Japanese SFIV Players Style

Many people discount the idea that the Japanese play style and American is a lot different.  I am not one of those people.  Americans tend to prefer a more aggressive style, more randomness.  The Japanese seem to play a more solid pre-defined style, defensive until they get that knockdown or can bait your fireball... then cross up and deal a lot of damage with their well practiced combos.

Of course there are many great aggressive players here, and in the US but I believe that for most players the conservative approach is best for this game.

That's the real difference between American and Japanese players I think.  They put in the work to get the execution 100%, even the weak players yet instead of focusing on HITTING the combo, they are focusing on setting it up.  You really have to squeeze out every little opportunity that they give you, and the windows are quite small.  If you're facing a guy that's trying to "hit the combo" he is much easier to damage in this game, and the tradeoff is relatively small.

SFIV to me seems like a very turtle friendly game, and I think we Americans have to change up a little bit because gone are the days of jump parry/air blocking and things of that nature.  The Cali OG's knew that aggressive turtling was the strong style for CE, Hyper etc.  They knew that Jumping in is generally suicide. the SFIV system gives you very little room to be a rushdown specialist, and the punishes here are some of the worst in street fighter history.  (One bad jump in against Ryu will get you LP shoryu'd SADC xx Ultra for ~40%, Sagat can also tiger uppercut, 2 hitter kick and a fireball.)

Let me know what you think.

Best Place to Play in Tokyo

In my honest opinion the best place to play here I've found is Shibuya Shinjuku Sports Land.

 Confusing name, huh?  It seems to be an offshoot of Shinjuku Sports Land.  Leave the Hachiko (8) exit, cross the street diagonally and it is across from a restaurant called "First Kitchen" about a block or 2 down. They have 300 yen 4 hour free play on Thursday nights 7:30-11.  Last week Ino and Isse (Yun in 3s) showed up.  They have 1 h2h cab setup just for beginners under 30,000 BP (aka the "gaijin machine") and 2 h2h setups for those with any BP amount.  The owner is a real friendly guy as well.

Other nights are 50 yen per play as well.  There are a steady group of Gaijin players there as well, so if you're getting a bit lonely come say hi!