Thanks!
I got 幻惑 from this sentence in a recent show recap: “開始早々、ぽむは場外で虫取り網を鈴芽の頭に被せて捕獲し、トリッキーな動きで幻惑.” I was looking for a word to describe Pom, well, doing Pom-ish things during a match, and it seemed like a possible candidate 
. Hilariously, it’s one I actually struggled to figure out how to translate into English, though I like “bamboozle,” which one website suggested.
Thank you for the rest of your help as well!
For the first part I would say it’s a bit more like the stuff she was talking about in AEW and the experience accumulated there is いい流れ for her position now of aiming for the tournament victory, with いい流れ seeming to be like good fortune coming her way.
The grammar thing to point out might be the では - from that I’d she’s talking from the perspective of being at 優勝を目指してっていうところ as context. As in, “優勝を目指してっていうところで” is the topic of the next bit and いい流れなのかな is the predicate. So rather than talking about that ところ directly, she’s still talking about what she was talking about, but with it as important context.
Out of curiosity, are you listening to the audio while looking over the transcript? The 黙秘 sounds to me like a definite transcript mistake, as she says 目標 which makes lots more sense in context and it makes sense how the typo would happen! Looks like either you weren’t tripped up by it or that might have ended up as “since I couldn’t make an impression”? If the latter I can sense some confusion!
I think your translation is fine though!
A few minor nitpicks but they’re more like interpretation than correction:
I think “that’s all over today, and I couldn’t achieve my goal” is maybe more like “but today, it’s over, so I wasn’t able to achieve my goal.” Like yours sounds a little more like losing today meant her entire goal was a failure, but her goal was 一個でも多く tournament wins and she did manage that, so I’d speculate it’s more like just the goal for today that was a part of that that was a failure.
In the ‘no way am I going to fight that bastard’ part, bastard is probably a bit strong! I also assume that it’s Yamashita she wanted to transmit that feeling to, and potential opponents rather than like, the audience. Also, 嫌な存在 sounds to me like an obstacle or a blemish you wish you didn’t have to deal with, whereas “unpleasant person” just sounds like a jerk. Maybe “unpleasant opponent” or some better phrase? I believe she’s saying she wants to be an opponent other wrestlers don’t look forward to fighting.
Huh, yeah, an interesting spot I totally didn’t notice when I watched the show! (I was probably doing anki or something)
I suppose also if you were having some in-ring airing of backstage grievances and your opponent no sold your kick, you probably wouldn’t hit it in the same way a bunch more times and then sell your opponent’s returning blow really strongly to cap off the exchange…
Seems generally fine! I would say 自分の中でも isn’t “I in particular” but like, she felt the pressure even within herself.
I’d also speculate “pretended I was okay” is probably one of those phrases that sounds more intense in English despite being a direct translation. I don’t know that I have a better phrase to use, but I think she’s just saying she felt a lot of internal pressure but new she had to win so she bore through it and put on an unfazed face. I guess what I’m getting at is 大丈夫 here in context sounds to me more like “大丈夫, I got this” whereas “okay” here sounds like “mentally sound and managing in life on a basic level” so the lack of one might be more worrying than the other…
In the audio (and with the period) the “今” is definitely tacking on to the previous thought like “Blah Blah, 今。” - not connected to this thought.
Otherwise fine! The level rising in TJPW like she was talking about before this, and summer not generally being on her side, are both reasons informing why she wants to be the summer star in this leveling up Tokyo Joshi, is what I’d say she’s saying.
I think I’m all right with that!
You could probably add something at the end like “and I think that had a big impact in the match” for のが大きいかなって思います. I think she’s saying she made Yuka mad in the tag title match too, and she crumbled when it happened in this match since she wasn’t brave enough to weather Yuka’s rage since she admires her too much.
Yeah I mean… the thing about in-ring promos is the wrestlers are inevitably extremely exhausted when they give them! So you can imagine (or hear along with the transcript) deep breaths after pretty much every particle!
That said, I would say that in this case these are less her looking for words and more rhetorical flourishes and emphesis. That’s the other thing about in-ring promos, they’re delivered to a crowd.
So why say “高い壁” when you can say “高い高い、高すぎる壁” to really really drive home the 高いness to the audience?
The 私たちが、私が, is her connecting her personal victory in the match to the general group victory she’s been talking about a lot and hoping for and taking on herself, of her generation overcoming their senpais. Like saying “I’ve been thinking for a long time that we - that I - need to do this.” She’s rhetorically taking on the responsibility that she’s been saying she’s internalized.
