In fact the reports about the time allowance are contradictory. For the first year, all reports seem to say 1h for each player. For the third year, most sources have 30m. For the 2nd year, three Nihon Ki-in game records that I have say 1h. But Go World 56 and 59 list 30m for the final and the Redmond vs. Ishida Y. games. And Ranka 1990 (p. 72) says that In June 1989, Joseph Wang was paired against a Japanese 2p pro and won. This victory, though obtained under rather pressured circumstances (45 minutes per player) marks the first time that a US amateur has beaten a professional in formal international competition.
In the final tournament, 64 players competed.
| # | year | winner | 2nd | 3rd | 4th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1988 | Ishida Yoshio | Takemiya Masaki | O Rissei / Oyama Kunio | |
| 2 | 1989 | Otake Hideo | Ishida Yoshio | Hikosaka Naoto | Yoda Norimoto |
| 3 | 1990 | Kobayashi Satoru | Ohira Shuzo | O Rissei | Ishida Yoshio |
Foreign participants:
| # | Chinese | Korean | European | American |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chen Linxin, Yang Hui | Seo Nungwuk, Lee Changho | Hans Pietsch | Thomas Tu |
| 2 | Liang Weitang, Qian Yuping | Yu Changhyuk, Kim Sujang | Frederic Donzet | Joseph Wang |
| 3 | Nie Weiping, Ma Xiaochun | Chang Su-yeong, Kim Dongyup | Jung Ho Lim |
The European and American players started in the first preliminary and all lost their first and only game, except that Joseph Wang beat Suzuki Isao (2p), then lost to Koyama Terumi (1p) in the second game of the first preliminary. The Chinese and Korean players started directly in the main tournament.