about is why there was so much Revolve in use at the tournaments I attended. Revolve is still an excellent Driver technically, but was strange to see because it had fallen out of favour almost entirely in WBO tournaments due to things like the omnipresence of left-spin Atomic-based Beyblades at the time I was there. Even more factors now like Bearing and Destroy combos make it hard for me to see when you could reliably use Revolve even though I do still like it.

Since I first wrote this, I actually used dC.7.R a couple times at WELCOME TO A&C GAMES VI, but that was really only because so many people were using Nightmare Longinus on Destroy, which doesn’t have good enough Stamina to OS dC.7.R. I could have used Atomic on dC, but Revolve was particularly attractive because it’s tighter than Atomic and less risky than right-spin Destroy. Revolve seems difficult to use in the current metagame overall, but it definitely has a place somewhere in it.

The All Ages Nature of Beyblade in Japan
One thing I’ve always appreciated the most about Beyblade in Japan is the wide variety of people of all ages who not only play just because their kids like it, but because they genuinely enjoy playing too. Kids, parents, grandparents … you name it and there is players like that who play competitively in Japan.

This is probably the case with a lot of hobbies in Japan, but there is just so many parents who play and help their sons or daughters to win tournaments and play competitively. It isn’t just about playing for fun for them; the fun seems to be not only in playing, but playing at a high level too. You don’t see this attitude towards Beyblade as much here in the west.

In many ways, I strongly felt during this trip a sense of the older generation wanting to pass down their knowledge to the younger generation. So many players who were champions during the Bakuten Shoot and Metal Fight eras as kids are now young adults, still love playing Beyblade, but also help to organize tournaments, judge, help younger players and so forth. This is especially true because many of the tournaments in Japan are for kids only. It’s this sort of sense of responsibility that I can only hope other older members on the WBO feel when they are attending and hosting events and interacting with new members on the forums.

It’s very inspiring to me as someone who is also getting older and feels a similar desire to ensure the younger generation has as good of an experience as I have playing Beyblade and meeting everyone that I have along the way over the past 14 years since I first started playing in 2003.

Connecting Through Beyblade Across the Globe
As a kid, after I got into Beyblade, like many kids my age I wanted nothing more than to play in a tournament someday. That dream finally came true when I got to play in a YTV Weird of Wheels tournament at the Canadian National Exhibition in the summer of 2003 (I even placed third and won a Phantom Force Seaborg haha).

I couldn’t have predicted at the time just how much that moment would mean to and influence me growing up. For some reason, almost two years later in June of 2005–probably after I started using the internet more–I started searching online for Beyblade websites looking for more tournaments and people who liked Beyblade. I found Off the Chain shortly before it closed, one of the fan websites which preceded the WBO.

Since that point, I’ve been continuously involved with the Beyblade community online. When Bey Brad hosted one of Beywiki’s (now the WBO) first tournaments–BEYBLADE’S NOT DEAD! at Anime North 2008, it was my first time having the opportunity to interact with the community in real life after having being involved for three years online exclusively.

As someone who is naturally introverted, being able to attend BND! In 2008 was a huge catalyst for me not only in it producing my desire to host tournaments myself so I would have the opportunity to play more, but so that I would have the opportunity to meet and connect with more like-minded people and challenge my teenage self at the time to become more confident.

I always remember Brad and Spinster saying in this video that Beyblade isn’t what keeps us together, but that it’s part of what makes our friendships fun and allows us to bond.

I’ve seen a countless number of new people enter and leave this community over the years. It always saddens me to see someone leave–especially as someone who has been here longer than probably anyone else who is currently active–but I’m happy to have been able to connect with them nevertheless.

And I feel the similarly when I think about all of the people I’ve been able to connect with in person through travelling to play Beyblade in Toronto, Chicago, New York, Tokyo, Osaka, and Fukuoka. The connections may be fleeting in some cases, but if my yearly trips to Japan or my yearly meetings with Bladers from across the US and UK at Anime North have been any indication, their fleeting nature doesn’t mean they disappear forever. And I’m already looking forward to the next chapter with my trip to Los Angeles, which begins tomorrow and includes a tournament this Saturday.

It seems fitting then for me to end this report with the collection of group photos I have accumulated over the past seven years at tournaments around the world. I’d like to thank everyone for reading and only hope that it has been valuable to you in some way!

Passion I feel is rare in this world, so I’m thankful to have been able to find and maintain it in Beyblade for so long and more importantly, to have also met everyone that I have over the years. Thank you all!


