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Japan Fishing Show hosts more than 200 boothes at Convention Center in Pacifico Yokohama, on port side area. Premise is 20,000sqm wide. Presented their new products are, Shimano, Daiwa, ABU Garcia, Rapala, Gamakatsu, Toray, Owner, Maru-kyu baits, Kureha Seaguar, and etc. We have so many tackle manufacturers whose products are specific to Japanese style sport fishing, and most of them are not introduced to market ouside Japan.

Shimano and Jackall exibit large boothes.

Jackall booth, without tank. I found the tank at the other place in the premise.

Mr. Murata Hajime answers to TV interviews in front of Shimano Shaula rods. He is one of the most popular icon in sport fishing in Japan. He is a tester of Shimano.

Toray line booth.

Berkley and ABU Carcia booth. New REVO reels are exibited. ABU is increasing new models of Revo, and I may not catch up all. Shimano and Daiwa are also doing the same to release new models with a little modifications from original models, and I think there are too many models in market to choose!

Owner Hook booth. Owner is very popular hook manufacturer here, maybe as large as Gamakatsu. Its treble hooks are named Cultiva series, the most popular here.

Rapala and Maru-kyu. Maru-kyu is the largest dough bait company in Japan. Dough baits are used for carps and funa breams.

Sunline booth. It has re-newed its very popular braided line, Cast Away in the middle of 2016. Shooter series fluorocarbon lines and Machine gun cast nylon lines are popular. It celebrates its 40th annyversary in business this year.

Sunline is now putting more forcus on ISO off rock fishing, and I have little chance to list their products to my web, to my sorry.

Shimano all new Scorpion DC. Its i-DC5 brake system is exactly the same as that of 15Metanium i-DC5. Wow, you may purchase the super performance for a lot less money. This is quite interesting products.

Previous model 12Scorpion DC had relatively un-sophisticated DC system, preventing backlash well but didn't cast long. Let's see how it really works in fields. 

Shimano Exsence DC in matt gun-black color, quite cool looking! A diversified model of 16Antares DC reel, to suite the best for seabass fishing in Japan. It is tuned to be matched with rigs of 7-20g slim minnows, with thin #0.6-1.2 15-20lb braided lines. The rep on the photo explains me how Shimano makes this reel fine for salt-water. DC brake system is already salt resistant. Shimano changed the material of the frame at the top from magnesium to aluminum. Other part of the frame is still magnesium.

DC brake is tuned to the rigs often used in seabass fishing, and they have less air dragging than rigs used in bass fishing. In turn, DC brake on Exsence DC has less brake force for X and XP modes. I sincerely appreciate Shimano's effort to release the best tackle.

Shimano Conquest BFS, bait finesse system model. It turns out to be in the size of 100 for body, but it has smaller spool than 100 to be able to cast lighter rigs. AND, the spool and brake system is almost the same as that of 16Aldebaran BFS, only narrowed by 1mm to fit to the Conquest body. Conquest 100 body is already as small as previous Calcutta 50's, and this BFS should be named as Conquest 50.

Matt black Shimano Exsence C3000 spinning reel, as expensive as Vanquish spin. Umm, the reel is too black in color, to the extent I have never seen before in spinning reels.

Steez A TW. Oh this is it. Steez made with more durable, solid body. A stands for the material of body, aluminum, and America. The rep told me it is a totally different products from original Steez, and this is the real tournament reel with durability and reliability.

His smile is the best at Japan Fishing Show 2017.

Tatula SV. Durable, practical Tatula now has SV model to offer SV performance at reasonable prices. Body is as compact as Zillion 1016SV reels, and this is totally different from original Tatula. Spool has long shaft, which is common for all Tatula reels for more efficient cranking.

Saltiga BJ 3500SH, mono-coque body Saltiga for improved salt resistance. Light weight 3500 and 4000 models are released.

Daiwa SLP Works, tuning parts division exibits a bare frame Steez with silver knobs. I like the reel but it is not for sale, or it is not practical as the magnesium alloy body doesn't have any paint on surface.

Fuji tackle rep exibits how Torzite guides are lighter than Titanium framed SIC guides. She is one of very few female reps in the show, except exibition ladies.

Wow, Fuji Ruby ring guides, made of ruby. One set of 7 guides is priced for JPY106,000 or US$950. 50 sets only. Fuji once in a often releases ruby guides, but I haven't seen any rod with them.

Fuji guide wrapping demonstration.

YGK Frontier Braid Cord X8 Jigging line. These inexpensive lines are already sold at export market, and now they are available in Japan.

Seaguar Fluorocarbon lines for bass fishing, including the most popular R18 series lines.

I discussed with a Seaguar rep about how to indicate correct line strength. Seaguar is indicating tie strength on packages for its leaders, and I thought it is misleading some time. Many other lines are indicating breaking strength, and indicating low tie strength might give customers bad inpression of the products. Tie strength with a single knot in the middle of line is about 60-70% of breaking strength. The rep explains tie strength is a good way to see how much load the line will stand in actual fishing. I rebutted anglers are now searching for stronger knots, and some knots are about 99% of breaking strength constantly. I admit Seaguar Grand Max, highest tie strength leader is the strongest in fishing from my experiences though.

Kids in front of Jackall tank with bass. They must be on a field trip on a elementary school program. What a nice school! Some of them will be surely fan of fishing, and some of them will be in this industry.