The city of Kakegawa in the Shizuoka prefecture hosted the 2nd trial to determine the athletes who will compete for Japan at the 2007 World Championships in Quebec City.  This second trial took place on June 2, 2007.  The first trial took place at the Japanese Age Group Championship on May 18-20, 2007.

The athletes competed two compulsories and two optionals.  The scores of the best compulsory and the best optional were taken into account to rank the athletes. 

World silver medalist Yasuhiro Ueyama and World bronze medalist Tetsuya Sotomura did not compete in Kakegawa as they are already qualified for the World Championships.

As a result of the trial, the winners locked spots on the Japanese team for the 25th World Championships to be held in late October-early November 2007 in Quebec City, Canada.  Namely, Shunsuke Nagasaki in the men's individual trampoline event, Hiromi Hanmoto in the women's individual trampoline event, Manabu Yamaguchi-Masaki Ito in the men's synchronized trampoline competition, and Hiromi Hanmoto-Yoko Seto in the women's synchronized trampoline event.

As mentioned above, 2007 Lake Placid World Cup and Kunshan World Cup bronze medalist Shunsuke Nagasaki took the first place of the trial with 70.90 pts.  Nagasaki displayed his consistency by scoring 40.60 pts for each of his optionals (15.50 pt tariff for each).  The talented Masaki Ito (pictured on the right) came in 2nd with 70.20 pts thanks to an optional that obtained 40.10 pts (15.30 pt tariff).  Manabu Yamaguchi followed with 68.80 pts thanks to a 39.50 pt optional (15.50 pt tariff).  The 4th place was taken by Takayuki Kawanishi (68.30 pts with a 38.90 pt optional featuring a 15.10 pt tariff).  Masaki Hitomi took the 5th place with 67.70 pts thanks to a solid optional (38.70 pts with a 15.20 pt tariff).  Hitomi was followed by Takashi Sakamoto (6th with 67.00 pts and a 15.60 pt tariff).  Veteran Daisuke Nakata, who was on the team for the 2005 Worlds, came in 7th place with 65.90 pts.  The Olympian performed a 15.10 pt tariff.  He was followed by Kazuma Takahashi (8th - 64.70 pts with a 14.60 pt tariff), Takeshi Imai (9th - 64.70 pts), Keita Sugai (10th - 64.30 pts with a 14.00 pt tariff), Yuta Yoshimura (11th - 64.30 pts too), Ryota Fujike (12th - 63.70 pts with a 14.20 pt tariff).  2006 Indo-Pacific Champion Tomoyuki Baba and Hideyasu Ishikawa, who performed a 16.00+ pt tariff in 2007, both failed twice to complete their optionals and took the last two spots of the trial.

The women's competition saw Hiromi Hanmoto (pictured on the left) edge 6-time Japanese Champion Haruka Hirota.  Hanmoto won with 64.40 pts (11.70 pt tariff for a 36.30 pt optional), followed by Hirota (63.90 pts with 36.40 pts - 12.10 pt tariff).  They were followed by Kazuyo Minato (61.30 pts), Yoko Seto (60.90 pts - 11.10 pt tariff), Natsumi Yamashita (60.40 pts), Mika Futagi (60.20 pts), Mina Terada (59.50 pts), Hiroi Tokuma (58.80 pts - 11.40 pt tariff), and 2006 Indo-Pacific Champion Naoko Nishida (58.00 pts).

In synchronized trampoline, Manabu Yamaguchi-Masaki Ito delivered a sterling performance to take the first place with 89.60 pts (50.30 pts for an optional with a 15.10 pt tariff, and 49.00 pts for an optional with a 15.60 pt tariff).  Daisuke Nakata-Shunsuke Nagasaki came in 2nd with 88.40 pts (15.10 pt tariff for a 49.80 pt optional), followed by Takashi Sakamoto-Hideyasu Ishikawa (88.10 pts with a 15.60 pt tariff for a 49.50 pt optional), tied with Takayuki Kawanishi-Masaki Hitomi (88.10 pts with a 15.10 pt tariff for a 49.30 pt optional).

In the women's synchro competition, the top three was made of 2005 Sofia World Cup winners Hiromi Hanmoto-Yoko Seto (83.50 pts), Mika Futagi-Kazuyo Minato (80.90 pts), and Natsumi Yamashita-Mina Terada (80.60 pts).

Link to the detailed results of the trial

A week before the trial, the 40th Eastern Japan Students Championship was held.  The athletes competed only an optional in the preliminaries.  The scores were not reset to zero for the finals where the athletes competed another optional.

In the men's, Shunsuke Nagasaki also prevailed.  Nagasaki finished with 80.30 pts thanks to a first optional that obtained 40.40 pts (15.50 pt tariff).  Hideyasu Ishikawa came in 2nd with 77.50 pts thanks to a second routine that obtained 39.40 pts (15.60 pt tariff).

In the women's, Natsumi Yamashita took the gold medal with 64.20 pts (10.30 pt tariff), followed by Kaori Takahashi (63.40 pts).  Mina Terada performed the best routine of the competition (33.40 pts with an 11.00 pt tariff), but her crash in the preliminaries meant that she had to settle for the 5th place.

Link to the detailed results of the Easter Japan Students Championship