| Event | Pokémon Japan Championships 2024 Finals (ポケモンジャパンチャンピオンシップス2024 決勝) |
|---|---|
| Location |  Yokohama, Japan |
| Date | 1–2 June 2024 |
| Capacity | 192 qualified players (64 MA, 64 SR, 64 JR) |
| Videogame | Pokémon Scarlet and Pokémon Violet |
| Season | 2024 Season – VGC Regulation Set G |
| Format | Double-elimination bracket, Bo1 before Top 8, Bo3 from Top 8 onwards Closed team lists before Top 8 Open team lists (incl. Nature) from Top 8 onwards |
| Organizer | The Pokémon Company (TPC) |
Table of Contents
Teams and results
Day 2 rounds (Top 4)
| # | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Hyuma Hara (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award |       |  |
| 2 | | Kiwamu Endo (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award |      | |
| 3 | | Naoya Osumi (ねこまる) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award |      | |
| 4 | | Masahiro Taoka (しの) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award |      | |
Only the Top 4 players would advance to the Day 2 rounds.
Day 1 rounds (Top 8: OTS Bo3)
| # | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | | Kenya Kodera (aokbab) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye |  | |
| 5 | | Junya Suzuki (じゅんや) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye |       | |
| 7 | | Takashi Yamamoto (ミガワリ) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye |     | |
| 7 |  | Zeng Chenyue (Mitsu) | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye |    | |
The Top 8 players would continue playing in Day 1 with open team lists and in best-of-three matches.
Day 1 rounds (CTS Bo1)
| # | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | | Kiyoshiro Arai (べにまる) | 2024 Worlds |    | |
| 9 | | Keishiro Ohashi (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 9 | | Takuma Yamane (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds |   | |
| 9 | | Tomoya Kimura (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds |   | |
| 13 | | Shogo Hamaguchi (ゆきぽよ) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 13 | | Kenta Akagi (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 13 | | Takafumi Yukimori (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 13 | | Keisuke Sunaoshi (けいすけ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 17 | | Yuta Ishigaki (パラガス) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 17 | | Taiki Koda (たいき) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 17 | | Hirofumi Kimura (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 17 | | Kengo Hirata (みなとともか) | 2024 Worlds |    | |
| 17 | | Yasumitsu Hama (R4) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 17 | | Yuhei Otani (ハイネ) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 17 | | Yuki Shimizu (ユウキ) | 2024 Worlds |    | |
| 17 | | Takafumi Shito (シサイ) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 25 | | Yusuke Suzuki (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 25 | | Ryosei Nanbu (Plastic Love) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 25 | | Kentaro Seki (へき) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 25 | | Fumiya Okochi (かわち) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 25 | | Kota Kawabe (KOOTA) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 25 | | Takehiro Nakata (Grand) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 25 | | Daiki Sudo (わンジャモ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 25 | | Hiromichi Kozaki (エニグマ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Kentaro Matsumoto (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Haruto Hiroe (Haru) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Kento Sato (りんちゃん) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Masahiro Ito (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds |   | |
| 33 | | Naoto Kishida (シャーベット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Ryosuke Aso (Ryo) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Naoto Mizobuchi (コケホドリ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Daiju Tamura (しごとちゅう) | 2024 Worlds |   | |
| 33 | | Akira Kimura (りっちゃん) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Iruto Konno (AIアンセナ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Sho Akiyama (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 33 | | Kota Okutsu (ミズキ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Tsubasa Kitaoka (ななかまど) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 33 | | Ryo Majita (バイザー) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 33 | | Yuma Miyamoto (とり。) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 33 | | Yuma Kinugawa (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Genki Miyahara (IKUSIN) | 2024 Worlds |   | |
| 49 | | Kazuki Sumiya (ラン) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Tokiya Fukazawa (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 |  | Jon Hu (ヨナさん) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Ryohei Okabe (こじょ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Shigehisa Osajima (ハルト) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Yoichiro Kurogi (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds |  | |
| 49 | | Rikuto Noda (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Tsubasa Fujita (とまと) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Shota Hongu (てんま) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Kento Asami (バイオレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Junya Akiyama (あっきゃ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Kazuki Ogushi (ミオリア) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Haruka Goto (アルコ) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Ryo Takahashi (スカーレット) | 2024 Worlds | | |
