Report from Tokyo worlds 2023

[Mermouy]

Results:

Traditional
1- Tock
2- Skye
3- Xisco

Open
1- Jun (ITSA 2023 Champion)
2- Yahir
3- Nobu

Lots of things to report in future days. Now I'm going to the after party.

Finally Jun got the title he deserves!!
Well done dudes!
It seems to had been a very nice and well organized event!
(Just thinking of what it requires to organize something like this)

Bravo and thank you all !!! This represents a lot for the spinners we are!
First "Spintop only" world contest was a blast!!!

[MrYo]

Congratulazions to all, this was really an EVENT!

[Texture]

I can’t believe I missed the livestream! (although to be fair it was kind of late at night)

Congratulations to Jun!!!!! Very well deserved!

[the Earl of Whirl]

It is pretty exciting to know the world champion stayed at my house! Big congratulations to all who competed and to the organizers. It must have really been a big challenge to pull all this off. Good work!!!

[ta0]

We had some great freestyles.
Tock had a beautiful performance in traditional. He has raised the level of chonkake play and the title is well deserved. Skye did great for second place. Xisco was off yesterday, but it's understandable as his father had a very serious accident a couple of days ago.
In the open division we had 20 players covering many styles of play. Yahir had a dynamite performance, but missed 2 of the most difficult tricks. Jun has the most physical demanding spintop routine I remember, and great musicality and originality, but the stress got to him and could not perform as well as in practice. I didn't know the scores of the other judges so at the award ceremony I was full of expectation. The emotions that poured out of Jun when he won were very strong showing how important it was for him.

[Armando (elprofedeltrompo)]

Verdaderamente un gran evento!!!! Será difícil de superarlo, muchas gracias por habernos permitido ser parte de el fue un gran hit transmitirlo en vivo. Aún estoy trasnochado por seguir ele evento en vivo y fue muy emocionante parai ver lo que estaba pasando. Apenas Rocco bajó del escenario le envié un mensaje por WhatsApp y felicitarlo, la reacción de Jun me hizo lagrimear un poco pues en efecto fue muy emotivo cuando le dieron la buena noticia y su merecido trofeo. Sencillamente para resumir. Felicitaciones Japón por este gran y hermoso. Evento, felicitaciones Taka y organizadores en general.

[ta0]

Merry Christmas to those still on December 25th.
I'm on the bullet train to Nagoya with Rocco and Gianni. We are going to visit the koma museum.

We had demos by Ahai-Shi:



and also by a traditional kyokugoma performer, Mimasu Monemon:

[Jun]

I’m on my way home now.

First of all, I strongly want to say thank you for Tock. 10 years ago, I and tock got the 1st place in the youth division of Japan National Contest. The date was December 23rd, 2013. Just 10 years ago! Now we are the champions of each division.

My journey of the world contest has started in 2018, Shanghai. From 2020 to 2023, the contest was held online. So I was defeated 5 times.

The weekend is so busy for me. I was the judge of Tsubame-Cup and the Traditional division. And I held the exhibition content, the battle. And of course a competitor of open division. However, I could get everything I want.

Actually, when I finish my routine, I guessed I couldn’t win again because my 2-koma tricks was totally failed. When I heard there 3rd place of open division is Nobu, I guessed I was 4th place or less. So I couldn’t believe the announcement that I am the 1st place. At the moment tock come on the stage and hug me, I could believe the result. I couldn’t stop crying.

[ta0]

Three years after being inducted, Mr. Fushita finally got his ITSA Honor Member Award:



At 80 years old he still can land the string-on-the-ear-trapeze trick (I suspect it's his favorite trick).

His wife, Hiroko (75 yrs), is amazing! She easily beat me every time at beigoma, koma target and spun the hummer tops faster than I could.



I met again Rupan (Shogo) who was kind enough to take us to the nearby Nagoya port. I did get to ride in the giant ferris wheel in the background, what was a dream for me as one conversation in the novel I wrote takes place on one of its gondolas:

[jim in paris]

dear all
dear Jun

you finish 1st and it's a great achievement ! bravo
it reflects your commitment to popularize the art of playing tops , whether its teaching kids,
organizing street battles with skaters and diabolo players,posting incredible videos of new tricks
and with the gentleman attitude of sharing and explaining (..........//)
even questioning what is original, which to me represents a high level of spinology consciousness.

about the event
when we started the association ITSA with Jorge our ultimate goal was to finally split from the yoyo super charged contest with big money(entry fees, hotel etc) and a small place for tops

now for the first time we have been able to make it with success
Taka 's incredible involvement and resources,
contacts,
raffles ,
money raised for international players ,
etc

I hope we could do it again in Mexico in 2024

2025 might be the year to organize the world contest in France

cheers
jim

[Armando (elprofedeltrompo)]

Jorge, Creo que la foto de la Señora Hiroko potencialmente puede ganarnos a todos en el concurso de fotografía !!!!

[Jun]

rare face emoticons

[Jun]

the Saturday

[ta0]

Great photos!
Nice video blog. The street battle was great! Tock trying the Quentin Whip with a chonkake took guts. And Yahir trapeze suicide was really high. But they were not enough at that level.

There was a beigoma playing zone with at least 6 battling courts. Mark and Beth were not afraid to go against the locals:

[Ludo]

HELLO
VERY VERY GOOD GREAT JOB TAKA AND ALL THE TEAM WHO ORGANISE THE WORLD CUP
THANKS TOO MUCH FOR FUN AND THANKS TO THE VIDEO FROM ALL PARTICIPANT AND HIGHT LEVEL OF SPINNER TOP
THANKS ALOT BYE LUDO