| Event | Pokémon Japan Championships 2023 |
|---|---|
| Location |  Chiba, Japan |
| Date | 10–11 June 2023 |
| Attendance | 118 players (MA) |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2023 Season – VGC Regulation Set C (before HOME ver. 3.0.0) |
| Format | Bo1 double-elimination bracket with Bo3 grand finals Day 1: Closed team lists Day 2: Open team lists, but with closed Tera Types |
| Organizer | The Pokémon Company (TPC) |
Table of Contents
Teams and results
Day 2 bracket
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12-2 |  | Abdullah Mohayyuddin (sempra) | 200 CP $3000 |       |  |  |
| 2 | 11-3 | | Ryan Loseto (SableyeVGC) | 160 CP $2000 |    |  | |
| 3 | 11-3 |  | Dylan Salvanera (Dylan) | 130 CP $1000 |      | | |
| 4 | 11-3 | | Aaron Zheng (CybertronVGC) | 130 CP $1000 |   | | |
| 5 | 12-2 | | Zackary Thornberg (Zack) | 100 CP $500 |      | | |
| 6 | 11-3 | | Neil Patel (Neil) | 100 CP $500 | | | |
| 7 | 11-3 | | Gavin Michaels (HUH?!!) | 100 CP $500 |      | | |
| 8 | 11-3 | | Demitrios Kaguras (DEMITRI) | 100 CP $500 |  |  | |
| # | Day 1 | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B-L | | Kaito Arii (ナーク) | Worlds Day 2 + TA |     | | |
| 2 | B-W | | Hodaka Hatakeyama (ハキ) | Worlds Day 2 + TA |  | | |
| 3 | A-W | | Kanade Mizuguchi (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 2 + TA |    | | |
| 4 | B-W | | Shohei Kimura (ゴルドバーン) | Worlds Day 2 + TA | | | |
| Top 6 | A-W | | Kenji Miura (サファイア) | Worlds Day 2 |   | | |
| Top 6 | B-L | | Kengo Hirata (みなとともか) | Worlds Day 2 |  | | |
| Top 8 | A-L | | Kazuya Kitasawa (ハルト) | Worlds Day 2 |  | | |
| Top 8 | A-L | | Ren Kotorii (オレンジ) | Worlds Day 2 |  | |
Day 1 brackets
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | List | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top 12 | A-T6 | | Atsuhiro Sugiyama (たおかもいち) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 12 | A-T6 | | Satoru Nishigai (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 12 | B-T6 | | Atsushi Masubuchi (むぎ) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 12 | B-T6 | | Yuma Miyamoto (とり。) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 16 | A-T8 | | Hikaru Okawa (クライ) | Worlds Day 1 |    | ||
| Top 16 | A-T8 | | Hirokazu Sue (ヒロカズ) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 16 | B-T8 | | Rikuto Takemoto (スカーレット) | Worlds Day 1 |    | ||
| Top 16 | B-T8 | | Kazunori Muranushi (きりやあおい) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 24 | A-T12 | | Yusuke Tsuganezawa (ユウスケ) | Worlds Day 1 |   | ||
| Top 24 | A-T12 | | Naoki Minagawa (ゆの＊) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 24 | A-T12 | | Kai Yazawa (シャングリラ) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 24 | A-T12 | | Keita Yamada | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 24 | B-T12 | | Kotaro Okada (せむべる) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 24 | B-T12 | | Tomoki Kawatsure (スカーレット) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 24 | B-T12 | | Yoshikazu Sawane (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 1 |   | ||
| Top 24 | B-T12 | | Yuta Hiroki (ひろきんぐ) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | A-T16 | | Hiroto Kamazawa (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 32 | A-T16 | | Hirofumi Kimura (スカーレット) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | A-T16 | | Yuya Tada (ヒフミ) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | A-T16 | | Yohei Yamane (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | B-T16 | | Shintaro Amemiya (バイオレット) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | B-T16 | | Taka Maenishi (taka_na_u) | Worlds Day 1 |  | ||
| Top 32 | B-T16 | | Shotaro Matsui (ショウ) | Worlds Day 1 | | ||
| Top 32 | B-T16 | | Takumi Matsuhaba (たくみ) | Worlds Day 1 | |
Check all the players in top 64 that earned a Worlds Day 1 invite here!
