#freetaka
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“statement coming tomorrow” -2 weeks ago
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I’d be so much less invested if they just dropped the statement lol. It’s creating more drama each day there’s radio silence.
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Tagging @unklesteve as he may not be aware if this second thread
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Don’t bet on it…
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I’m meeting with Taka tomorrow.
Part of the reason for the delay is that I refuse to issue any kind of statement without talking to him first and I only just got to Tokyo yesterday. I realize this is top of mind for a lot of people but with my limited time here I have to prioritize the work I actually came here to do before I can make time for this new business. Sorry for the delay.
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I respect this decision! I am curious however why did the responsibility of explaining the situation fall on you, and not JYYC? Didn’t they originally carry out the ban?
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I’ll bet you a yoyo he responds. Too late? 
I have no doubt Steve will get some clarity on this situation after having a sit down with Taka.
But that being said, I have a few words on this matter.
Let’s get slightly abstract and use ‘substitution’ to create a logical parallel.
Let’s imagine the World Yo-yo Contest is a top rated Restaurant that we all like to go to.
We all meet at this Famous Restaurant every year.
All of us aren’t the best of friends with every single other person, but we put small differences aside so we can all enjoy the ‘Festivities.
We ‘all’ gather outside in a line going a few blocks down the street. As the single file line gets metered into the Event, a few people get pulled off to the side and turned away. They are told they are not welcome.
Once we all get inside and do the meet and greet, we notice a few friends we saw in line, did not make it inside.
We love the Event and the food and the friends…… But we want to know ‘why’ a few of our friends were turned away?
Using a logical and reasonable mind…. And removing emotion from the Equation, we are considering our various levels of feeling uncomfortable that people can get ‘booted’ without the people wearing the boots, just stating their reason.
Bottom line is simple>
‘You’ ban somebody from a Major Event for what you would consider a Justified reason, post if up. Some peoples’ view at that point may fall on either side of the number line. (Ban seems fair or unfair).
But, the lack(to this point) of Transparency does nothing but create a Negative feeling in the court of public opinion.
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I am keenly aware that in the absence of any facts people have rushed to choose sides and assume the absolute worst. There is clearly nothing ideal about any of this, but considering that I’ve been navigating an issue that happened completely without my involvement in a culture and language that are not my own, I hoped for a little grace and patience from people.
Instead I got what I got and I’ll give everyone an answer when I have an answer to give.
I took three weeks away from my family to help run the World Yoyo Contest and get important work done for CLYW, which is who paid for my trip. I’ve spent the bulk of my trip being forced to deal with this situation instead.
I promise, no matter how upset any of you are about this there is quite literally NO ONE who is angrier about all this than I am. I’d been looking forward to this trip for a long time and this is not how I wanted to spend it.
Be patient and give me the time needed to handle this fairly and correctly please and in the meantime if y’all could stop spamming my personal and CLYW accounts asking about it, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
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Thank You Sir.
Steve…. You know my suggesting lack of transparency has nothing to do with you.
You… Obviously are going out of your way to bring transparency to the situation.
Or to put it more directly, without you participating in sorting this out, I’m betting pretty much nothing is gonna happen in the way of pertinent information.
Honestly, this is a pretty tough spot for you to be in. Whether you volunteered or was coaxed into it or just fell into the task. Because no matter what you say, I have no doubt somebody’s not gonna like it.
So this may fall into one of those situations where we have to reflect on, if you don’t like the message, don’t kill the messenger.
When you eventually have enough information to bring some light onto this topic, no doubt there will be some mixed thoughts on whatever you say.
We’ve been friends for so many years I pretty much didn’t have to say anything about what you already know.
I’m just mainly posting this reply to identify that you are primarily a participant in digging for the facts.
And you were not at all participating in trying to hide them.
You’ve been a straight shooter for well over the 20 years plus that I’ve known you. I have never seen you in fear of jumping into a situation and squaring things up. Even if a couple peoples toes hurt when you’re done. You don’t fear stepping into a little heat, and that’s why we all call you uncle. It’s out of respect and you wear the title well. Uncle Steve.
Thank you for following this thread. That alone shows that you have not lost interest in sorting things out. Because I’m out here in California and it’s midnight so either you’re a vampire or you just stay up till two or three in the morning trying to take care of business.
I seldom speak for others, but in this particular instance, I have no problem, saying that we all appreciate your participation.
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That’s the question. Seems like Steve has got to clean up the mess JYYC made.
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No, I’m trying to clean up the mess that other people made.
You’re unfairly putting all this on the JYYF, as a LOT of people have done since this started, and it’s neither accurate nor fair.
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Sounds like this is squarely to blame on the Earth’s shoulders
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I think the reason for the ban should be stated. Followed with the "we are looking into this to see if it was the correct action and if he will continue to be banned in the future. "
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Agreed. He was already banned. All of this should’ve happened a while ago.
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That was my initial thought. If you have enough information to issue a ban then you should have enough info to state what said ban was for. I don’t understand why you would need a PHD in Japanese culture, language, and history to understand the ‘nuances’ of this issue. To me, that all sounds like code for the ban wasn’t for a very good reason. There shouldn’t be this level of mental gymnastics involved 
Again, to me this isn’t a normal occurrence. Taka is a yo-yo master and legend. As others already mentioned, he’s contributed a ton to yoyoing in general and the Japanese yoyo scene. I’ve never known him to be associated with any kind of drama that would warrant not being allowed in the front doors of the WYYC.
I’ll say this again, in the future, some sort of statement should be issued AHEAD of this level of news. This doesn’t seem ‘normal’ any way that I look at it. If the ban stems from an earlier ban issued by the JYYF, again, some sort of statement should have been issued prior to announcing that he would be banned from WYYC. This was bound to catch people off-guard and open the door to speculation otherwise.
#freetaka
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Oh ok. Got this wrong then. Sorry
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