So I don’t think you got the meaning wrong or anything, but in the audio it doesn’t sound like working for words, just the different rhythm of a an in-ring promo!
Yep! The crowd chuckles a little at ベスト４（よん）, and then she corrects herself eliciting more chuckles. So just a funny slip of the tongue!
Yep! No notes
Yeah, minor quibble is that 去年までは is up through last year, and that’s where the も part comes in. Like in all previous tournaments, even if/when she made it to the final four, winning the whole thing didn’t feel extremely within sight like it does now, thanks to her beating the champion, Nakajima.
Dunno what you’re talking about, I don’t see anything to get tripped up in!
Let’s see here…
I would put it something like this:
Today I truly don’t want to lose. I’m always singing “it doesn’t matter if I win, but I don’t want to lose!”, but instead of “it doesn’t matter if I win”, the feeling that “because I want to win, I don’t want to lose” is very strong. And plus, the feeling of how can I believe in myself and my normal repertoire (is also very strong).
“勝てなくても負けたくない” together is an individual lyric in the song 負けたくない, and that whole part is together. She then negates the first half to replace it with a different clause. I think you got tripped up by treating them as individual bits and not a combination.
Also, just to point out, it looks like you ended up with " it’s not that even if I lose, I want to win", for “勝てなくてもじゃなく、勝ちたい”, but I’d point out that even if that were the right structure, it would be “it’s not that even if I don’t win, I want to win” 
There’s no “even if I lose” in the mix!
I’d also mention I’m a bit unsure of how to best render the tense here – I suppose she’s talking mainly about the specific match and why she won but also her general mindset at this point in the tournament (and why that helped her win). It might flow best in English to switch it all to past tense? I dunno.
No, it would be more like… "uh oh " / “oh crud” / “I’m in danger!”
It’s not the face of someone about to say it’s terrific
You’re right that it’s a tricky word to translate, so I don’t have a great phrase to slot in, but she’s expressing that the remaining 4 and the likely prospect of having to face both Yamashita and Sakazaki if she wants to win (which we’ve well established she does want to do) is a painful, risky, odds-against-her prospect, ain’t it?
The brief laugh is a laugh like the one someone would make after saying “looks tough huh!” before rushing into certain doom.
I would say the なかなかの強敵だし part isn’t talking about Suzume, it’s a transition to talking about Suzume. Why is the ベスト4 yabai? because there’s tough opponents for one, and plus Suzume too showed incredible strength with her surprising victory over Rika. So I would say the なかなかの強敵 are rather Yamashita and Sakazaki.
I don’t know that she’s saying she specifically wants to advance with Suzume (to the finals, I’m assuming you mean?), I think she’s just saying generally since they don’t know what the match-ups will be yet she wants to go into it together with shared 後輩 頑張る spirit.
I think you overthought it a bit – たち is a dead give away it’s plural!
And surely it’s fair to say both Sakazaki and Yamashita are both really strong and both marquee attractions for TJPW.
Yep! I don’t have any notes.
Whew, I’m really glad you’re finding the transcripts helpful, but it’s funny how answering your questions got harder now that I can’t just rely on having a bunch more context and have to parse more grammar.
If you have time, I’d definitely recommend trying to read some of them along with the video! I bet having audio and transcripts for a ton of material you’re that passionate about will prove a fantastic listening resource in the future!
By the way – one backstage promo I remember being curious what the full transcript would say about was that Yamashita/Itoh one a while back where they bickered a lot. There was a lot I couldn’t pick out and it kinda bugged me. Do you have access to the full thing now by any chance?
Come to think of it also, I suppose you might have a proper transcript of Misao’s Grand Princess now perhaps! Assuming they go back that far, and that they transcribed that although it was mid-show. If it’s available I’d be curious how well I did transcribing it…
Well, at least one wrestler has found my account…
I’m assuming she found it by エゴサーチ (vanity searching). Hopefully she doesn’t disagree with my story interpretations
Would it help if I copied the full transcript into a google doc so that you could reference it? If I clear out the text every week, hopefully it shouldn’t step on shupro’s toes too much to temporarily share it. We’re both paying them plenty of money anyway .
If you have any other ideas for what would make it easier for you, feel free to suggest them! I want to find the best balance that respects your own time/energy/level of interest without placing too much pressure on you.
