On Sunday, The guys managed to drag themselves out of bed and get to the 2nd Yo-Style Kyusyu Contest. They were surprised to see a lot of parents playing alongside their kids, and got to catch up with a ton of old friends. Team YoYoFactory's Yuji Shimokawa Kelly (UK Champion) was also there.


The organizer and MC, Mr. Kobayashi (Kobacchi), our big brother in Kyushu


1A Finalists. The winner came the furthest distance (Hokkaido), Kentaro Mannen. Actually, this year the 1A top 5 were dominated by Team yoyorecreation. Owner Kengo Kido claimed 2nd place. Masakazu Yamazaki dominated the 2A division, and Hideo Ishida won the X division (sorry, no photos!)

For more detailed results, check out the Yo-Style website.


Mickey (Hiroyuki Suzuki) put on a special performance, giving us an idea of how hard he practices. He often comes to Fukuoka to perform, and was a big favorite amongst the kids.


There was also a long sleeper contest, won by Issei Suzuki (no relation to Mickey that we know of). His prize was an X-Convict.


Our judges, from left to right: Jun Aramaki, Kenichi Iida, Hiroyuki Suzuki, Kunihisa Kawabe, Hiroring. Big thanks to My-tho-logy for providing some T-shirts!


Here's a rare shot, can you tell the common theme? Shop managers for throw device (Kengo Kido), REWIND (Jun Aramaki), Shumi de Hajimeta yo-yo (Mr. Marushima) and Yo-Yo Island (Kenichi Iida).


Finally, a big thanks to our host and MC, Mr. Kobayashi! If it weren't for him, there wouldn't be a Yo-Style!

This weekend, the boys went to Kyushu's Fukuoka prefecture to participate in (Shinya), judge (Jun) and watch (Hiro) the 2nd Annual Yo-Style Kyusyu Contest. REWIND was there in full support of the contest, sponsoring as well as lending a hand at the judges' table.

The contest was on Sunday, but they arrived a day early to do some sightseeing and attend the player's gathering that night.

They took the bullet train from Nagoya to Hakata station. It'd been over a year since Jun had last been here; their renovations had been completed and the station looked better than ever.


Fukuoka Tower


Hakata bay. From this vantage point we could see the typhoon that was rolling in. Fortunately, Saturday was only partially cloudy.


Yahoo Dome, though we always thought it was just "Fukuoka Dome."


The Hawks' biggest fan and head cheerleader, "Otousan" (father) was there under glass.

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Since the contest was held on Sunday, people traveling long distance would have to leave immediately after the competition, so instead of having an after-party, they had had a big group dinner beforehand.


The contest organizer has a history with the judges and contestants that stretches back over ten years! Everyone had a great time.