Tsukasa Watanabe fired a second-round 67 to grab a share of the lead Friday at the halfway stage of the 140 million yen Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters golf tournament in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. Joining him at 12-under 132 was joint overnight leader Lin Keng-chi of Taiwan who battled his way to a four-under 68.
Toshimitsu Izawa and Masashi Ozaki were some of the big names to move up the leaderboard posting five-under 67's and joining a group of five one off the pace.
Kenichi Kuboya, Taichi Teshima and Takashi Kanemoto shared third place at 10-under.