Olympic champions Matsutomo-Takahashi delight in Tokyo
Japan were involved in three of the five finals in the USD325,000 Daihatsu Yonex Japan Open Superseries in Tokyo which ended on Sunday but lost two - the men's doubles and the mixed doubles.
However, Rio Olympic champions and top seeds Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi gave the home fans something to cheer when the world No 1 regained the women's doubles title they lost last year.
Matsutomo-Takahashi lived up to their top billing with a 21-18, 21-16 win over unseeded Koreans Kim Ha-na-Kong Hee-yong to make up for their defeat to Danish pair Kamilla Ryttter Juhl-Christinna Pedersen in last year's final.
"It is nice feeling to win the title again after the disappointing defeat in last year's final. We underwent a slump after winning the Olympics title last year," said Matsutomo after the win.
Japan, however, were at the losing end in the men's doubles when Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko lasted only 29 minutes on the court as they fell to a 12-21, 15-21 defeat to Indonesian powerhouse Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo.
The Indonesians finished runners-up in the Korean Open a week earlier when they suffered a surprise defeat to Denmark's Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen - the pair they beat in the semi-finals in the Japan Open.
It was also a disappointing end to Japan in the mixed doubles with Takuro Hoki-Sayaka Hirota going down tamely 13-21, 8-21 to China's Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping.
Meanwhile, defending men's singles champion Lee Chong Wei of Malaysia and defending women's singles champion He Bingjiao failed to retain their titles.
Newly crowned world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark denied Chong Wei his seventh Japan Open title with a 21-14, 19-21, 21-14 win after a titanic 75-minute battle.
Chong Wei, seeded fifth in the tournament fell to the third seeded Dane for the second time in 11 meetings. The Malaysian former world No 1 won the Japan Open title in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
In the women's singles final China's He Bingjiao lost 21-23, 12-21 to Spain's former world champion Carolina Marin who had not won a superseries for nearly two years.
RESULTS (All Finals)
Men's singles
Viktor Axelsen (Den) beat Lee Chong Wei (Mas) 21-14, 19-21, 21-14
Men's doubles
Marcus Fernaldi Gideon-Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo (Ina) beat Takuto Inoue-Yuki Kaneko (Jpn) 21-12, 21-15
Women's singles
Carolina Marin (Spn) beat He Binjiao (Chn) 23-21, 21-12
Women's doubles
Misaki Matsutomo-Ayaka Takahashi (Jpn) beat Kim Ha-na-Kong Hee-yong (Kor) 21-18, 21-16
Mixed doubles
Wang Yilyu-Huang Dongping (Chn) beat Takuro Hoki-Sayaka Hirota (Jpn) 21-13, 21-8
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