Sure do! Here you go:
伊藤「勝ちましたー！ 久しぶりの福岡、楽しかったー」
山下「楽しかったね」
伊藤「またやりたいなー。絶対また来たい。また来る」
山下「相手も中島と愛野ユキ、強かったね。でもね、燃えたね」
伊藤「ヒザ大丈夫？」
山下「やられたよ。やっぱ、中島は意地悪だし、分かってるから。なんか早々に足崩されて…最初はきつかったけど、でも応援もあって。で、伊藤のアシスト…っていうより、一緒に力合わせて勝ったね」
伊藤「そうだね。楽しかったね」
山下「いいね、地元凱旋」
伊藤「強いよね。なんかさ、地元でタッグタイトルやったら勝てるんじゃない？」
山下「そうしようか」
伊藤「つぎ福岡きて、タッグのタイトルいけそうやったらいこう」
山下「そうしよう」
伊藤「（２人だけのタッグは久しぶりでした）ホントや。なかったね」
山下「アメリカでは闘ったもんね」
伊藤「敵対してただけだったから、タッグを組んだのはホントに久しぶり」
山下「久しぶりって感覚がないくらい、普段はタッグとしての意識があんまりないね？」
伊藤「何かを一緒にやろうとするのが常じゃないから」
山下「近づいた時に一気に…」
伊藤「やろうとすればできる、みたいな」
山下「でもそれくらいが私たちの強さの秘訣？」
伊藤「なるほどね」
山下「私は離れていても好きだから」
伊藤「いいです、そういうの。やめてください」
山下「そういうの伝えてないと、またお前『私のこと好きじゃないんでしょ？』とか…」
伊藤「だってそうじゃん！ どうせカメラ回ってるからそういうこと言うんでしょ？」
山下「裏でも言います！」
伊藤「言ってない！」
山下「携帯にツーショットのプリクラ入れてます！ 入れてますか？ そもそも持ってますか？ 覚えてます？」
伊藤「…週プロのあれ？」
山下「そう。捨てたでしょ、どうせ。入れてないでしょ」
伊藤「入れてない…」
山下「こっちのセリフだよ。カメラ回ってないところで…言わないでしょ？ そういうところよ！」
伊藤「分かりました。これからは…自宅に帰ったら探してプリクラ入れます…」
Here’s what she said at the start of the match:
ハイパミ「会場にお集まりの大きいちびっ子たち、こんにちは！ 東京女子プロレスの愛と平和を守るニューヒーロー、ハイパーミサヲのお出ましだー！ ここ両国国技館で8年前、私はあるハチャメチャな人物を見て、その人物にあこがれてプロレスラーを目指しました。それはほかでもない今日闘う高木三四郎だったんです。だけど今の高木三四郎の状態を皆さん知ってますか？ もう無茶しない、ハチャメチャもしない、ただただ数字を気にしてSNSで肉や寿司の写真をあげている、あんなの大社長じゃない！ ただの社長だー！ 私があこがれたレスラーがそんな状態なら、あの人にあこがれてレスラーになったこの女が、アイツの首を取る！ 私が高木三四郎に引導を渡す！ 高木三四郎を瞬殺します！ あんな状態の高木三四郎を瞬殺してもうれしくないけど、皆さん一瞬で終わるんで、目かっぽじって見届けて下さい」
And then after it was over:
ハイパミ「勝ったぞー！ 高木三四郎に、勝ったぞ！ 秒殺するって言って、勝っても嬉しくないって言ったけど、やっぱめちゃくちゃうれしー！ 高木三四郎、入場してきたとき、正直、やられたよと思った。や、やられたわもう、出オチだよと思った。メチャクチャ大人げねえよ、私のカッコするなんて。イチ経営者でも、私のカッコして、乳首まで塗られて、それで大人げなく私にいろいろ仕掛けてきて、やっぱ、やっぱ、高木三四郎、いや、大社長、やっぱ私のあこがれた、あなたはピーターパンですね！ これからもハチャメチャずっとやって、ずっとメチャクチャ無茶する経営者でいてください。あなたがピーターパンでいる限り、私は何度でもあなたの首、狙いに行きますから！ 完全勝利目指して、あなたの背中を追って、追いついてやりますから！ でたらめなままでいてください！」
高木「ミサヲ、今日、国技館に朝7時に入って、8時からずっとこの格好なんだよ。売店ロビーで社員とスタッフ全員集めて、この格好で朝礼やったんだよ。でも、みんな笑顔だったよ。たぶん両国にいる人たちも、今日笑顔で帰れるんじゃないかな!? 東京女子プロレスは、ここまで来たよ。でもこれがゴールじゃないからね。ここがスタートだよ。そしてハイパーミサヲ、オマエが8年前にオレとか葛西純とか路上プロレスで闘った人たちにあこがれたように、オマエ、オレに勝ったんだからよ、オマエが本当のヒーローだよ！ だから今度は、オマエが今日ここにいるお客さん、そしてレッスルユニバース通して見てるお客さんを、幸せにさせなきゃ、ヒーローじゃねえだろ！ オマエは今日、本当の、本物のヒーローに、なったぞー！ 最後に一言だけ言わせてくれ。東京女子プロレス、両国、おめでとー！ オレの曲かけろ！ ミュージックスタート！」
途中から涙して聞いていたハイパミだが、高木の曲がヒットしたことには抗議。そしてスタナーを食らわせ「今日勝ったのはこの私、ハイパーミサヲだ！ ミュージック、スタート！」と自身の曲をかけさせて退場。
If there’s anything else you’d like to double check, either from TJPW or any other company (I just found that they have Stardom as well!), feel free to ask, and I’ll dig up a transcript if one is available!
