I really like my walnut sunrise. I think the wood is harder and the cup edges sharper than any regular beech ken, this means when the ken lands on the ball it's more likely to "bounce" rather than land softly and there is less cup edge in contact with the ball, so less friction, all adding up to lighthouses and lunars being quite challenging
[1]. Weirdly I think this exact thing may make it easier to do cup tricks because it is great for that, and birds, stilts and slip grip specials work just like any other kendama.
I absolutely adore the sound they make; it's high, sharp, crisp and satisfying. Maybe it sounds like plastic, I wouldn't say it sounds cheap because it doesn't feel cheap, but that's subjective. Either way I could earth turn and jumping stick all day with that baby!
The paint is wearing in nicely on mine. It got a chip when a big cup juggle went awry (threw too high and too hard, string went tense and cup edge and ball met at very high speed) but otherwise the paint is wearing in like on any other dama and I imagine that might help with the stickyness over time.
The hard wood is excellent and I've noticed virtually no wear on the ken nor the spike and very little change in the wood colour so far. I think this is comparable to my Shin Fuji which I suspect is keyaki
[2] wood although I've never known for sure. It's surprisingly light in the hand and the ball seems heavier so I think altogether it's an average weight but unevenly distributed
[3], this means that it spacewalks slightly differently to other kendamas but that's something surprisingly easy to get used to and doesn't bother me much.
I don't know about anyone else but when I open a fresh kendama I immediately smell it (cups, paint, ball hole (that last one sounds gross, maybe I shouldn't be admitting this...)) and this smells great.
The ball has the usual sunrise ball smell
[4] but my first thought on smelling the ken was "Grandma's house", don't know why but that is a very comforting smell and I love it.
All in all I love the walnut sunrise, I wouldn't recommend it to beginners for the slippery factor, nor anyone who just wants to lunar all day, but if you want to go around Tunbridge Wells too
[5] I couldn't recommend this highly enough.