Elon Musk’s repost shines light on Japan’s yo-yo prowess, impressive collection of world titles

TOKYO - There’s no other way to spin it: In the world of yo-yo, Japan is the undisputed champion.

The country has long dominated the World Yo-Yo Contest, an annual competition involving the best players from around the globe.

According to statistics provided by the Japan Yo-Yo Federation, the country has racked up 101 championship titles over the event’s history.

The United States is second with 29.

However, Japan’s impressive record is not widely known outside of the yo-yo world.

‘Next-level’

When Mr Hajime Miura won gold at the 2025 competition in Prague on Aug 10, many people heard about it from an unlikely source: billionaire Elon Musk.

On Aug 17, Mr Musk reposted a video of Mr Miura’s championship performance on X, including a short comment that captured the yo-yo sensation’s stupefying skills: “Next-level”.

In the video, Mr Miura whips two yo-yos through the air and slides one along the other. Just when it looks like he’ll be left holding a tangled heap of string, Mr Miura gives the yo-yos a jerk, and they spin around and glide elegantly back into his hands.

Views and comments poured in. A week later, Mr Musk’s repost had been viewed almost 28 million times, making the young star a viral sensation.

However, Mr Miura’s success at the tournament and Mr Musk’s repost only tell part of the story.

A total of 287 competitors from 40 countries performed in front of over 1,300 spectators at the 2025 contest, which took place from Aug 7 to Aug 10, according to Mr Tomas Bubak, head of the board of the Czech Yoyo Association, which co-organised the event with the International Yo-Yo Federation.

Japan claimed gold in five of the six Championship Divisions and even took second and third in some of those divisions. Moreover, a Japanese player won the non-championship junior division.

“I think they (the Japanese players) are always the highlight of every year and especially Hajime Miura,” Mr Bubak said. “He is the crowd’s favourite.”

Of the 13 yo-yo players worldwide with three or more world titles, 10 are from Japan. At the top of that tally with 13 championships is Mr Shinji Saito, who last won at the World Contest in 2015.

According to Mr Akihiro Uemura from the Japan Yo-Yo Federation, one of the reasons behind Japan’s dominance is the comparatively high number of Japanese players, due mostly to a series of yo-yo booms in Japan. One such boom occurred in the 1970s and was promoted by Coca-Cola.

Mr Uemura also pointed to the higher number of competitions held throughout Japan every year, providing more opportunities to practice and network, and greater access to competition yo-yos and other equipment due to a large number of mass retailers and speciality stores.

Additionally, many players are very conscious of the scoring-based nature of the competition and approach the sport by studying the rules.

“Of course, I think it has a lot to do with the players working very hard every day,” Mr Uemura said.

Yo-yo town

The city of Iwakura in Aichi Prefecture promotes itself as a “yo-yo town”, with a local non-profit providing a range of activities to support the growth of Japan’s future stars.

Iwakura boasts of being home to four world champions, including Mr Hironori Mii, who was born in the city and earned the title in 2000.

“With ‘yo-yo town Iwakura’ we’re aiming to be a place where everybody, from children to adults, can enjoy yo-yo,” said Mr Mii.

“We want to use yo-yo as a catalyst to not only bring together people in the town but also to form connections with people from other places, which will hopefully enliven the whole community.”

Two of the city’s elementary schools have yo-yo clubs, which Mr Mii often visits to share tips with the kids.

And in the seven years through 2024, every child in the city received a yo-yo made in Iwakura when they reached the fourth grade of elementary school.

The initiatives are helping to ensure that Japan will have no shortage of yo-yo talent in the future.

“We hope our young players will not only focus on improving their skills but also enjoy communicating with various people in the wider world through yo-yo,” Mii said. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK