[Part 2 - Apr 2016 Up!] My Experience with the Japanese Beyblade Community - Part 1/2

Wow what a read! im shocked to see how much goes into the tournament scene worldwide. i enjoyed watching what you posted on youtube but seeing it all laid out in depth here made it feel more real! wanted to thank you for laying it all out for us to read and watch.

i was considering taking a trip to japan but having read your analysis of the tournaments i feel like i wouldnt stand a chance! who knew that people would go so far as to individually measure each piece of their intended beyblade to get the perfect bey. wow!

thanks again for this thread i really enjoyed reading it!
Wow, that event looks awesome! Hopefully Burst will still be popular in another 2 years when I'm in Japan, so I can participate in a WBO x Waribey tournament too. The variety of tournament styles that you guys had sounds awesome, too. Maybe we could adapt some of them on the WBO?
So what happened with Revolve in this event? In Canada it appears that Revolve has dominated events in Canada so I'm wondering what happened here? Did not enough players get to it in time or was it just not good enough compared to their super DHDs? Also awesome report Scott.
If I had to take a guess, it was just too new for typically conservative players to use it in a tournament. But I'll let Kei answer lol
Great write up. I really enjoyed it. It definitely inspired me to try and make it to some beyblade events when I head out there soon. WARI BEY is so cool with their team jackets!
I really enjoyed reading about your adventures in Japan. The trip sounds amazing. I love how there is a wide range of ages playing in the tournaments and especially that they (the shops) let adults play too.
I don't ever see TOYSRUS here letting adults play lol
(May. 01, 2016  3:58 AM)Hato Wrote: Great write up, Kei! It is amazing to see the very active Beyblade community in Japan, along with many adults playing! I am glad that the WBO got to host a tournament in Japan, even if communication is hard.

The rule variations are interesting to say the least, with so many different exceptions and such. The 'win or to the line' one was unique, and the tie breaker in the Wide Square stadium is a fun idea, too. It would pretty fun if the WBO had all these formats, but resources (such as stadium, space, etc) can be the problem. Just great to see what it's like in different tournament scenarios.

Thank you! You don't need words to convey what it truly important in this situation, so it was a special experience regardless of the language barrier. Smile

Yeah! They seem to have a lot of fun using fun and varied formats for their events. We focus so narrowly on a particular style because we want results to be consistent across events for the ranking system, but it might be worth considering bringing more "fun" variations into the mix that don't count for points, but still count for something like Credits and Faces.

Hato Wrote:I remember reading a post from ye olde Tamer Brad from back in the day about how he traded 8 Hyperblades for a huge box full of HMS (MSUV, SCMS, WBMS is only some of them IIRC..), haha.

Haha. I think I traded him a Hasbro Poseidon G yeeeears ago and he turned around and traded it to a Japanese player who wanted it.

(May. 01, 2016  6:23 AM)Beylon Wrote: Inspirational as always, Kei. Just makes me smile to know this is going on. Japan is really not that far from Australia - and the flights are cheap - so let me know when you're going next time and I'll meet you there!

Also, interesting how the Japanese bladers don't seem to shake hands after each battle. You did - but your opponents seemed surprised by it. I remember shaking hands was frowned upon when I visited Japan years ago but I also noticed the traditional "bow" was very rare. In your videos, I only noticed a mild hint of a bow when the winners received their prizes. I guess everyone is just cool with winning/losing and happy to move on?

When I think about it, shaking hands is a bit... Eew. I mean, those hands go everywhere no matter who owns them. Smooshing yours with someone else's seems a bit unnecessarily gooey for a public interaction.

Thank you! Maybe next year. I'll be in touch ... eventually. Wink But I encourage you to go yourself too! I've set up the groundwork, so if you go to some of the places I mentioned and say that you are from the WBO and that you know me, you should be received well haha.

(May. 01, 2016  4:24 PM)Sir Skudii Wrote: Wow what a read! im shocked to see how much goes into the tournament scene worldwide. i enjoyed watching what you posted on youtube but seeing it all laid out in depth here made it feel more real! wanted to thank you for laying it all out for us to read and watch.

i was considering taking a trip to japan but having read your analysis of the tournaments i feel like i wouldnt stand a chance! who knew that people would go so far as to individually measure each piece of their intended beyblade to get the perfect bey. wow!

thanks again for this thread i really enjoyed reading it!

Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed not only the video, but all of the detail in my written report as well.

Well, to be fair: WARIBEY represent a very small percentage of the actual number of players in Japan. I wouldn't worry about not standing a chance! That being said, I don't think it is a lost cause to play against WARIBEY members by any means; it's just a tough challenge, that's all. But you should be better prepared than I was after reading my reports!

(May. 01, 2016  4:45 PM)The Supreme One Wrote: Wow, that event looks awesome! Hopefully Burst will still be popular in another 2 years when I'm in Japan, so I can participate in a WBO x Waribey tournament too. The variety of tournament styles that you guys had sounds awesome, too. Maybe we could adapt some of them on the WBO?

