Rei Iwakura joined Yo-Yo Company Inc.!

Hi, I’m Rei Iwakura!

Hello, I’m Rei Iwakura.

I am pleased to announce that I joined Yo-Yo Company Inc.!

I have been playing yo-yo for over 20 years as a competitor and performer. Also, yo-yo has given me so many precious things in my life.
Through working at REWIND, I hope I can contribute to the yo-yo culture, contest scene, and people in the community.

From now on, I will be in charge of international marketing.
When I have been at the world yo-yo contests and some national yo-yo contests in other countries, I have always been surprised and impressed by the uniqueness and excitement of the yo-yo scene in each country. And I also remember strongly that those local yo-yo players welcomed me a lot with their kindness.

With the gratitude I felt at that time, I would love to help you from Japan to enrich your yo-yo life in return for everything I have received from others before.

I will be updating the REWIND Worldwide accounts on social media, so please feel free to leave messages and comments. I will check and reply!

Rei’s Profile

I am an 8-time Japan national champion and 7-time world champion. Overall, I’m guessing I have more than 40 champion titles in total.

I am not only a competitor, but also a yo-yo performer. I perform a yo-yo show at many types of performance festivals and stages. My main style is “Off String”, and Soloham tricks (2 off string yo-yos simultaneously!). I also judge at contests and teach yo-yoing to kids.

I am also very much into digging through yo-yo history. I love to find historical yo-yo stories, and I want to share those with you through our social media in the future.

Favorite foods and drinks: Soba, Yogurt, Red Bull.

Rei’s Contest Titles

• 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019 World Yo-Yo Contest 4A division 1st
• 2009 World Yo-Yo Contest AP division 1st
• 2006, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 Japan National Yo-Yo Contest 4A division 1st
• 2010 Asia Pacific Yo-Yo Championships 4A division 1st
• 2006~2019 Japan Yo-Yo League (Regional Contest) 4A division 1st (14 years continuous)
• 2011, 2012 44CLASH X division 1st
• 2018 International Juggling, Yo-Yo, Diabolo contest “MOYO STAGE” 4A division 1st
  
  In total, over 40 yo-yo contest champion titles so far.

Rei’s Affiliations

• C3yoyodesign Contest Team
• Japan Yo-Yo Federation (Head Judge/Official Demonstrator)
• International Yo-Yo Federation (Official Judge)
• World Yo-Yo Champion Performance Team “SPIN stAr”
• CRESTEC Inc. (Official Supporter for my contest activities. My former work place!)

Rei has Performed at

• Fukuyama International Daidougei Buskers Grand-Prix (Silver award, Spain judge award)
• Kakogawa Daidougei Festival (Silver medal)
• TED x nagoyaU (Speaker, Performer)
• Red Bull Street Style Japan Final (Guest Performance)
• bactopec (Japan national championship of freestyle basketball tournament) (Guest Performance)
• Daidogei World Cup in Shizuoka 2019 ON section (as World Yo-Yo Champion Team “SPIN stAr”)
  
  …and many other performance festivals and stage events.

Rei Recommends

FLAWLESS
“My main contest yo-yo. Wide width and strong spinning power are the main attraction of FLAWLESS, which allows me to perform difficult tricks with ease in any situation like at contests, street performance events, and stage show events.”

CONTRAIL
“This is an off string yo-yo I can recommend for a wide range of players from beginners to experts. Even though it has high performance specs, it is still easy to handle for off string beginners. Let’s start off string with Contrail!”

SPEEDAHOLIC XX
“The comfortable feeling plastic body and strong spinning power are my favorite things about this yo-yo! And you can also enjoy a TUG response by changing the bearing and axle. Let’s try DNA tricks by using the finger spin spot too!”

INITIATOR (World Champion Collection)
“Special edition of Initiator. Gold body with my winning years at WYYC and signature. The gold body is highly visible on stage and so great for performing.”

Rei’s Video

Winning freestyle at 2018 Japan Nationals. This is one of the best freestyles in my yo-yo career. It was a super fun 3 minute freestyle and I really enjoyed it on the stage. I still remember the amazing view from the stage after my act.

Promotion video for Flawless 2020. I showed all my new tricks I had originally planned to perform at 2020 WYYC. This is the most skillful off string video I’ve ever released.

Rei’s Social Media

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Rei_4A
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rei4a/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rei.iwakura.7/

A Life with Yo-Yo

Learn new tricks, compete/watch at contests, perform in front of an audience or enjoy watching the show, hang out with yo-yo friends, research history, collect favorite yo-yos and so on…

I believe the answers to the question of “how to enjoy yo-yo?” are countless and each person has their own answer.

I hope you enjoy yo-yo in your own way, and please let me support your enjoyment of yo-yo as a member of REWIND!

Thank you!

Rei Iwakura