Toronto, January 20 2018 at The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre


Toronto, November 25 2017 at A&C Games


New York, October 8 2017 at Kings Games


Toronto, August 13 2017 at Dufferin Grove Park


Toronto, June 18 2017 at Dufferin Grove Park


Toronto, March 12 2017 at A&C Games

[Image: H7iTlA5.jpg]
Toronto, January 29 2017 at A&C Games


Toronto, December 17 2016 at A&C Games


Toronto, October 1 2016 at High Park


Toronto, August 7 2016 at Dufferin Grove Park


Tokyo, April 3 2016


Toronto, January 31 2016 at Anime Shogatsu


Tokyo, November 28 2015 at Bunbuku Toys


Osaka, November 22 2015 at Joshin Super Kids Land


Toronto, November 15 2015 at High Park


Toronto, October 31 2015 at High Park


Toronto, October 18 2015 at High Park


Toronto, August 2 2015 at High Park


Toronto, September 27 2014 at Unplugged Expo with Jason Deline, voice actor of Benkei


Toronto, September 27 2014 at Unplugged Expo


Toronto, May 25 2013 at Anime North


Toronto, July 22 2012 at High Park


Toronto, April 30 2011 at Dufferin Grove Park


Toronto, December 23 2010 at Real Thailand after High Park Tournament

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Read More Beyblade in Japan Reports

• Part 1 [November/December 2015]
  
• Part 2 [April 2016]
  

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The comparison between the Japanese Beyblade community and North American Beyblade communities is still so crazy to me. Great report, looking forward to next two!

How do you feel about the Burst = 2 points rule? Makes Attack types more important?

The comparison between the Japanese Beyblade community and North American Beyblade communities is still so crazy to me. Great report, looking forward to next two!

Thank you! Yeah, even after three trips the immense difference is still startling sometimes to even me!

How do you feel about the Burst = 2 points rule? Makes Attack types more important?

I don't agree with it for battles which are to 3 points like they are in the first stage of our events and in TAKARA-TOMY events in general, especially because KOs are also not 2 points. They were worth 2 points under TAKARA-TOMY's MFB rules and were even easier to achieve than they are in Burst. They only changed it for the sake of marketing the new Burst Finish it seems without actually considering the ramifications competitively. I prefer WBO rules which makes all win types worth 1 point for the first stage of our events, but for TT would at least like them to acknowledge the value of a KO by making it worth 2 points alongside Burst Finish.

That being said, I think my perception of it is also influenced by the fact that most G4 tournaments are single elimination. Potentially being knocked out of a tournament after literally two rounds within a single match doesn't seem fair or indicative of Blader skill to me. If it was round robin, it might be easier to swallow and more fair as you could spend more time thinking strategically about working with or around the two point Burst rule. It also would help speed up tournaments slightly, which would be beneficial.

So, I think it's a combination of two factors that makes it not good:
- KOs are only worth one point despite them being just as hard or even harder to achieve
- With most events being single elimination, potentially being eliminated after two rounds in one match seems overly harsh

I also think that ultimately 2 point finishes are only truly valuable and fair competitively in our Deck Format which is to 5 points. What makes them valuable in Deck is the fact that they offer a way to mount a comeback after you've fallen behind, preventing someone from necessarily taking the safe route all the way to the end of the match most of the time. In 3 point matches, it's entirely possible to comeback after being down 2-0. But under TT rules, if one of those losses was a burst, well ... you're out of luck. It just goes by too quickly and offers very little time to make adjustments. But I guess that might just be a philosophical difference; you could argue that putting such pressure on players is a good thing in the end. You certainly never feel safe when playing at a G4 tournament because of the 2 point Burst Finish.

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It's weird to see that you can only use 1 beyblade per round. Which I don't get it since we follow every single rule the WBBA and Takara-Tomy has made in Japan and the rest of Asia. Here in the Philippines we use the 3on3 system even on our G4 tournaments. Despite having a single elimination format aswell, atleast the element of surprise on what Bey you're about to face next is still there. It makes the tournament exciting and I guess time consuming aswell since we too have around 25 to 40 approx. players every weekend in WBBA and Bankee Inc (Takara Tomy distributor) held events.

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// filipino blader since 2011 //



Check out my Youtube Channel!
My WBO Selling thread!

It's weird to see that you can only use 1 beyblade per round. Which I don't get it since we follow every single rule the WBBA and Takara-Tomy has made in Japan and the rest of Asia. Here in the Philippines we use the 3on3 system even on our G4 tournaments. Despite having a single elimination format aswell, atleast the element of surprise on what Bey you're about to face next is still there. It makes the tournament exciting and I guess time consuming aswell since we too have around 25 to 40 approx. players every weekend in WBBA and Bankee Inc (Takara Tomy distributor) held events.

