When I moved to Japan, I thought its close proximity to Korea would allow me the opportunity to view a live Star Craft 2 event. I thought I would have to dish out 20,000￥and perhaps receive a few days off in order to experience the excitement of a live Star Craft 2 event. So when I saw a link on Reddit about a show-match between Japanese All-Star players, and CJ Entus I was beyond ecstatic. Fortunately, I already had the day off, so the only thing that would keep me from this event would be my own indolence. I invited a friend, giving myself more reason to not miss the big event, and waited patiently for Tuesday, May 27.

On my way to Akihabara, I stopped for ramen, at what might be my new favorite ramen shop. I met with my friend, and then we made our way to the building where the event was to be held. And by “made our way” I mean, spend 30 minutes looking for a building that was 700m from the train station. We entered to be greeted, a bit to my surprise, by a young European man. During our registration to use their gaming PCs we struck up a conversation, where we learned that the show-match was made possible because the owner or manager of e-sports SQUARE was the ex-manager for CJ Entus. We entered the main room where the Japanese players were pointed out to us. It was a small, but impressive venue. There were about 20 high quality gaming PCs, with Hearthstone, Starcaft 2, League of Legends as well as a few other games and Steam. Razer keyboards and mice, as well as top-notch gaming chairs. We were about 30 minutes early, so we hopped online and played a couple 2v2s.

When the event finally started, the small room had acquired a few more bodies (we’d later learn that the total attendance was 15). The players were all introduced, and gave their thanks to the audience and promised to try their best. The atmosphere paled in comparison to that which I’d expect the Korean venues to be like. That isn’t to say that the venue was dead and lacking life, in fact it was quite the opposite. There was lots of clapping, cheering, and audience participation. My favorite moment was during the first match, a PvZ between Crimson and CJ Entus’ Effort. Effort was pressuring Crimson’s third and skytoss army, when Crimson’s mother ship’s warp finally completed. One of the casters pointed out the appearance of the “Mothership Core”, to which there were cries of disapproval from the audience: “Core?! Core?!”. Realizing his mistake, and succumbing to the pressure and criticisms the caster corrected himself “Mothership desu!!!”. It was an exchange that I think was only made possible by the slightly amateur nature and intimacy of the event.

The results were much as expected: a clean sweep by CJ Entus. Though, there were many close games, most notably, and almost surprisingly, Nazomen vs Gumiho. Nazomen put up a great fight, but was beat out by the superior skills of the Korean pro. This was the case for all the matches, the Japanese players were just outclassed by members of one of Korea’s best Star Craft 2 teams, as was to be expected.

After the event, there was raffle during which I won a zealot figurine. I was congratulated by Japanese e-sports blogger, Nemuke. We had a short conversation during which he mention his excitement at today’s turnout, as well as the attendance of a few foreigners. He expressed a bit of disappointment at the fact that Japan’s e-sport community is not yet that large. I agree with his sentiments, It would have been nice to experience a GSL, WSC or similar type crowd. Fortunately, I’ll get to experience a GSL during a future trip to Korea (maybe even Code-S Finals). This was my first live e-sports event and, despite the turnout, a great experience that I will cherish. e-sports SQUARE, CJ Entus, 皆さん、ありがとう！