Thanks! The event was incredible, and part of me still can't believe it actually happened.

If you ever have any questions in the future about Japan, feel free to let me know!

(May. 02, 2016  3:17 AM)Thunder Dome Wrote: So what happened with Revolve in this event? In Canada it appears that Revolve has dominated events in Canada so I'm wondering what happened here? Did not enough players get to it in time or was it just not good enough compared to their super DHDs? Also awesome report Scott.

Revolve was only a day old. Simple as that. I doubt anybody had time to properly test it, and even not all of the WARIBEY members had it yet. That said, I would not be surprised at all if their DHDs would beat Revolve. It was interesting to see that things like Victory Valkyrie, Storm Spriggan, and Unite were all on display that day, though. I can't even recall seeing anybody use Revolve once.

Thank you!

(May. 02, 2016  6:23 AM)Cye Kinomiya Wrote: Great write up. I really enjoyed it. It definitely inspired me to try and make it to some beyblade events when I head out there soon. WARI BEY is so cool with their team jackets!

Yeah! If you're in Tokyo on a Saturday, you absolutely have to go out to the place I went to during both of my trips: Bunbuku Toys. You'll find Jumbo, Rick, Miyu, Masa, and others there for sure. If you have any questions as your trip gets closer, let me know!

(May. 04, 2016  2:38 AM)Captain_Pancake Wrote: I really enjoyed reading about your adventures in Japan. The trip sounds amazing. I love how there is a wide range of ages playing in the tournaments and especially that they (the shops) let adults play too.
I don't ever see TOYSRUS here letting adults play lol

Thank you! Yeah, it just isn't something you really see (publicly at least) outside of Japan for Beyblade. Some parents can get really invested in their child's hobbies. Although for Beyblade, that might be because Hasbro doesn't do all-ages events at all ... TAKARA-TOMY's system of having events for kids in addition to all-ages events is better.
I just now got to read thing since I've been busy lately. Great report! Watching the video, it looks like everyone was having a lot of fun at the event. I can't wait to play against them next month Smile

How big is Wari Bey?
Wow, really awesome, thanks for sharing. I find the part about finding the perfect balance combos extremely interesting, will have to see what I can do with my mini stadium (good thing I collect junk like that, haha). But I guess this is bred out of a meta that uses primarily stamina combos, it's worth it to find the ones that spin for even a little bit longer. It is very surprising, though, that you couldn't outspin that person's really well balanced combo, that speaks to how big of a deal it is, how much manufacturing variation there must be, and how advantageous paying attention to this is. It also finally tells me why that guy sells super expensive DHD, OHD and Valkyrie combos on YJA. Excuse me while I order 50 of each bey... lol jk. Definitely doing this though when I get home!

Feeling a little nostalgic and realized it's been an entire year since I hosted this event with WARIBEY in Tokyo last year, so I figured what better time to share this video again for those who may have missed it before. Smile

Really hope I can do "WBO x WARIBEY II" later this year in the fall and meet up with everyone again. Organizing this event last year was absolutely one of the best things I've ever accomplished and done as a member of the Beyblade community; don't think my child self who wished he could play in Beyblade tournaments would have comprehended that one day I would not only have not only hosted and played in as many as I have in Toronto since 2008, but to have hosted an event in Japan too! It's amazing how things work out sometimes.

And if you missed it last year, be sure to check out my extremely extensive Part 1 and 2 reports of my experience with the Japanese Beyblade Community from earlier in this thread as well:

Part 1: https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Part-2-...y-Part-1-2
Part 2: https://worldbeyblade.org/Thread-Part-2-...pid1323161
Reviving this thread to let you all know there will be a Part 3 later this year! I'm leaving for Japan this weekend and will be attending several events and meeting several people throughout my stay.

In the mean time, check out Part 1 and 2 of My Experience with the Japanese Beyblade Community:
Yay!! Excited for Part 3. I love going to Japan because you can feel the same level of craze that the original beyblade series had in the West back in the early 2000's Grin Burst is everywhere over there
Finally returned from Japan on Sunday!

In total, I attended four tournaments over the three weeks I was there and was also in Japan for the release of the God Customize Set and Nightmare Longinus. Will probably take me a couple weeks to find the time to organize all of my photos and write the report, but please stay tuned!
Hey welcome back!
Hope you had a blast there!
I have been wondering for a while now, do you know of any youtube channel(s) where you can get a view of the competitive metagame in Japan?
(Dec. 13, 2017  7:12 PM)TheLionisDead Wrote: I have been wondering for a while now, do you know of any youtube channel(s) where you can get a view of the competitive metagame in Japan?

I don't know of any Youtube channels that cover it specifically ... but I could be wrong. I feel like most of the coverage can be found on various Japanese blog sites and on Twitter these days. And in English, my reports posted here are the only first-hand account I've ever found of the metagame in Japan.

And just as an update for everyone: I'm finally getting close to finishing the next installment of my report. It's become so long that I am going to be splitting it into three parts and releasing one each week. The first part will probably be up this weekend!