Check here to see the seeds for top cut from the Day 2 Swiss standings!
| # | Swiss | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | TL | Exp. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 105 | 7-3 |  | Ian Roberts (76) | 40 CP | | |
Streaming
| Round | Player 1 | vs | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-WR1 | Eisuke Yamada | vs | Hiroshi Onishi  |
| B-WR1 | Ryota Otsubo  | vs | Tetta Fukuda   |
| B-WR2 | Akihiro Kuroda | vs | Takumi Soma   |
| B-LR1 (Top 128) | Yuya Wakasugi  | vs | Takumi Suzuki  |
| A-LR2 (Top 96) | Yuma Yoshida   | vs | Takuto Notohara |
| A-LR2 (Top 96) | Ryota Hosoi | vs | Yusuke Shimotsu |
| B-LR2 (Top 96) | Takumi Soma | vs | Takumi Kamisugi  |
| A-WR3 | Naoto Mizobuchi | vs | Kenji Miura |
| A-LR3 (Top 64) | Ryota Hosoi | vs | Yuya Tada |
| B-LR4 (Top 48) | Atsushi Masubuchi | vs | Yuta Takahashi |
| B-LR4 (Top 48) | Shotaro Matsui | vs | Takumi Soma |
| B-WR4 | Hodaka Hatakeyama | vs | Tomoki Kawatsure |
| B-LR5 (Top 32) | Shotaro Matsui | vs | Yuta Hiroki |
| A-LR6 (Top 24) | Kai Yazawa | vs | Kazuya Kitasawa |
| B-LR6 (Top 24) | Kazunori Muranushi | vs | Yuta Hiroki |
| A-WR5 | Kanade Mizuguchi | vs | Satoru Nishigai |
| B-LR7 (Top 16) | Atsushi Masubuchi | vs | Kazunori Muranushi |
| B-LR8 (Top 12) | Yuma Miyamoto | vs | Kaito Arii |
| A-LR8 (Top 12) | Kazuya Kitasawa | vs | Atsuhiro Sugiyama |
| Round | Player 1 | vs | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WR1 | Kenji Miura | vs | Kengo Hirata |
| WR2 (WSF) | Kaito Arii | vs | Shohei Kimura |
| LR2 (Top 6) | Kenji Miura | vs | Kanade Mizuguchi |
| Juniors Grand Finals | Kosei W. | vs | Wataru K. |
| Seniors Grand Finals | Ryoma T. | vs | Koki S. |
| Masters Grand Finals | Hodaka Hatakeyama | vs | Kaito Arii |
Participating players
The live stage of the 2023 Japan National Championships is open only to the players that qualified through any of the following criteria:
- Top 64 players in the Japan Nationals Main Stage 14 May event
- Top 64 players in the Japan Nationals Main Stage 28 May event
These two tournaments were also invite-only: players needed to qualify to them by placing top 150 amongst the players in Japan in Japan Nationals Qualifiers #1, #2 or #3 (known as Global Challenges outside Japan).
NOTE: Initially, only the 14 May tournament was going to be held, with the live stage featuring 64 players. However, the anomalies experienced in that tournament forced to change the structure of the Nationals. As a result, the 28 May tournament was announced and the capacity of the live stage was doubled to 128 players, while the 64 invites available for World Championships were maintained. This means that participating in the live stage does no longer guarantee a Worlds invite.
An email sent to the players on 1 June banned the newly available items and Egg Moves to maintain the format of the qualifiers events.
