The difference between Japan's Smash 4 scene and Melee scene is simply staggering. While the die-hard Melee players who regularly attend Japanese tournaments have also made their way to American major tournaments before, their numbers are few and their local tournaments are infrequent. @Master Hand , the only remaining monthly Melee series in Japan, gets roughly 30 players a month and @Sumabato , the Wii U monthly tournament series in the same Kansai region, gets anywhere to five to ten times those numbers. Many names from the King era of Melee either have completely moved on to Smash 4 or have retired from competitive play, but there are still some who strive to improve their tech skill and dream of reaching that Melee major top 8 stage.Japan has two MIOM ranked players @VGBC|aMSa (#24) and @Rudolph (#88) . Almost everyone knows who aMSa is due to his ability to use Yoshi at such a high-level, but few know that Rudolph is currently Japan's best player. Rudolph took a long vacation in America and during that time he went to many tournaments, took plenty of match up notes, and had reasonable placings. Ever since returning from the US no one in Japan has been able to touch him. Rudolph went on an undefeated streak that ended only very recently, with aMSa finally dethroning him at KVOxTSB 2016. I am definitely excited to see those two battle it out again soon. However, there are still many amazing players in Japan who give those two a fight every time they meet up in bracket. @Kounotori , Master Hand's TO and one of West Japan's top players, informed me that the Japanese metagame is a little different. High-level spacies are few and far between and Japan's top players play very unique characters. Japan's top player roster includes Rudolph who primarily plays Marth, @K.F who plays Jigglypuff, aMSa who plays Yoshi, @Gucci who plays Captain Falcon, @Shippu who plays Peach, and @Nanashi who plays Samus. This small community is made up of a very diverse cast of characters who all play the game at a very high level which produces really interesting results.Unfortunately, we do not get to see that happen very often. Master Hand runs every month and gets an average of 30 players. They run two special Crazy Hand tournaments a year where players from all over the country show up, but even so the turnout is only 60 or so players. @BattleGateWay (BGW) in Tokyo runs maybe two to three times a year and can get some of the biggest numbers for a Melee tournament in Japan at around 80 entrants. The TOs are dedicated and make at least one trip a year to US majors; the players are talented and have even made it onto the MIOM rankings. Despite that, they do not have the player base to host tournaments as often as the Smash 4 community, so be sure to check them out on aMSa's Twitch Channel when you have the chance!I finally was able to attend a dedicated Japanese Melee tournament and traveled to Master Hand 14 this past weekend. Immediately what stood out to me was the rules were almost exactly the same as the ones used by the rest of the world and they were available in both English and Japanese . Every Gamecube was also set to the English language setting and everyone played it completely in English. Since the inception of the Master Hand series the organizers have paid special attention to what is going on in the US and have long since abandoned the single-elimination, Final Destination only tournament formats of the past.Unlike the majority of Smash 4 tournaments I have attended, Master Hand ran doubles, even though Kounotori admitted teams is not a very popular format in Japan. Like Sumabato and other Japanese monthlies, Master Hand runs the A Class and B Class tournament bracket system as well. The schedule is packed and players are in the tournament from the early am hours until the late evening and there is always something to do! As a TO I especially loved their table number system, which had a triangle stand which on one side said "TOURNAMENT MATCH" and the other side said "FRIENDLY MATCH". It was easy to switch CRTs from tournament set ups to friendly set ups and everyone knew exactly what was going on without having to ask or check in with the TO staff.