While I was there, 3on3 was only used for I think the semi-finals and finals? Interesting to hear that you guys use it for the whole tournament; I didn't know that was a thing. That would certainly be more interesting, but also more time consuming (not to a bad degree, though considering it's still single elimination).

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While I was there, 3on3 was only used for I think the semi-finals and finals? Interesting to hear that you guys use it for the whole tournament; I didn't know that was a thing. That would certainly be more interesting, but also more time consuming (not to a bad degree, though considering it's still single elimination).

ohh i see, thanks for the clarification. we started using it just now in WBBA-regulated tournaments, but we did had the “1 beyblade per round” rule before that. the problem was the kids who kept on changing Beys every. single. round. which resulted the change.

also, we dont have the open age category in G4 tournaments. people above 12 years old can only participate in side events. seeing how different the Japan community and the Philippine community is regarding WBBA tournament is really weird, even if we’re not that far from each other

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// filipino blader since 2011 //



Check out my Youtube Channel!
My WBO Selling thread!

Part 2 is Up! Scroll up or click here to read it.

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ohh i see, thanks for the clarification. we started using it just now in WBBA-regulated tournaments, but we did had the “1 beyblade per round” rule before that. the problem was the kids who kept on changing Beys every. single. round. which resulted the change.

also, we dont have the open age category in G4 tournaments. people above 12 years old can only participate in side events. seeing how different the Japan community and the Philippine community is regarding WBBA tournament is really weird, even if we’re not that far from each other

Oh jeez, that sounds terrible. It only works fine in 3on3 when it's planned that way ... not when kids just feel like changing all of a sudden in the middle of a match haha.

Sad to hear that! There actually isn't that many open age G4 tournaments even in Japan, to be honest. It baffles me because there is very clearly a sizeable pool of players who are interested in it in Japan. Not to mention, the WBO itself has demonstrated for nearly ten years that there is an audience for all-ages tournaments. It's strange to me that TAKARA-TOMY doesn't embrace this even more; not just in G4 tournaments, but G3, G2, and G1. As I said in my report, "I think the number of children only events should outnumber the open age events, but the gap should be lessened a little bit by my estimation".

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For the legendary Kei to lose 3 times in the first round haha :D, I guess Japan is something else.
This was written really well and I'm always looking forward to these tournament reports, to feel jealous I guess.

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For the legendary Kei to lose 3 times in the first round haha , I guess Japan is something else.
This was written really well and I'm always looking forward to these tournament reports, to feel jealous I guess.

I've done well at some tournaments on my first two trips, but things just didn't go my way at all this time haha. Twin Nemesis was so good and I kept running into it. But I can say that I didn't go completely winless, as you'll see in Part 3.

Thank you for reading!

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Part 3 is Up! Scroll up or click here to read it.

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awesome! i loved the whole series! thank you for this excellent peak into japanese bey culture.

awesome! i loved the whole series! thank you for this excellent peak into japanese bey culture.

I'm happy you enjoyed it! I felt like before I wrote these reports the community in Japan was a bit of a mystery, so I'm glad to have been able to provide some insight into it over the past couple years.

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Thanks for these reports! They are super insightful. After reading this it really become apparent how different the Japanese community is from the UK or even the wider WBO community. This is a little presumptuous but would you say the Japanese community is slightly less inclined to use attack? With bursts being 2 points and stuff like dC,mG and gK being used its surprising to me players didn't opt to use attack much but aside from your videos and a few players I've spoken to I don't have much to go on. I saw in your video 1234 using sX against a gK and handle it pretty easily and so I thought maybe the player appetite for risk may be a little bit lower in Japan than elsewhere.

Awesome report Kei! Really enjoyed it! It really gave me an insight of the Japanese beyblade community! But the most fascinating part for me was when the kids  got the Drain Fafnir out of the sewage grate! Using chopsticks! Hope you enjoyed your trip!

Thanks for these reports! They are super insightful. After reading this it really become apparent how different the Japanese community is from the UK or even the wider WBO community. This is a little presumptuous but would you say the Japanese community is slightly less  inclined to use attack?  With bursts being 2 points and stuff like dC,mG and gK being used its surprising to me players didn't opt to use attack much but aside from your videos and a few players I've spoken to I don't have much to go on. I saw in your video 1234 using sX against a gK and handle it pretty easily and so I thought maybe the player appetite for risk may be a little bit lower in Japan than elsewhere.

You're welcome!

