Of course, not every event is perfect.
For starters, the 80KM course wound up being about 16KM short. The questionable bike check continues to be implemented despite a seeming lack of actual confirmation by the organizers.
As is common among Japanese events, there are (too) many rules, most of which are arbitrarily followed or broken. From gloves and aerobars to speed and traffic safety, the laundry list of rules (spoken or unspoken) feels excessive compared to similar events abroad.
On the other side, complaints by area residents reached an all-time high as the approximately 2,000 cyclists that descended upon the area for one day caused utter chaos to local traffic.