Japan Nationals Report
by Richard Sadowsky, richard@atc.ne.jp, Awaji Island, Japan

This report was written on buses and trains, and a lot of it was 
transcribed, semi-interview style, so it is rambling at best, and perhaps 
incoherent at times. Feel free to copy it anyway and pass it along to whoever 
is interested. 
 
--Rich Sadowsky (sending regards to all players who came to the '92 Worlds 
held in Utsunomiya and friends in the Ultimate community).

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"Ladies" Ultimate as it's known in Japan--women's Ultimate. The finals were 
between Nihon Taiku Daigaku ("Nittaidai" or Japan Physical Education Univ.) 
from Tokyo and CUJC (Chubu University Junior College) from Nagoya. Seven 
players from each team were on the Japan women's team that went to Colchester 
this summer that finished 6th among 13 women's teams. 

There were lots of turnovers at the beginning of the game. Even though CUJC 
lost, they never gave up until the end; the Nittaidai physical conditioning 
and jumping power was exceptional and came through in the end. They were 
bigger, too. The final score was 20-13 in a game played to 19 with time cap. 

CUJC has been playing for six years. the PE univ. just picked up the game 
maybe 2 or 3 years ago, but they have become good quickly. CUJC only gets a 
little support from the University and they must pay transportation 
themselves, which can be quite expensive in Japan. 

A message from them (on the bus back from watching the men's finals), 
Captain Yukiko Samizo:
We want to continue to expand Ultimate in Japan. We would like to build 
friendships with Ultimate players around the world. We had a lot of players 
playing in this tournament who have experience on the international level, so 
the level of play has risen. 

It's going to be a 2 1/2 hour bullet train ride back for them to Nagoya and 
everyone seems tired, not so talkative. But I'm sure you can expect to see 
them again in competition in future int'l tournaments. 

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Sito Collantes from Vienna who played most recently with Groove Connection 
in Bologna, Italy, came to Japan to watch the Japan Nationals. (What a guy.) 
Scheduled a holiday around the tourney, says he would have liked to play. 
Impressions from Sito and me:

Pretty competitive level of play. A lot of intense defense. Very structured 
offense, playing a stack. Also constantly breaking the marks. Overall pretty 
good disc skills. Fairly disciplined game. The weather was 
great--incredible--for two days. Not so good on Sunday, rained a lot, but 
cleared up just in time for the finals. So the fields were nice and soft. The 
final was very intense, between Crews, the defending champions and the Men's 
Nihon Taiku Daigaku (Phys. Ed. Univ.) "Barbarians". Especially the first 
point was hot, unfortunately the PE University couldn't keep up the intensity 
for the whole game and the final score was about 21-12.

There were 16 teams who made it past regional qualifiers. One of the 
surprising things about the teams in Japan was their numbers. Sophia 
University had about 40 men lining the sides, and some women's teams also had 
about 40. In a lot of the games, even though they had large numbers, they 
only played maybe 7 or 10. When the women CUJC played Sophia (Freaks) they 
played only seven players the entire game. On the other hand one team had 
only 7 players. (Very savage.) It tells you something about the physical 
conditioning of the teams. 

For example one player who had to be taken off the field on a stretcher on 
Saturday (#10 on the Barbarians) was a key handler and high layout artist in 
the finals on Sunday! Just a short guy, but he could sky for a little guy. 
Coming into Japan the impression was you could put a tall team against them 
and clean up, but it turns out a lot of their players can really sky. 
Physical height isn't an indication of how high you can sky. 

Another unusual sight was walking by the trainer's tent. One of the players 
was getting a massage and a couple of needles were sticking out of her leg. 
Acupuncture seems to be an accepted method of treatment. I (Rich) got 
acupuncture from this trainer on a tightened calf. He taps the needle in then 
wheedles it back and forth until it twangs the muscle. A different player was 
well past the threshold of pain, but it worked. He was in the finals the next 
day jamming.

A lot of the teams practice on dirt, so coming from green grass this was 
quite a surprise to see. Even the Utsunomiya fields which were supposed to be 
pretty good were turning brown. (Well it is late November). Another 
comparison to European Ultimate: Usually there is a big party that goes along 
with the tournament, but here there was none. Yes, it is common not to have a 
party in Japan. In Europe, sometimes you go to a tournament just for the 
party. The teams go their own way. It's not very social. People don't eat 
together or become friends with players on other team, whereas socializing is 
a big part of the Ultimate scene in Europe. 