I feel like that has been the prevailing assumption for some time now, but in terms of Beyblade Burst I feel that was influenced more by the nature of the series early on that any actual apprehension Japanese players might have towards using Attack combinations. The risk/reward didn't match well enough, so competitive players didn't use Attack as much (but it still happened; I was able to win a tournament with VHA against a DHD for example ... that was satisfying haha). Early on, Attack didn't feel quite as potent as it does now if you get the right match-up. It's tricky because I do think things like Valkyrie and Minoboros were competitive, but looking back, the feeling I get thinking about them relative to something like when Legend Spriggan came out and it was just tearing through everything makes me feel like they weren't as strong in their era as lS was/is in the current era of Burst. Part of the issue was definitely the fact that things like Deathscyther and Dark Deathscyther had such incredible stamina, yet had such strong teeth too ... they were designed somehow to be Attack types, yet they totally weren't in reality.

Now, things make more sense with top stamina Layers like dC and gK having shallower teeth. As a result, I'd say that on this latest trip of mine there was definitely an increase in usage of Attack versus my previous visits overall. There was a lot of people using nL, sX, and I even saw someone succeed with gZ on Xtreme at one tournament.

I saw this during the first stage of events more often for sure, but another factor was their usage of TAKARA-TOMY's Deck Format in the finals now. This didn't exist on my previous trips. I don't think I saw a Deck Format match in which a player didn't end up having an Attack type in their deck. Since their Deck Format is only to three points and both players proceed to their next of three Beyblades after each round, being able to win via BF in one round is huge, so the 'risk' is low enough given the potential reward.

In regular matches, Attack is slightly less common, but I think that's only because of the nature of those matches where you're locked into your choice. It's just like the WBO; Deck Format–no matter how it's run–really does incentivize the usage of Attack.

Awesome report Kei! Really enjoyed it! It really gave me an insight of the Japanese beyblade community! But the most fascinating part for me was when the kids  got the Drain Fafnir out of the sewage grate! Using chopsticks! Hope you enjoyed your trip!

Glad to hear it!

And yes LOL, that was such a memorable moment.

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Very well written! I am Vincen's mom, we travelved Japan last summer and joined a couple of Beyblade Tournaments in Kansai area, Japan. We met many enthusiastic Beybladers not only children, but also parents. They studied about Beyblade very hard! Beyblade is really popular in Japan, and it becomes harder to get a spot to participate a tournament. I truely enjoyed your report and hope you continue traveling Beyblade community all around the world! Looking forward to next one!

Just a heads up that this week I am heading back to Japan! This time I'll be going for six weeks; double the length of my trip last year.

Hopefully I will be able to put together a Part 4 of my "Beyblade in Japan" series, so please look forward to it. In the mean time, check out my previous reports:

• Part 1 [1 Part - November/December 2015]
  
• Part 2 [1 Part - April 2016]
  
• Part 3 [3 Parts - November 2017]
  

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Just a heads up that this week I am heading back to Japan! This time I'll be going for six weeks; double the length of my trip last year.

Hopefully I will be able to put together a Part 4 of my "Beyblade in Japan" series, so please look forward to it. In the mean time, check out my previous reports:

• Part 1 [1 Part - November/December 2015]
  
• Part 2 [1 Part - April 2016]
  
• Part 3 [3 Parts - November 2017]
  

Have a safe and great trip Kei! Hope you have loads of fun! Will be looking forward to your reports!

Just a heads up that this week I am heading back to Japan! This time I'll be going for six weeks; double the length of my trip last year.

Hopefully I will be able to put together a Part 4 of my "Beyblade in Japan" series, so please look forward to it. In the mean time, check out my previous reports:

• Part 1 [1 Part - November/December 2015]
  
• Part 2 [1 Part - April 2016]
  
• Part 3 [3 Parts - November 2017]
  

Lovely,best of luck

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Just a fellow Indian blader 
Check out my selling thread 
https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Selling...ing-thread
Also ,if you live in Delhi and will attend tournaments be ready to be CRUSHED
lol,enjoy??☝️

@[Kei] You are my Beyblade role model because you inspire so many people around the world with your Beyblade passion and talent and you are a great person. It was like a journey to read through your story. It really touched my heart. One day I want to visit my aunt in Toronto, when I have enough money, and it would mean the world to me if I can participate in a WBO tournament. I watch the Beyblade Tournament footage on the WBO YT channel almost every day. Seeing you guys having so much fun, really inspired me to never quit Beyblade and keep on training to fullfill my biggest wish, to one day Let it Rip around the world. The Beyblade Community and the WBO has helped me a lot, to overcome the dark past and keep looking for a brighter future. After a valley, there's always a mountain, and when you've climbed to the top it was all worth it because dark clouds are only temporary. The WBO and the Beyblade Community has helped me a lot in my life and shaped the person I am today. You guys became like a family for me and all of you are awesome. But I also want to thank Kei for saving my day again, with this awesome Beyblade in Japan series. All of you are awesome and God bless you. :)
Sincerely, Zera/TL14


PS: I'm sorry if I went too off topic but Kei's post really touched my heart. Thank you everyone.

