Tougeki , aka the Japanese national championships, aka the tournament-with-the-best-name-in-English-ever, aka Super Battle Opera, is holding qualifiers to see who will represent the US of A. 

The first qualifier is being held this Saturday, July 24th, in Antioch, Tennesee (near Nashville), at Jason Wilson’s arcade, Game Galaxy! Jason Wilson is a long-time scene veteran and the closest person I know to a real-life Flynn from TRON–you can find all the details here .

The second qualifier will be on August 8th, in San Mateo, California (near San Francisco, and VERY near the Capcom’s US headquarters!), run by Unity’s own Myung Kim .  The action there will be at the San Mateo Play N’ Trade , with full details here .

Tougeki is still an all-arcade event, so the Street Fighter IV action is on the original arcade Street Fighter IV (not Super SFIV, and no console characters in the arcade release), and of course arcade Super Street Fighter II Turbo. 

While Jason throws a great event, Tennessee is too far for me to travel this time, but provided I’m not in an airplane flying to someplace much worse, I will be at the San Mateo qualifier, so stop by to give it your best shot or just hang out and watch the sparks fly.