Another thing: It's hard to believe that we had to leave the hotel at 6 a.m. 
to go to the 7 a.m. opening of the Nationals. And the games didn't start til 
8. In the U.S., the games don't start until 9:30 or 10:00. The games were 
played to 17 with a 90-minute time cap. Games scheduled two hours apart. Two 
games per team guaranteed for three days. It was the first tourney that 
guaranteed enough play time in my six years in Japanese Ultimate. Finally 
included a loser's bracket. In Europe it's more common to play games to 13 
with a 45-minute time cap and four games in a day. Maybe two on the second 
day. (Even starting at 9:30 or 10:00.) In Japan the schedule is always on 
time. Never shifts 30-minutes or whatever. 

There was a steep entry fee (US$60 per player) but you get a disc, t-shirt 
and player's insurance. Expensive, but the JFDA (Japan Flying Disc 
Association) always make sure there is player's insurance for every 
tournament. The excellent trainer taped ankles and gave acupuncture for free, 
too. 

Another thing you come to expect in Europe is food on the fields, sold 
cheaply because it's made by the players themselves...and beer. Here there 
was no food on the fields. People had to make stops at the 7-11 on the way. 
It meant that you needed a car to get someplace. In the EU, you have 
everything there. Food available at the fields, so no need to worry about 
beer runs, etc. They also include breakfast with the tournament fee. Here, 
each team got six 1.5-liter bottles of sports drink and some Calcium crackers.

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New day, new Shinkansen ride, from Tokyo to Kyoto and Kobe. 

Japanese Ultimate has really developed since 1989 when they ran the 
Nationals on only two fields! 12 teams, two games in two days. Some of the 
rules they had back then before they standardized with int'l Ultimate rules 
were, get this: turnover on a travel (which caused players to catch the disc 
and drag a foot awkwardly like a bicycle whose kickstand won't go up...), a 
turnover if your body left the playing field entirely (like a catch and 
sliding or rolling out of bounds), no pivoting outside the field of play, 
referees in black and white and white stripes with whistles. A timekeeper 
keeping track of the 10-second stall on the sideline, regardless of how the 
mark conducted the count...running time even on time outs that could end the 
game...absolutely ridiculous rules. Even slow to switchover to Discraft. 

Today's Japanese Ultimate rules are roughly the same used worldwide. It took 
a couple of years for everyone to get used to "self-judge" and the difference 
between a foul and a strip, whether or not play is stopped and if a check is 
required, picks and the counts used, etc. etc. To avoid an endless dispute 
over whether a foot landed in the endzone or not, the disc is today played 
from the goal line. 

A lot of credit for the progress made in Japanese Ultimate is due to Masa 
Honda, the captain of Crews who played a couple of seasons with Windy City 
several years back. Every year he organizes the U.S.-Japan Friendship Tour 
that brings about 10 top male U.S. players to Japan to give clinics and show 
off their prowess to the growing college Ultimate and national-caliber 
players in the Tokyo area, or anyone who can travel to Tokyo for a week of 
Ultimate. The last clinic was held in September '94. Masa also taught 
Ultimate to the Phys. Ed. University, who are now #2 in the country. 

Also, though a non-player, an influence in organizing Ultimate is Fumio 
Morooka, Sophia University Associate Professor (Leisure, Recreation & 
Wellness Studies) vice-chairperson of the board of directors of the Japan 
Flying Disc Association. (BTW, he can be reached at 
<100206.3312@compuserve.com>). Sophia Freaks finished only 9th this year, the 
top of the loser's bracket, but were forced there by a tough pool. 

The only all-gaijin team was mine, Jozu Nage, (formerly Friction) playing 
for the sixth straight year. We finished 8th. Just a ragtag bunch of 
Americans who play for fun and only get serious a few weeks before a big 
tournament. As much off-field camaraderie as on. We recruited in the UPA 
Newsletter several years ago and that turned out alright, but the 
responsibility of helping someone set up in Japan falls on individuals here, 
which turns out to be a bit much, as anyone can imagine. Still, we welcome 
Ultimate players to join us who might be thinking about studying or teaching 
English in the Kyoto, Osaka, Kobe area. In case anyone is interested, just 
send email. 

More impressions from Sito: 

Snow-capped Mt. Fuji from the train. "It looks great." Sunny morning, no 
clouds. Back to Ultimate...the language they speak on the field--the calls 
are in English, the stall count, with Japanese pronunciation. When they argue 
the calls it's in Japanese. Maybe it's a reflection of the Japanese 
fascination with English, but the team names, like Bombers, Crews, Freaks, 
Barbarians are English. And the American team's name is Japanese, although it 
sounds like "Joe's Nuggets." 

The game rituals. At the beginning of the game, both teams face each other 
and bow. At the end of the game they line up again and shake hands. After 
they shake everybody's hands, they break off into their different teams and 
each team has a cheer for the other team, [a short chant... "Hey, hey, hey" 
kind of thing.] When they call time outs, usually the shape of the circles 
are pretty uniform, well-organized circles, almost like it's choreographed. 