Nice! Hopefully that means she’ll see your エール too!
Oh, no worries! I can get by with the video 
Posting the links to the tweets with the video + the transcript of the part you’re asking about are definitely very much appreciated, but otherwise it’s just fun to try to answer them and be helpful, and good practice / storyline engagement for me too anyway! So it’s no bother.
Besides, someday the wellspring of questions will trickle away, so I gotta appreciate my fully monopolized source of interesting questions I’m exactly the right level to answer confidently but not too confidently while it lasts! They grow up so fast… 
Ahhhh… it looks like I mistook “you’re just saying that because of the cameras” for “don’t say that in front of the cameras” and had extra trouble understanding the rest because of that. It sounds like Yamashita was saying she had photos of them in her phone so that’s proof she’d say it away from cameras too, and so she’s the one who should be be complaining about Itoh not showing affection off camera.
ミサヲ: 勝ったぞーーーー！！高木三四郎に勝ったぞ！秒殺するっていって、勝ったも嬉しくないんといったんだけど、やっぱメチャクチャ嬉しい！高木三四郎が入場してきた時、正直、やられたのと思った。（泣）やられたはもう、出オチ台をと思った。メチャクチャ大人げねえよ、あたしの格好するなんて！一経営者だよ！私の格好して、乳首まで塗られて、それでも、大人げなく、私にいろいろしてあげてきて、やっぱ、やっぱ、高木三四郎や。大社長、やっぱあたしの憧れたあなたはピーターパンですね！これからも、ハチャメチャずっとやてえ、ずっとメチャクチャな無茶する経営者にいてください。あなたがそのピーターパンでいる限り、私は絶対なんどでもあなたの首狙いに行きますから！なんどなってもっともっと完全勝利目指して、あなたの背中、追って、追いついてやりますから。でたらめなままいてください。
高木: ミサヲ、今日、国技館で、朝四時が入って、八時からずっとこの格好んだよ。売店ロビーで社員とスタッフ全員集めて、この格好で朝礼あったんだよ。でもみんな笑顔だったよ。たぶんこの人たちも, 今日、笑顔で帰るじゃないか？東京女子プロレスは国技館できたよ、でも、これクールじゃないからね。ここはスタートだよ。そして、ハイパーミサヲ、お前が、八年前に、まあ俺とった、葛西純とか、路上プロレス戦った人たちを憧れたように、お前俺に勝ったんだから、お前が本当のヒーローだよ！だから今度は、お前が、今日来たお客さん、そして、WRESTLEUNIVERSEをとして見てるお客さんを、幸せしなきゃ、ヒーローじゃねえだぞ！お前は今日本当の本物のヒーローになったんだぞ！！！！ 最後にひとつの望み許してくれ。東京女子プロレス、両国おめでとう！！Music Start！
Hey, I did a lot better than I thought! Nice! There’s definitely some missed syllables in there, and it’s funny how my character usage and punctuation style is completely different, but on the whole not half bad!
Definitely some mistakes I could have avoided in retrospect I’m sure though, like putting:
“これクールじゃないからね。ここはスタートだよ”
instead of
“これがゴールじゃないからね。ここがスタートだよ。”
I swear her intonation on “イチ経営者でも” is still burned into my brain from playing it back enough to try to figure it out, but I at least got close with “一経営者だよ！”
Thanks for digging those up and I’ll be sure to ask if I think of another that would be useful down the line!
