For all those who are in Japan, know Japanese, or are a fellow weeaboo, I have discovered the Japanese Starcraft 2 Scene if you are interested.

This is their site: http://starcraft2.jpcommunity.com/sc2/

And they have an IRC channel if you wish to get into contact with them to play games (they play on the U.S. server).

If you have your own IRC client, you can just type in their server: irc.friend-chat.jp, channel #sc2. However, if your client does not have SJIS-JIS conversion (which the newest mIRC client does not), you'll have to download their recommended client or a client with SJIS-JIS conversion.

Here is their client: http://limechat.net/ Installation is pretty straight forward even if you don't know Japanese.

If you're interested in learning about the community and other info, check this thread out:

Their channel on the U.S. server is jpn-1. You can go there and try to get some pick-up games if you'd like, but few of them speak English so keep that in mind.

Links:

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Site: http://starcraft2.jpcommunity.com/sc2/

Japanese IRC client: http://limechat.net/, server: irc.friend-chat.jp, channel #sc2

Japanese SC:BW/SC2 news site: http://sc-times.net

Interview with matsujun: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=199737
Interview with WCG Japan's Representative: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=261272

Streams:

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matsujun's stream - will be streaming tournaments amongst other things:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/starcraft2jp

kurOa's stream - 3.5K Master's Terran Player - Speaks Proficient English:
http://ja.justin.tv/kuroa1/

Skeith aka breek - 3.3K - 3.4K Master's Zerg:
http://www.justin.tv/breek912#/w/953367280

Check this post to see how to use livedoor: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=199890#19

For now, they will post in this thread when they are streaming SC2. They'll have to wait three months before they can get it published on Teamliquid.net.

You can also check out their site for streams. There will be streams on the homepage if anyone is streaming and is one of the first things you see.

Weekly Tournament:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=202333

Replays:

03/10/11: Japan vs. Taiwan Replay Pack: http://starcraft2.game-server.cc/sc2/modules/xhnewbb/upload_files/20110311_0003_JPN_vs_TWN.zip

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. ^^ I will answer them to the best of my knowledge.

-miDnight-

Taiwan455 Posts

March 10 2011 01:27 GMT

http://sc-times.net/item/3940http://sc-times.net/item/3940

One of the Taiwanese player who live in Japan just wont the Razer sc2 tournament in Japan.

Selith

United States238 Posts

March 10 2011 01:37 GMT

I remember seeing a single Japanese guy during GSL Open Season 2 or 3. He didn't go past the prelims though.

Would be nice to see some of old Japanese BW greats to show up for GSL.

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 10 2011 01:47 GMT

Hm, from what I was told in the interview, it seems almost all of the SC:BW players have switched over to SC2, so maybe some time soon. ^^

Canucklehead

Canada5074 Posts

March 10 2011 01:50 GMT

It's a shame pc gaming never caught on in japan (due to consoles of course and I love consoles too so no big deal), then there would be a gsl in japan and we could listen to jpop before matches and jpop > kpop (even though I've grown attached to some of the kpop).

Dice17

United States520 Posts

March 10 2011 01:53 GMT

Woo Japanese sc2 player fighting ^_^

I knew I wasn't the only one who doesnt play sf4 lolol

LoLAdriankat

United States4307 Posts

March 10 2011 01:58 GMT

On March 10 2011 10:50 Canucklehead wrote:
It's a shame pc gaming never caught on in japan (due to consoles of course and I love consoles too so no big deal), then there would be a gsl in japan and we could listen to jpop before matches and jpop > kpop (even though I've grown attached to some of the kpop).

It did during the 80's. The Wizardry games had a following in Japan, and they were pretty influential too. The standard JRPG combat system stemmed from Wizardry.

Glad to see that Starcraft 2 has some recognition in Japan. Doubt we'll be seeing any amazing players from there due to the language barrier, though.