The tournament was well-organized, the field locations were on a map printed 
in the brochure given out in the player's package. Usually tournament shirts 
are available at the fields, but in this case you had to order it and they 
send it to you. Another thing: They provide game discs for the tournament. In 
Europe, you usually use a player's disc. So especially when it got muddy on 
Sunday, they threw in a new disc from the sideline, instead of playing with 
the same muddy disc. They had tents at all the fields, and what was even 
better, they had kerosene heaters in the tents. We never had that in Europe 
and the U.S. 

The Japanese style of play: I hardly saw a fast break on a turnover. They 
walk up slowly to the disc and play off a stack. At the end of a point, they 
never run back to the line; they walk slowly back to the line. Very little 
spiking, even some user-friendly spikes. (The dip, sliding the disc...) 
Although there were long throws, you didn't really notice teams using 
mismatches between a tall player and a short player. They rarely put it up 
for the high grab. Usually, that is...they didn't play a "tall" game. 

As a side note, there's definitely talk of getting a Japanese men's team to 
the Kaimana Klassik in Hawaii over President's Weekend in February '95. This 
year there was a women's team, but not a men's team. 

Calls: there weren't an unusually large number of calls, and they didn't 
have heated debates about the calls, not frequently disputed. In fact, in one 
of the games, the Meiji Free Flyers (who finished 3rd) vs. Barbarians game, a 
disputed travel call arose and they actually pulled out a copy of rules on 
the field; they tried to work it out on the field from the written rules. 
(This was in a rainy game, too.) The finals did have observers and they did 
use them for line calls and they carried red flags, which they raised to 
signal a score. 

Teams all lined up for the opening ceremonies and closing ceremonies. 
Instead of being in a big crowd mixed up, they lined up by team. At the final 
awards ceremonies they had a male and female MVP from the winning teams, who 
got a plaque. It seemed strange that in Japan, in particular, in this 
group-oriented society to single out one person as MVP. Also in the awards 
ceremony, for the top three teams, some teams lined up their entire team of 
40, others only seven. Only Crews brought up two kids with them (Hiro 
Oshima's kids). There were few kids in general anywhere to be seen.


More on rules: When the disc is on the ground, a guy started counting, and 
didn't restart the count when the disc was picked up. Maybe it's that when 
the person gets close to the disc the count can be started. Sometimes they 
take their sweet time before picking up the disc, standing around, looking 
around the field. 

The mayor of Utsunomiya gave the opening address, BTW. Also, one of the 
members of the Council for Tochigi Prefecture was an official in JFDA. In the 
program of the Nat'ls, they have pictures of distinguished gentlemen who were 
probably too old to play when frisbee was invented. I was surprised to see 
them in the front of the program. I guess that means it's important to get 
sponsors from public officials. In fact, the mayor of Utsunomiya would like 
to hold the World Championships in 1996 here because it is also a special 
anniversary for the city. Next year, since it is the 20th Japanese Nationals, 
the mayor would like to do something special for that, too. It is interesting 
to see the mayor take such an interest in Ultimate. 

In the finals, in both men's and women's divisions, it was a playoff between 
a club team and a college team. In the women's division, it was the college 
team that won. In the men's, the same university came in second. In the men's 
semifinals it was two clubs against two university teams. The third place 
women's team was also a college team. Earlier in the year, in the Yokohama 
Classic it was the college teams that came out on top. In '92 the Sophia U. 
Freaks were the champions. In the States, for a university team to be that 
good... It means that Ultimate at the university level in Japan is very good 
and the club teams are not strong. It may be a reflection of the culture. 
After university, they start working and get too busy to play. The club teams 
tend to be small at 15 or 20, while the schools have double. For a women's 
club it's even rarer, because they usually get married and don't play anymore.

And for a team that only learned Ultimate 2 or 3 years ago to be in the 
finals, that's really...they really picked it up quickly. What's even better 
is that this top university is to graduate Physical Education teachers, so 
they will graduate and bring it into schools in the future. It's the perfect 
way to spread the sport. One thousand flowers blooming. Also the way that 
Ultimate started in Japan, was that Moro (Morooka) introduced Ultimate as a 
teacher, instead of a player, which is an unusual way to start it. 

How would I like to see it be different? Well, it's not something you 
change, it's a reflection of the society. It's just the way it is. Also, 
there were no dogs, and hardly any kids. Even though dogs were allowed at the 
park. Maybe it's not surprising, since most of the players are so young. Moro 
said that the sport is growing at an incredible rate in universities 
throughout the country in the last few years. Few have access to a good 
coach, though. 

By the look of things at the '94 Japan Nationals, Ultimate has become a hot 
minor sport in Japan. Let's hope it continues to grow. 

 Richard Sadowsky      richard@atc.ne.jp      Awaji Island, Japan