Battle for Tokyo: Meet Japan’s ONE Tekken Tokyo Invitational Team

This is part of “Battle for Tokyo“, a series on the teams competing at the ONE Tekken Tokyo Invitational.

On October 5, nine of the world’s best Tekken pros will meet in Tokyo to compete in the first-ever ONE Tekken Tokyo Invitational.

The pros will team up in groups of threes, with one team from South Korea, one team from Japan, and one All-Star team representing the rest of the world, so there’s more than just personal pride and prize money at stake this time.

With the tournament taking place on the Japanese soil, Team Japan will have the crowd behind them and will be eager to defend home court.

Shoji “Double” Takakubo

Double is widely considered the best Marshall Law player in the world. He is known for his flashy plays and elaborate stance cancels, and always defeats his opponents in style.

While he had a down year last year, he’s bounced back in 2019, and is once again one of the top competitors on the Tekken World Tour.

Double currently sits in 10th place on the TWT global rankings. His best tournament this year was the Taipei Major Challenger event in June, where he defeated countryman, Yuta “Chikurin” Take, in the grand finals.

Double also won the OSL Futures, defeating legendary Korean pro, Jae-Min “Knee” Bae in his own backyard. He also placed second at the Summer Jam 13 Masters event, and 9th at both CEO: Daytona and Thaiger Uppercut.

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Kachi “Pekos” Yota

Pekos is a bit of a wildcard in the Tekken community. While he usually plays Geese Howard as his main, the MVP DHG player knows how to adapt to his opponent, and has a wide variety of pocket picks, including unusual choices like Bob and Katarina, at his disposal.

Pekos currently sits at 32nd on the Tekken World Tour. While he hasn’t won a tournament this year, he frequently places in the top 10.

For major tournaments, Pekos grabbed third place at ROXnRoll Korea and fifth at VSFighting.

He also took second at both ESS Dojo in Japan, and the 6th Annual PSG Classic in Las Vegas.

Genki “Gen” Kumisaka

Gen is a young, fiery player who is one of the rising stars in the Tekken pro scene.

In 2014, at just 14, Gen made waves in the Tekken community by placing second in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 at Evo 2014, losing to Tekken legend Kim “JDCR” Hyunjin in the grand finals.

This year, Gen is currently ranked 40th on the Tekken World Tour. He’s done quite well at Master events, placing 13th at both Summer Jam 13 and Evo 2019, and he also won ESS Dojo in Japan against Double.

READ MORE: Battle for Tokyo: Meet Korea’s ONE Tokyo Tekken Invitational Team