The Japan Open Disc Golf Tournament has been postponed. A new target date has been set for June, 2014 in Nasu Highlands, Tochigi, Japan. We appreciate everyone's heartfelt support. For more information, please contact our office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Japan Open Chronicles Live

As with any good sporting event, there will be a loyal following of fans eager to engage in the daily news and overall experience of the Japan Open as it unfolds. The Internet is a great way to feed this PDGA Major event to other countries on a daily basis. Long before 2006, Marty Hapner of discgolf.com, gathered and posted all of his materials from the event. Marty helped to pioneer much of the early efforts to utilize the internet to spread the disc golf message, and continues to do so today, via discgolf.com and various social media sites. Marty also competed in each JO that he has attended.

In 2006 the JO organizing committee entered into conversation with USDGC organizers about the feasibility of heightening the publics’ awareness of this spectacular event from the Japan tournament location. Replicating the basic idea of ongoing daily news would be beneficial to the disc golf community for the JO. And so, the “JO Chronicles” was born in 2006 to fill that very requirement. USDGC Technical Director and Organizing Committee member, Steve Hackenberg (Innova Disc Golf) and Disc Golf World News owner Rick Rothstein teamed up that year to provide internet coverage from the Nasu Highlands Golf Club in Tochigi, Japan.

For 2008, Dr. John Duesler and Terry Roddy (Terra Firma Media Group) joined the team to help shoot and direct video coverage for the DVD projects, and to write comprehensive bulletins for the “Chronicles” website. Their expertise has been invaluable to convey the mystique of this enchanted Nasu mountain land, and the competition the ensues within the event.

Brian Graham (Director for the PDGA) also joined the team in 2006 to cover the JO for PDGA.com, and to play in the event.
A team of Hero Disc staff and JPDGA (Japan Disc Golf Association) staff, continue to run and cover this event as well, and have since it’s beginnings, in Tokyo.

2010 Team
Internet Media Producers: Kozo Shimbo, Dave Dunipace, Sam Ferrans, Steve Hackenberg
Terra Firma Media Producers: John Duesler and Terry Roddy
PDGA Coverage: Brian Graham
Contributing Media: (Crazy) John Brooks, Dave Greenwell

2010 Japan Open Set to Take Center Stage

For the nearly two hundred players, volunteers, and fans traveling to the majestic Nasu Highlands Golf Club in Tochigi prefecture Japan, their bags are packed, their 150-class discs are chosen, and their hopes are high for one of the most renowned disc golf tournaments held in our sport. The 2010 Japan Open is once again poised to take center stage in the disc golf community, as an international contingent of players from North America, Europe and Asia converge on the island nation to enjoy the top-shelf amenities offered by their hosts, Hero Disc and Innova Champion.

Hall-of-Famers Kozo Shimbo and Sam Ferrans have been working diligently to provide a potent pallet of possibilities for their guests to create their own personal, once-in-a-lifetime experience in the mythic mountains of Nasu Shiobara. The competition will feature many of the most familiar names in the disc golf universe; defending Japan Open Champion, David Feldberg, reigning PDGA World Champions Avery and Valarie Jenkins, "The Champ" Ken Climo, as well as Des and Jay Reading, Nate Doss and a host of talented others who punctuate the line up of over 120 registered disc golfers.

While this competition will surely raise the excitement level in Japan, it is the cultural exchange that provides the lasting impressions to all who visit this mountain resort, that is also frequented by the likes of the Emperor of Japan, high level executives from Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, and others. The Nasu Highlands Golf Club is a treat for our disc golf community, as the Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed course provides an incredible tableau upon which Japan Open course designers have constructed two championship 18-hole courses with a combined distance of over 15,700 feet.

Sanctioned as a "150-class" PDGA Major, players can thrown only discs that weigh-in at less than 159.9 grams. This is a legacy from where the event originated in the highly populated Tokyo city park courses three decades ago. This lighter class of discs requires a steep learning curve for our players under the best conditions, but can also be a huge liability with the winds that are known to course down the Nasu Highlands mountainside during this beginning of the annual rainy season in Japan.

Regardless of the challenges, the weather, or the competitive dynamics of the 2010 Japan Open, all who may the pilgrimage to this incredible event will bring home with them a disc golf experience like no other.