I'm in Japan now, and just figured out my tentative tournament schedule!:

9/15: Chiba
9/16: Tokyo
9/22: Tokyo
9/29: Tokyo
10/6: Tokyo
10/7: Chiba (WARI-BEY event)

Will be participating in all of these tournaments, most likely.

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@[Kei] You are my Beyblade role model because you inspire so many people around the world with your Beyblade passion and talent and you are a great person. It was like a journey to read through your story. It really touched my heart. One day I want to visit my aunt in Toronto, when I have enough money, and it would mean the world to me if I can participate in a WBO tournament. I watch the Beyblade Tournament footage on the WBO YT channel almost every day. Seeing you guys having so much fun, really inspired me to never quit Beyblade and keep on training to fullfill my biggest wish, to one day Let it Rip around the world. The Beyblade Community and the WBO has helped me a lot, to overcome the dark past and keep looking for a brighter future. After a valley, there's always a mountain, and when you've climbed to the top it was all worth it because dark clouds are only temporary. The WBO and the Beyblade Community has helped me a lot in my life and shaped the person I am today. You guys became like a family for me and all of you are awesome. But I also want to thank Kei for saving my day again, with this awesome Beyblade in Japan series. All of you are awesome and God bless you.
Sincerely, Zera/TL14


PS: I'm sorry if I went too off topic but Kei's post really touched my heart. Thank you everyone.

Thank you so much for the kind words, TL14. It makes me happy to hear that my story is inspiring for you.

Anything that carries value takes effort, so if you want it enough and are willing to put in that effort in spite of any obstacles, I'm sure you'll be able to fulfill your dream! For instance, shaping the community here in Toronto certainly did not happen overnight, and building up the confidence and knowledge to travel to Japan alone certainly didn't either. But the result of the effort involved in both instances makes it all worth it, truly.

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I'm in Japan now, and just figured out my tentative tournament schedule!:

9/15: Chiba
9/16: Tokyo
9/22: Tokyo
9/29: Tokyo
10/6: Tokyo
10/7: Chiba (WARI-BEY event)

Will be participating in all of these tournaments, most likely.

---

@[Kei] You are my Beyblade role model because you inspire so many people around the world with your Beyblade passion and talent and you are a great person. It was like a journey to read through your story. It really touched my heart. One day I want to visit my aunt in Toronto, when I have enough money, and it would mean the world to me if I can participate in a WBO tournament. I watch the Beyblade Tournament footage on the WBO YT channel almost every day. Seeing you guys having so much fun, really inspired me to never quit Beyblade and keep on training to fullfill my biggest wish, to one day Let it Rip around the world. The Beyblade Community and the WBO has helped me a lot, to overcome the dark past and keep looking for a brighter future. After a valley, there's always a mountain, and when you've climbed to the top it was all worth it because dark clouds are only temporary. The WBO and the Beyblade Community has helped me a lot in my life and shaped the person I am today. You guys became like a family for me and all of you are awesome. But I also want to thank Kei for saving my day again, with this awesome Beyblade in Japan series. All of you are awesome and God bless you.
Sincerely, Zera/TL14


PS: I'm sorry if I went too off topic but Kei's post really touched my heart. Thank you everyone.

Thank you so much for the kind words, TL14. It makes me happy to hear that my story is inspiring for you.

Anything that carries value takes effort, so if you want it enough and are willing to put in that effort in spite of any obstacles, I'm sure you'll be able to fulfill your dream! For instance, shaping the community here in Toronto certainly did not happen overnight, and building up the confidence and knowledge to travel to Japan alone certainly didn't either. But the result of the effort involved in both instances makes it all worth it, truly.

Go for it kei,you do so much for the community,you are a “beyhero”,also,please post about the use of newer releases like Geist Fafnir and orb eigis in the meta,also,the new frame.thansk a lot?

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Just a fellow Indian blader 
Check out my selling thread 
https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Selling...ing-thread
Also ,if you live in Delhi and will attend tournaments be ready to be CRUSHED
lol,enjoy??☝️