For all of you who don’t know what “Hyper Yo-Yo” is, just think of it as a Japanese “phenomenon” that started in 1997. In April, many top Japanese players, old and new, celebrated the 10th Anniversary of the Hyper Yo-Yo craze. I only wish I had been part of the fun.

Why? Well, my yo-yo passion started during the last craze brought on by Yomega, Bandai, and HPK Marketing (heh), and I was lucky enough to have met some amazing players during my travels.

A couple of these players were Takumi Nagase (1999 World 2A Yo-Yo Champion, THP Japan), and Alan Batangan (multiple National 2A Titles, and THP Hawaii). (by the way, click on their names to watch their freestyles from the 1999 World Yo-Yo Contest!)

Thanks to Bu-ko, and the Hyper Yo-Yo Alumni Association (I never knew this existed!), I know what they look like today!

1999 Takumi Nagase (left), 1999 Pat Cuartero (right)

2007 Keijiro Hasegawa (left, THP Japan member), 2007 Takumi Nagase (right)

I’m sure there are better pictures of Alan Batangan in 1999, but he’s in here somewhere (let’s see if you guys can find me, and name any of the other THP members in this pic!):

1999 Alan Batangan, center row, 6th from the left

THPJ member Hiroya Tanaka (left), and 2007 Alan Batangan (right).

Oh, and in case you were wondering, THP stands for Team High Performance. I’d describe what it is, but perhaps you should do some research on your own - you might learn something!

Lastly, I know this post way past due, but hey, I just got the pictures! The 10th Anniversary celebration was actually in April (Japanese National Yo-Yo day is April 4th. According to Bu-ko, “four” in Japanese is pronounced “yon”, which leads to “yon-yon”, which is “close enough” to “yo-yo”. A-ha?).

Thanks for reading! I’ll leave you with this.