Although it's been a ripple rather than a wave, the earth is at last moving internationally for Japan. The women have led the way, but the men have recently seen some encouraging overseas results. The most significant, if also the most overlooked, is that the Japan-China Friendship Team of Shibano, Hirose, Sakai and Fukuoka that has been competing in the C Division of the Chinese League came first out of 33 teams with a 7-0 record, and so have now been promoted to Division B.

I'm not sure where to follow the B and C leagues but I recall that the Japan-China friendship team (or what it is called) also won league C in 2015 or 2016.

League C is held over a few day period but league B is (or was in the past?) organized with match days that are spread out over many months and at different locations. Maybe that is the reason why team appeared to have stronger players when it is in league C than in league B. Anyway, I have only seen the brackets for league B a few times in the past and even bingoweiqi didn't load them when I tried to check yesterday.

There are some Japanese players that are regulars in league A, also Korean and Taiwanese. There appear to be a number of Taiwan teams in league B and C.

Team tournaments are pretty fun. It is a good way to allow up and coming players to find more games. It is something not everyone might have the energy or desire for. It is a bit surprising to me that Japan doesn't appear to have one.

Btw chess team tournaments in Europe are supposedly the main way chess players have to try to earn part of their living playing chess. Maybe some chess players know how that works.

I think that this had to happen sooner or later.

Although each country has different competitions, number of players... IA is dominating the scene. A good player can improve no matter where they train. So countries are less important. Of course, "less" doesn't mean "not". But the gap is getting closer.