| 49 | | Motoki Agano (アガノ) | 2024 Worlds | |
Teams and results - Seniors & Juniors
Senior Division
| # | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Soichiro I. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 2 | | Kosaku M. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 3 | | Rei U. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 4 | | Kotaro H. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | |
Junior Division
| # | Flag | Player | Prize | Team | OTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | | Yudai F. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 2 | | Hideo U. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 3 | | Tatsuomi S. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | | |
| 4 | | Mikoto I. | 2024 Worlds Worlds R1 bye Travel Award | |
Streaming
| Round | Player 1 | vs | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| WR1 | Akira Kimura | vs | Yoichiro Kurogi |
| WR2 | Sho Akiyama | vs | Hirofumi Kimura |
| LR2 (Top 48) | Daiju Tamura | vs | Takashi Yamamoto |
| WR2 Back-up | Kento Sato | vs | Kengo Hirata |
| WR3 | Yuki Shimizu | vs | Naoya Osumi |
| LR4 (Top 24) | Takafumi Shito | vs | Keisuke Sunaoshi |
| WR4 | Takuma Yamane | vs | Kiwamu Endo |
| LR6 (Top 12) | Naoya Osumi | vs | Keishiro Ohashi |
| WR3 Back-up | Yuta Ishigaki | vs | Hyuma Hara |
| WR4 Back-up | Zeng Chenyue | vs | Kenya Kodera |
| LR6 (Top 12) Back-up | Kiyoshiro Arai | vs | Masahiro Taoka |
| WR5 | Kenya Kodera | vs | Hyuma Hara |
| LR8 (Top 6) | Masahiro Taoka | vs | Junya Suzuki |
| Round | Player 1 | vs | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winners Finals | Hyuma Hara | vs | Kiwamu Endo |
| Losers Finals | Naoya Osumi | vs | Kiwamu Endo |
| Junior Grand Finals | Yudai F.  | vs | Hideo U.  |
| Senior Grand Finals | Kosaku M. | vs | Soichiro I. |
| Masters Grand Finals | Hyuma Hara | vs | Kiwamu Endo |
Participating players
The live Finals stage of the 2024 Japan National Championships is open only to the players that qualified through the following criteria:
- Top 64 players in the Japan National Main Tournament
This tournament is also invite-only: players needed to qualify to it by placing top 150 amongst the players in Japan in Japan Nationals Qualifiers #1, #2 or #3 (known as Global Challenges outside Japan).
Venue and schedule
The tournament is held in Exhibition Halls B, C and D of the following location:
PACIFICO Yokohama
パシフィコ横浜
1-chōme-1-1 Minatomirai, Nishi Ward, Yokohama, Kanagawa 220-0012
〒220-0012 神奈川県横浜市西区みなとみらい１丁目１−１
Players must be in the venue by 1 June 2024 at 9:00 JST (00:00 UTC) for the players meeting.
Players will be seeded in a 64-player best-of-1 double-elimination bracket with closed team lists. All rounds will be played until only 8 players remain (this is after winners’ round 4 and losers’ round 6). Afterwards, the 8 remaining players will face in best-of-3 matches with open team lists including Natures.
Day 2 players must be in the venue by 2 June 2024 at 8:30 JST (10 June at 23:30 UTC) for Junior players, and at 9:00 JST (00:00 UTC) for Senior and Masters players.
Prizes
This event is an official tournament and is part of the 2024 official circuit in Japan.
All participating players earn invites to the 2024 World Championships, with the highest-placed players earning byes and Travel Awards.
| Placement | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1st to 4th | Worlds invite + Round 1 bye + Travel Award Trophy, original cap and T-shirt |
| 5th to 8th | Worlds invite + Round 1 bye Original cap and T-shirt |
| 9th to 32th | Worlds invite Original cap and T-shirt |
| 33th to 64th | Worlds 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 14th 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
- 2023, won by Kaito Arii
Previous editions of the Japan Nationals have featured different formats and qualifying systems. In the last few years qualification has been through in-game ladder qualifiers. Last year’s edition featured a first main stage online, also as an in-game ladder competition, before the final, live stage. As in 2023, the live stage is played as a double-elimination bracket. As a novelty for 2024, all matches from top 8 onwards are played as best-of-3 (only the grand finals was played as best-of-3 in 2023).
The ruleset is VGC Regulation Set G, with closed team lists up until top 8, and open team lists (including Natures) from top 8 onwards.
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 5 World Champions (Kazuyuki Tsuji in 2009, Shoma Honami in 2015, Ryota Otsubo in 2017, Naoto Mizobuchi in 2019, and Shohei Kimura in 2023), as well as the 2008 VGS Champion (Izuru Yoshimura) and other 9 in the Senior and Junior divisions throughout the years.
The most recent tournament held in Japan was the 2023 World Championships, played in Yokohama, Japan with the VGC Regulation Set D in August 2023. The finals saw 2017 Japan National finalist Shohei Kimura defeat German newcomer Michael Kelsch to win the title of World Champion!
The last time the Japan National Championships was held was the 2023 edition, with the finals hosted in Chiba, Japan, and played with the VGC Regulation Set C in June 2023. The finals saw Japanese Kaito Arii defeat fellow countryman Hodaka Hatakeyama to win his first major title!
American James Evans, the 2018 Senior Division World Champion, defeated Brazilian Gabriel Agati in the NAIC finals.
