Whoops. Field already announced (I thought it was February!)

So the teams invited are:

• Hokkaido (1) - Sapporo Dai-ichi
• Tohoku (2) - Aomori Yamada (Aomori), Hachinohe Gakuin Kousei (Aomori)
• Kanto (4) - Kisaradzu Sougou (Chiba), Jyousou Gakuin (Ibaraki), Toukaidai Koufu (Yamanashi), Kiryuu Dai-ichi (Gunma), Hanasaki Tokuharu (Saitama)
• Tokyo (1) - Kanto Dai-ichi
• Hokushinetsu (2) - Tsuruga Kehi (Fukui), Fukui Koudai Fukui (Fukui)
• Tokai (2) - Touhou (Aichi), Inabe Sougou Gakuen (Mie)
• Kinki (6) - Osaka Touin (Osaka), Shiga Gakuen (Shiga), Akashi Shougyou (Hyogo), Ryuukokudai Heian (Kyoto), Houtoku Gakuen (Hyogo), Chiben Gakuen (Nara), Shiritsu Wakayama (Wakayama)
• Chuugoku (3) - Soushi Gakuen (Okayama), Nanyou Kougyou (Yamaguchi), Kaisei (Shimane)
• Shikoku (3) - Takamatsu Shougyou (Kagawa), Meitoku Gijyuku (Kochi), Saibi (Ehime), Tosa (Kochi)
• Kyushu (4) - Shuugakukan (Kumamoto), Kaisei (Nagasaki), Kagoshima Jitsugyou (Kagoshima), Nichinan Gakuen (Miyazaki)
• 21st Century Teams
• Eastern - Kamaishi (Iwate)
• Western - Nagata (Hyogo)
• Wild Card - Yaeyama (Okinawa), Shoudoshima (Kagawa)

So here's my thoughts:

First, Nishogakushadai Fuzoku did have to win the Tokyo title game to get a bid. If they had done so, it's possible that floating bid goes to Kanto Dai-ichi.

I'm a bit surprised Shiritsu Wakayama got the nod over Houtoku Gakuen. It's clear now that these two teams were the last team in for the region, but the only reason why I can figure Shiritsu Wakayama got the nod is that (a) they're not Chiben Wakayama and they're getting a boost for being different and (b) the JHBF did not value at all Houtoku's narrow loss to Shiga Gakuen - maybe because it was Shiga Gakuen (despite them winning the super-region).

The Tosa and Shoudoshima invites are intertwined. If the committee was planning on inviting Shoudoshima, then Tosa had to be invited. What a better way to fix that whole bid issue than to leave out the team I thought was a shoe-in for the 3rd slot (Saibi) and give it to Tosa, thus killing 2 birds with one stone and making it a reasonable 3-4 split in the Chuugoku-Shikoku regions?

Also, the JHBF went slightly lazy again giving the eastern bid to a Tohoku earthquake ravaged region. It's nice they're still thinking of them, but all the other eastern region's nominees have to wonder how many years it will be before they get a 21st century team.