Always the same play style which clearly doesn't work, no variation. Simply not good enough. I think it's better in the long-term he should get a tournament break in favour of more home practice. Such tournaments like this are not helpful for him anymore.
He was hopeless out there. That fast long serve to the body killed him, the BH opener always went straight into the deadly FH of Chuqin. He has to open with the FH and vary the placement if he wants even a chance to discuss the point.
The thing that bugs me the most is how stagnant Harimoto has been in his improvement rate. Just look at Lin Yun Ju, in the last year or so he has improved tremendously while Harimoto stayed pretty much the same.
Last year Harimoto has made huge jumps forward. The match practice was really good for him. I agree that he should take a big break before Tokyo to prepare some new variations. Problem is that there are only 2 spots for the singles competition, so I don't know if his spot is safe if he doesn't play.
mitzutani and ito are the best JNT mixed double by far. Mainly because of mitzutani. In my eyes the best way to play mixed right now is with the woman close to the table and the men playing from half distance. With harimoto the girl has to play the half distance part and obviously lack the necessary power and timing there.