I’m waiting for the TJPW VOD show to go up before I translate it, so I’ve been reading the NJPW English book in the meantime. I’m maybe about halfway through the glossary, and there’s some fun stuff in there! (Also lots of bad words. I censored them just to be safe )
I thought it was funny how they commented in the entry for “heel” that it sounds like 和製英語, but is English.
Also, it teaches the word “bastard”, but warns that it’s not used in regular daily conversation, the TOEIC test (I had to look up what this is ), or business English, of course.
I actually learned a new English phrase! One of the words in here is “bollocks”, which I already knew, but I had never heard “the dog’s bollocks” before. Apparently it means “the best thing”, contrary to the usual meaning of the word, haha.
It also used the phrase “首洗って待っとけ！” to explain “Get ready!” and I got excited because I remembered seeing 首洗って in a very old DDT translation I did and not knowing what on earth to do with it (me: “Wash your neck? What??”). A couple of my friends informed me that it refers to a traditional means of preparation before execution via decapitation, so they thought “get ready” isn’t actually threatening enough. One of my friends said she translates the above phrase more like “prepare to die.”
This sent me down a bit of a google rabbit hole, because I was curious how other people were translating it. It was kind of funny because there didn’t seem to be a real consensus! Pretty much every site I looked at had a different suggestion. I appreciated this post, which appears to be part of a series called “Hey, Boss! There’s no English for that!” It talks about the difficulty of translating that phrase, and why various choices are unsuitable.
The author of that post thinks “be prepared” is too weak, so they probably wouldn’t approve of NJPW’s choice of “get ready!”, haha. The translation they suggested was “just you wait and see.”
So, I went to see how I’d translated it back in… December 2021 (
). The specific phrase the wrestler was quoted as using was: “首洗って、覚悟して待っとけ.” And I went with… “So wash your neck and brace yourself.”
Honestly? Not too bad. The “wash your neck” part reads a bit strangely in English, but I think “brace yourself” gets the point across well enough.
Something that I thought was funny in the NJPW English book was in the entry for “shit”, they also mentioned “piece of shit”, and there was a note about Kenny saying the phrase which directed me to a short interview earlier in the book. I’d skipped it initially because it was all in Japanese, but I went back and skimmed the section in question, and it was pretty funny! The translator talked about the difficulty of translating Kenny calling Tana a piece of shit at the end of 2018. EDIT: Just realized I forgot to add what the translator eventually settled on for “piece of shit”. It was “ポンコツ野郎”.
It’s fun reading about the translation problems that people have to deal with on the other side of the equation, haha.
The NJPW book says that “guy” means “man,” but as an expression can also refer to women, which is true, but it says to note that “dude(s)” is only used for men, which is pretty spectacularly false, actually .
I liked the note for “aggressive” which said that a Spanish translator whom the writer knows translated the Spanish word for aggressive (I had to look this one up. It’s “agresivo”) as 好戦的, and the writer thought that was really classy, so they’ve been copying them ever since.
Also, the book says (in the entry for “backstage”) that Jay and Zack’s backstage interviews are must-see for English learners. This made a few of my friends laugh because some of Jay’s and Zack’s interviews are nearly incomprehensible even to us, native English speakers.
For the entry on “biting” it says that of course this is illegal, so you have to stop within the 5 count.
And “spoiler alert” is one phrase that is taught in this book as well as the book on fandom vocab I have (which is the same genre of book). It’s ネタバレ注意. (“Bias” is also in both books, but the usage in the fandom book is not the same as the usage of the word here ).
All in all, the book is going pretty well for me so far! I added it to Natively, but had some trouble rating its difficulty score. I went with “lower intermediate” because I feel like it’s above my current level (and considering the lack of furigana, which isn’t a problem for me personally, but might deter others), but the copious amounts of English makes it easier. Somehow, I don’t expect a lot of other folks on the site to read this one, so my ratings might weight it pretty heavily…
Also, I saw this image from shupro in this tweet and almost considered trying to read the article, but decided it probably wasn’t the best use of my time at the moment. I’ll just appreciate the photo from afar. I believe she’s holding a bouquet of daisies, which is a nice touch. EDIT: Nope, it’s sunflowers !
One last note I wanted to mention is that there have been some more Kota Ibushi tweets. Some negative stuff about NJPW, but also something positive! He mentioned wanting to come to AEW for at least a few times (his health permitting, as his injury still hasn’t healed), and he specifically mentioned wrestling as the Golden Lovers! He also named Adam Page when asked who he wanted to fight.
