TOKYO - There’s no other way to spin it: In the world of yo-yo, Japan is the undisputed champion.

The country has long dominated the World Yo-Yo Contest, an annual competition involving the best players from around the globe.

According to statistics provided by the Japan Yo-Yo Federation, the country has racked up 101 championship titles over the event’s history.

The United States is second with 29.

However, Japan’s impressive record is not widely known outside of the yo-yo world.

When Mr Hajime Miura won gold at the 2025 competition in Prague on Aug 10, many people heard about it from an unlikely source: billionaire Elon Musk.

On Aug 17, Mr Musk reposted a video of Mr Miura’s championship performance on X, including a short comment that captured the yo-yo sensation’s stupefying skills: “Next-level”.

In the video, Mr Miura whips two yo-yos through the air and slides one along the other. Just when it looks like he’ll be left holding a tangled heap of string, Mr Miura gives the yo-yos a jerk, and they spin around and glide elegantly back into his hands.

Views and comments poured in. A week later, Mr Musk’s repost had been viewed almost 28 million times, making the young star a viral sensation.

However, Mr Miura’s success at the tournament and Mr Musk’s repost only tell part of the story.

A total of 287 competitors from 40 countries performed in front of over 1,300 spectators at the 2025 contest, which took place from Aug 7 to Aug 10, according to Mr Tomas Bubak, head of the board of the Czech Yoyo Association, which co-organised the event with the International Yo-Yo Federation.

Japan claimed gold in five of the six Championship Divisions and even took second and third in some of those divisions. Moreover, a Japanese player won the non-championship junior division.