GOEMON

Turning Center - GOEMON

Made in Japan, the GOEMON is a high-level looping yo-yo with a precision-machined body.

Turning Center is a new yo-yo maker, but you've probably held their work in your hands before. The lathe company has produced some of the most famous machined yo-yos for Turning Point, as well as Japan Technology's delrin off string yo-yos. Now, Turning Center is stepping out from behind the curtain and bringing you a truly unique yo-yo, the GOEMON.

Over three years of development went into the GOEMON, and at the 2013 World Yo-Yo Contest, Turning Center brought home the gold from the Mods division, along with praise from players, collectors, and yo-yo makers alike.

While making a competition-quality yo-yo, Turning Center also showed their manufacturing prowess. The thin aluminum side bezel is even anodized. All of the small parts such as the bearing and axle, while made in Japan, are standard sizes and are easy to get ahold of so you can do your own maintenance and repairs. For high-level and professional players, the response system isn't the only thing that gets worn out over time, so having easy-to-obtain standardized parts is an important feature in a serious looping yo-yo.

True to their name as a lathing manufacturer, all the parts from the duracon body, the aluminum bezel ring, and the metal spacers were all machined in-house. The craftsmanship and manufacturing processes used put the GOEMON in a completely different category from "regular" plastic yo-yos, making comparison impossible. The GOEMON provides a smoothness that you simply can't get from injection-molding.

GOEMON was named for a benevolent thief in Japanese folklore, and as a final design consideration and tip to the "Made in Japan" label, the side caps are made from different-colored woods arranged in a checkerboard pattern, through an old Japanese artistic woodworking technique known as "Yosegi-zaiku." No other mark or logo is needed to identify GOEMON.

GOEMON comes with two spare response O-rings.