The Japan men's curling team won the Pacific-Asia championships for the first time in 15 years on Saturday with a 5-3 victory over China.
Japan's four-time reigning national champion SC Karuizawa Club allowed China to take a 2-1 lead in the third end, but immediately turned things around with two points in the fourth before adding two more in the ninth.
Japan and China had already secured their spots for the world championship in April in Edmonton, Alberta by reaching the final.
In the women's competition, Japan's LS Kitami beat New Zealand 10-3 in the third-place match. Japan, last season's world silver medalist, will miss the women's worlds in March after falling to China in the semifinals a day earlier.
South Korea beat China 5-3 in Saturday's final.