Himeji 2103

**Oceanivision Himeji 2103** is set to be the 32nd annual edition held in Himeji, Japan following Japan's victory in South Tarawa the previous year. This was Japan's first time winning the contest, becoming the twenty-first country to win, only 2 years after Tasmanija. Victoria and the Solomon Islands are still the only two countries to win more than twice. With Japan winning, the chance for a country to win **again** is still more likely than it has ever been, so will the 19 previous winning countries participating this year be able to achieve a 2nd, 3rd, or 6th victory?

Sixteen cities, in company with Japan's capital, were in contention to host this year, with the bid deadline and the start of the confirmation period still being 01 October. Japan followed in the footsteps Kiribati left the previous year, in terms of choosing a host city, as they were quite swift in the decision, while also having the common 16 + capital city bids. The 17 cities were shortlisted to just 8 after a month since 01 October; the 8 cities were Hakodate, Himeji, Kochi, [the capital] Kyoto, Naha, Niigata, Sapporo, and Sasebo. After a lengthy decision process**,** 8 cities were narrowed down to just 3 on 16 November for a final shortlist of Himeji, Kyoto, and Niigata. Himeji was ultimately chosen as 2103's host city, another non-capital city host, the last being Deloraine.

29 countries participated this year, 28 of which participated the previous year. Guam Republic debuted for this year's contest, the 32nd country to do so and they debuted for the 32nd contest. Vanuatu withdrew from the contest citing more internal broadcaster problems as their reason for withdrawal. Micronesia and Sri Lanka both continued to not participate, although both have shown interest in returning to the contest the following year; each country's last participation was in Perth 2099 and Deloraine 2101 respectfully.

A record-breaking amount of artists participated in this contest, beating the previous record of 4 with 7. With the introduction of these new artists, the competition will hopefully become even more competitive. Along with the increase in artists came an increase in songs with lyrics; 6 out of 7 of these artists chose to write their own songs this year, possibly creating a trend for the future?

Timor achieved its 1st victory, the **twenty-second** country to do so, with the song "Jangan tidur di tiang" (Don't sleep at the pole). This win took Timor 32 years and 32 participations to achieve, beating out the previous record holder, Khalimarī, by 13 participations! The country gathered a total of 95 points from the song, with second place, host country, and defending champion, Japan, trailing by only six points. Japan achieved their first runner-up position, following in Tasmanija's footsteps with a win followed by a 2nd place. New Zealand achieved its second 3rd place, beating fourth place by only a single point. Tuvalu finally got their first 4th place, narrowly losing to New Zealand. Queensland placed 5th for the second time, still their best non-top 3 placement; this brought the country back into the top 10, with the last time being in 2099. Although they didn't make the top 5, The Philippines finally broke their record of not placing within the top 10 after 12 years and 11 participations; the country, represented by Sunporpoise, placed 6th. Other notable top-10 placings include: Malaysia achieving a third 8th place and Siam breaching the top 10 for the third time in 6 years and participations. Tasmanija placed last for the first time; this was surprising because of their streak of top 3 placements only a couple years prior.

## Participants

The following countries have confirmed their participation for 2103 as of 01 February 2103:

* Brunei - *BUITT* - 17 Awan di Langit
* Celebes - *EBT* - Run Up the Hills
* Fiji - *FJT* - A Ship From The Dark - Goose Raticus
* Guam Republic - *GARRC* - Thwart or Leave
* Indonesia - *INDT* - Saya membeli Jerapah
* Japan - *JPBC* - Tady přichází slunce - The Devil
* Khalimarī - *KAMTV* - Brini Njenu Majku
* Kiribati - *KIBT* - Fantasy Revenant
* Malaysia - *MalayTV* - Romansa yang Rusak
* The Maldives - *MV-RTV* - E Stärebild
* The Marshall Islands - *MIRTV* - Viva la Vaccum
* New Guinea\* - *NGT* - Purple Fan - Buddyboyb
* New Kanangri - *NKTV/NKRC* - Softly Consume Alcohol
* New Zealand - *NZBC* - Broken Promises
* Northern Desert - *NDDRT* - Assign Sacrilege - Oblivion
* Pacifica Islands\* - *PICT* - As Ilhas
* Palau - *PLU-RTV* - Remnants
* The Philippines - *PPRTV* - The Fiddler and the Widdler - Sunporpoise
* Polynesia - *PYNR/PYTV* - Partizanstvo
* Queensland - *QRT* - Ants in my Crocs - Plebillian
* Siam - *BCSiam* - Fornærmende Banditter
* Singapore - *RTVSing* - tytytyt - Kyjackal
* Solomon Islands - *SmIsT* - Sølvstøv - Ninjalamby
* South Mesa - *SMERT* - Excuse me, what?
* Tasmanija - *T-TM* - Smør Muffinsen
* Timor\* - *LesteComm/RTVLeste* - Jangan tidur di tiang
* Tonga - *TOT* - A Low Simmer
* Tuvalu - *TuvaluRTV* - Nachtmerrie Brandstof
* Victoria\* - *VITE* - Rare Aner

Undecided: - A new challenger

#### Languages

* 17 Awan di Langit is the first song in Oceanivision to have a number in its title
* As Ilhas is the first song title to be in Portuguese
* tytytyt is the first song in Oceanivision to contain lyrics in an imaginary language; the imaginary language in question is Mandarin

### Allocation Draw

Each country randomly draws a number, that number being their performing placement. The host draws their placement first, then the automatic qualifiers draw their placements, finally, every other country draws theirs.