Chise

Japan507 Posts

March 10 2011 02:02 GMT

Sounds cool. I guess I'm trying to get somewhat involved in the japanese SC2 scene since I'll be in japan for a semester starting in april.

Thanks for the links.

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 10 2011 02:08 GMT

That's cool, I'll be in Tokyo still in April. If they have offline gatherings during that time and if you'd be interested in coming, let me know.

Edit: Oh wait, I think you mean the upcoming April and not next's year, nevermind.

I won't be there until July.

OTL

313 Posts

March 10 2011 02:30 GMT

#10

I really wish Japan wasn't such a console-heavy country. I think they could do extremely well in the SC2 scene if it became popular. They have a great environment that would be conducive to really awesome tournaments.

LetoAtreides82

United States1188 Posts

March 10 2011 02:38 GMT

#11

Would be great to see a Japanese player make it into the GSL, they got cool names.

Garnet

Vietnam9048 Posts

March 10 2011 02:53 GMT

#12

I really hope SC2 becomes something in Japan.

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 10 2011 03:06 GMT

#13

Garnet - I do too, but from what I've gathered after talking with some guys in their IRC channel, it doesn't seem likely.

First, there is not enough support for Japanese players. They have to obtain an English copy which is hard to come by and is very inconveniencing.

Then, the reason they don't have support is because their market is small. From what I was told, the whole "Japanese people don't have computers thing" is a hoax. However, it is true that most people don't buy computers for the purpose of gaming. If they do, it's usually for hentai games or MMORPGs.

And from what I was told, in terms of preference, Japanese gamers really prefer something that tests their reaction times or puzzle-type games where things are more random, compared to war games.

That's the basic outline of it anyway.

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 10 2011 18:35 GMT

#14

Update: Their channel on the U.S. server is jpn-1. You can go there and try to get some pick-up games if you'd like, but few of them speak English so keep that in mind.

Also, just found out that one of their SC:BW WCG 2010 representatives plays SC2 by the name of kurOa. You (and Jaedong) may know him as the "Computer" from WCG 2010. =P

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 10 2011 22:48 GMT

#15

Update: Here's matsujun's stream link.

On March 11 2011 06:30 Penguinox wrote:
His stream is located at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/matsujun and is online quite alot with decent view counts. Sometimes Age of Empires 3 is played as matsujun is also part of the japanese AoE3 community.

SDream

Brazil896 Posts

March 10 2011 22:58 GMT

#16

ありがとうよ　＾＾v

I was looking for japanese players since last year, but couldn't find much, I even looked up on mixi but there was so few players there ^^'

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 11 2011 02:43 GMT

#17

Update: Found kurOa's stream. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/kuroa-sc21

kurOa is currently one of Japan's most prominent SC2 players and was so in SC:BW as well.

Currently 3.5K Masters, Terran player.

SDream

Brazil896 Posts

March 11 2011 03:13 GMT

#18

ERROR!!

海外ホスト規制中!

This error appears when I try to comment on his board site. 外人差別！！！！

Souma

2nd Worst City in CA8938 Posts

March 11 2011 03:17 GMT

#19

Update: Okay, so there is a neat little function on Japanese streams (or at least kurOa's) that I should explain to anyone who is interested.

It is called livedoor. Basically it allows you to send a message to the streamer while they are playing and they will be able to see the message while they are in game. In this way, if you have a question, he can answer you while he plays.

On kurOa's stream description you will be able to see the link: http://jbbs.livedoor.jp/netgame/8037/

Open a new tab in your browser and copy and paste the link. It'll take you to a page that looks like this:

Scroll down the page until you see the first grey box:

Then just enter your desired username where it says "Souma". You don't have to fill out anything for e-mail. Your message goes where I have put, "Hi! Why are you losing!?"

Then you just click on the button that says 書き込む and it'll send the message. After you click the button, it'll take you to a white screen with a message written. Just wait and it'll redirect you back to the livedoor page.