You said that it was an anomaly that the US has a dedicated scene meaning it's strange that we still compete and organize tourneys. That's where you said it.

Yes melee has always been much bigger in the states for your mentioned reasons but the depth and dedicated US/EU fanbase shows that the game holds water. Other comments mention the problems with Japan slippi and no tourney money which are both things I didn't know and those points sum up my question well.

When I play competitive games I want to play and improve at something thats not going anywhere: CS, melee, Ultimate, LOL, etc. It perplexes me that there isn't at least a small scene in Japan, just like it perplexes me that you'd downvote me for disagreeing with you.