### Grand Final

All countries voted. The final took place on 09 August 2103. \*indicates an automatic qualifier

### Official Rankings

1. **Timor\***
2. Japan
3. New Zealand
4. Tuvalu
5. Queensland
6. The Philippines
7. Siam
8. Malaysia
9. New Kanangri (Tie-9th)
10. Singapore (Tie-9th)
11. Kiribati
12. Fiji
13. The Marshall Islands (Tie-13th)
14. Khalimarī (Tie-13th)
15. Brunei (Tie-15th)
16. Guam Republic (Tie-15th)
17. The Maldives (Tie-15th)
18. South Mesa
19. Tonga
20. Palau (Tie-20th)
21. Indonesia (Tie-20th)
22. Victoria\*
23. Celebes
24. Northern Desert
25. Solomon Islands
26. Pacifica Islands\* (Tie-26th)
27. Polynesia (Tie-26th)
28. New Guinea\*
29. Tasmanija

## Withdrawing/Uncertain

* Bangladesh - *BL-RTV/BL-Comm* confirmed on **01 November 2102** that Bangladesh will not debut in 2103.
* Bengal - *BNRT* confirmed on **01 November 2102** that Bengal will not debut in 2103.
* Bengal/Kashmir - *BNKM-BU* is a joint broadcaster between 2 or more countries, so it cannot participate unless it belongs to only one country. *BNKM-BU* joining as a member allows Kashmir to broadcast the contest, but if Kashmir wants to participate, they must apply with their own separate broadcaster. This will be the final year that this statement will be on the yearly Oceanivision page as it seems Kashmir won't be joining the OBU any time soon
* East African Islands - *RTV-EAI* confirmed on **01 October 2102** that East African Islands will not debut in 2103.
* Manchuria - *MUiRCT* applied for an OBU membership on **02 February 2101**, which was accepted on **02 March 2101** making them eligible to debut in **2104** if they so wish.
* Micronesia - *RTMC* confirmed on **01 October 2102** that Micronesia will not participate in 2103.
* North Maluku - North Maluku and *nqNRTV* are not eligible to debut until **2105** due to the 2-Year Independence Rule.
* Sri Lanka - *LankaCT* confirmed on **01 October 2102** that Sri Lanka will not participate in 2103.
* Vanuatu - *VATV/VARC* confirmed on **01 December 2102** that Vanuatu will not participate in 2103.

## Other Countries

These countries aren't part of the OBU but are still in association with them. All new broadcasting countries and countries that stopped broadcasting will be added here, with the others on a separate page. 6 countries started broadcasting Oceanivision for the first time!

* Caucasus started broadcasting the event
* Jordan started broadcasting the event
* The Netherlands started broadcasting the event
* Newfoundland started broadcasting the event
* Sahara started broadcasting the event
* Turkish Lands started broadcasting the event

## Trivia

* This year's contest was held on **09 November 2023**
* Micronesia now holds the record of non-participations with 8 as of 2103
	+ As of 2103, Micronesia holds the record for the longest streak of non-participations with 4 in a row
* 2103 continued to use the **new** physical draw to determine the placements in the Grand Final on 03 November 2023
	+ This bag system will hopefully be fairer and reduce top-of-the-stack bias
	+ Modifications will be made to optimize equality amongst the draws
* 2103 continued to use computer-based randomization for voting, although country names would not be added; instead just a simple "Every Country" took each country's place
	+ Randomizations were kept somewhat anonymous to prevent pre-contest spoiling
* The order of revealing points was the normal 01-29; points were somewhat checked every 9-10 delegations to make sure everything was up-to-date
* Guam Republic and Timor obtained the most amount of points than they ever had
	+ Timor (1st) achieved their best placement; Guam Republic (16th) placed for the first time :))
	+ The Philippines (6th) and Guam Republic (16th) achieved their best non-top 5 placement; Malaysia (8th) tied their best
	+ Polynesia (27th) and Tasmanija (29th) managed to obtain their worst placement; New Guinea (28th) tied their worst
		- This was also Tasmanija's first-last place
* There were 5 ties this year; 4 2-country ties and 1 3-country tie
	+ This is most likely because the difference between many of the placements was often only a few points
* The maximum number of countries that could perform was absent at this contest. 29 out of the maximum 32 countries confirmed their participation
	+ This was the second time in a row that specific amount of countries participated in a single year, the first being in 2100
* This marked the 30th year of participation for New Kanangri!
	+ This also marked the 10th year of participation for The Maldives and South Mesa!
	+ Guam Republic also made their debut this year! The country hopes to have longevity in the contest
* This is the first year since 2091 that The Philippines cracked the top 10, breaking a 12 year and 11 participation streak!
	+ With this, The Marshall Islands becomes the country whose most recent top 10 is the furthest away; the country last placed 1st in Melbourne 2095
* This is the second time both Kiribati and Northern Desert opened and closed the show, respectfully
* Timor became the third (out of four) First 4 country to achieve a win; Pacifica Islands is now the only country yet to do so