"Kana," to call him by the nom de guerre he uses when he is competing in arcade game tournaments, is so good at The King of Fighters '97 that he can beat most other players one-handed.

Even with that self-imposed handicap, the 37-year-old clothing company employee has made it through to the final of a competition being held on a rainy Monday night at Mikado, an amusement arcade about a minute's walk from Takadanobaba Station on Tokyo's Yamanote Line.

Kana's mastery of the character Benimaru is just too much for the other players to handle, but his final opponent is made of sterner stuff. A shock defeat in the opening round prompts Kana to ditch the showboating and start using both hands, and the effect is immediate as he fights his way back into the match before sealing the title with a low spinning kick.