Venue and schedule
The tournament is held in Exhibition Halls 2 and 3 of the following location:
Makuhari Messe International
幕張メッセ 国際展示場
2-1, Nakase, Mihama-ku, Chiba, Chiba Prefecture, 261-8550
〒261-0023 千葉県千葉市美浜区中瀬２丁目１
Players must be in the venue by 10 June 2023 at 9:00 JST (00:00 UTC) for the players meeting. Players will be divided in two separate 64-player best-of-1 double-elimination brackets, which will start thereafter. All rounds will be played until only 4 players remain in each bracket (this is after winners’ round 5 and losers’ round 8).
Day 1 is played with closed team lists.
The eight remaining players will then face in a fresh new best-of-1 double-elimination bracket (paired such as players from Day 1 bracket A face players from Day 1 bracket B, and regardless of whether they qualified through the winners or losers bracket) on 11 June 2023 at 8:30 JST (10 June at 23:30 UTC) for Juniors players, at 9:00 JST (00:00 UTC) for Seniors players and at 9:30 JST (00:30 UTC) for Masters players. Finals will be the only match played as best-of-3.
Day 2 is played with open team lists, except Tera Types, which are closed.
Prizes
This event is an official tournament and is part of the 2023 official circuit in Japan.
The highest-placed players earn invites to the 2023 World Championships.
| Placement | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st to 4th | Worlds Day 2 invite + Travel Award |
| 5th to 8th | Worlds Day 2 invite |
| 9th to 64th | Worlds Day 1 invite |
Overview
The Japan National Championships is the most important VGC competition for players in Japan, where TPC is responsible for the circuit, and is the only tournament through which players in Japan can earn invites to the World Championships.
It is the 13th edition of the Japan National Championships since its inception in 2009. It has been celebrated every year except in 2011 (due to the Fukushima disaster) and 2020 (due to the COVID-19 pandemics). See the previous editions:
- 2009, won by Takahiro Akai
- 2010, won by Ryo Tajiri
- 2012, won by Satoru Masukata
- 2013, won by Ryosuke Kosuge, eventual 2013 Worlds finalist
- 2014, won by Yosuke Isagi, eventual 2015 Worlds semifinalist
- 2015, won by Shoma Honami, eventual 2015 World Champion
- 2016, won by Hideto Kotake
- 2017, won by Ryota Otsubo, eventual 2017 World Champion
- 2018, won by Hirofumi Kimura, eventual 2019 Worlds finalist
- 2019, won by Hirofumi Kimura for the 2nd time
- 2021, won by Kohei Fujita
- 2022, won by Kentaro Matsumoto
Previous editions of the Japan Nationals have featured different formats and qualifying systems, but in the last few years qualification has been through in-game ladder qualifiers and the event has been played with best-of-1 Swiss rounds followed by a best-of-3 single-elimination top cut (generally top 32). The 2023 edition’s main stage is the first since 2021 to be played with yet another in-game ladder competition, and the first ever to feature a second chance in this online stage. Regarding the live stage, it is the first time ever that a double-elimination bracket is used for an official event in Japan.
The ruleset is VGC Regulation Set C, with closed team lists in Day 1 and open team lists except Tera Types, which will be closed, in Day 2.
A little bit of history
Japan has been a part of the official TPC circuit since its inception. It has hosted multiple major events, including old-era Regionals and National Championships, and is particularly successful in the online competitions. As the most successful country in VGC, Japan’s greatest trophies have been brought home by 4 World Champions (Kazuyuki Tsuji in 2009, Shoma Honami in 2015, Ryota Otsubo in 2017 and Naoto Mizobuchi in 2019), as well as the 2008 VGS Champion (Izuru Yoshimura) and other 7 in the Senior and Junior divisions throughout the years.
The last time the Japan National Championships was held was the 2022 edition, with the finals hosted in Chiba, Japan, and played in Pokémon Sword & Pokémon Shield with the VGC Series 12 ruleset in June 2022. The finals saw Japanese Kentaro Matsumoto defeat fellow countryman Sho Ito to win his first major title.
American James Evans, the 2018 Senior Division World Champion, defeated Brazilian Gabriel Agati in the NAIC finals.