Seeing that really cheered me up. The Golden Lovers story lives on, despite everything…
I managed to watch and translate the August 7 TJPW show in just two days!
There’s no recap for this one, but I did want to share this photo:
The main thing going on in this show is that it was Kamiyu’s return to her hometown! She even presented a portion of the proceeds from the show as a donation to the town, I believe for scholarships.
I’ll start with the easy stuff. The show had a preview match for Suzume vs Yuka. Yuka was… not exactly impressed with Suzume in the match.
In her post-match comments, she said:
It’s a very nice environment here, full of nature. It’s a place where a free spirit like Kamifuku grew up. I’m glad she could make a triumphant return. (You faced Suzume before the semifinals) Yes. She’s still the Suzume I know, so I didn’t feel any sense of danger or anything like that in this match. I’m looking forward to her dramatic transformation on the appointed day in the tournament. Right now, I don’t feel like she’s a threat at all.
I was got a little stuck on translating 化けてくる in this line: “これでトーナメント当日どう化けてくるのかっていうのは楽しみではありますね”, but went with “dramatic transformation” because it seemed like maybe that conveyed the same feeling? I dunno .
Suzume said:
It was Kamiyu-san’s return show, so I was happy to come to Fujisawa for the first time, but in the preview match for the tournament, I wasn’t able to save Tori-san at the end… It’s a frustrating result, but I still felt anxious in front of a big wall. But there’s still time, so I want to be sure to face Yuka-san bravely before Korakuen.
The last half of her comment was a little tricky for me: “悔しい結果になったんですけど、まだまだ大きな壁を前に焦ってるなって感じがしました、自分の中で。でも、まだ時間があるので後楽園までにしっかりユカさんに立ち向かえるようにしていきたいと思います.”
I wasn’t quite sure how to interpret 焦ってる, but ended up going with “anxious” because it seemed most straightforward. I also wasn’t sure exactly how to convey しっかり, but went with “bravely” because it seemed like she was mostly talking about wanting to face Yuka without 焦ってる.
And now, the hard stuff… Kamiyu’s comments .
I think I did okay on the first part of what she said in-ring?
Kamifuku: “I won. I wondered what I’d have done if I hadn’t won (laughs).”
Itoh: “That’s impossible! Everyone was cheering for you.”
Kamifuku: “Thank you for coming from all over to Shonandai today.”
Itoh: “Thank you!”
Kamifuku: “And thank you for coming to see TJPW, which I love almost as much as my hometown. And since this was a charity show, truly thank you all so much for your support. I used to come here all the time when I was a student.”
This next part was tricky for a few reasons:
伊藤「そうなんだ。有名なんだね」
上福「私はね、チャリティー興行とかいうてますけど、学生の頃は特に趣味とか夢中になるものとか、熱心に何か夢を見つけることがなかなかできなかったの。でも東京女子に出会って、夢を見つけたり、一個一個叶えたり…（涙）この興行も、私の中で芽生えた大きな大きな夢でした。こうやって地元のみなさんにたくさん協力してもらえたから、今日という日を迎えられました。ホントにありがとうございます。これからもっと湘南台を活気づけて、すごいおいしいラーメン屋さんとか小さなオシャレなバーとか、六本木よりイケてるところがたくさんあるの」
伊藤「そうなんだ。いいところなんだね」
The そうなんだ’s gave me a little bit of trouble, because I’m not used to translating those, so I sort of just tried my best . I also wasn’t sure what Itoh was exactly calling 有名なんだね, but I’m assuming it’s the place? And Kamiyu’s whole paragraph there caused me a lot of trouble, haha. Here was what I ended up with:
Itoh: “Ah, it’s famous.”
Kamifuku: “For me, concerning the charity show and all that, when I was a student, I wasn’t able to find any particular hobbies or anything I was crazy about, and I didn’t have any passionate dreams. But when I found TJPW, I found my dream, and one-by-one my wishes were granted… (cries). This charity show was also a big, big dream that sprouted inside of me. It’s thanks to all of the support from everyone from my hometown that I was able to see you all on a day like today. Thank you so, so much. From now on, I’m going to liven up Shonandai even more; the amazing ramen restaurants, the tiny dressed up bars, there are lots of places that are more stylish than Roppongi.”
Itoh: “Yeah, it seems like a nice place.”
Here’s the rest of the in-ring stuff:
Kamifuku: “I’m so happy that I was able to come back here with my friends from Tokyo. Thank you.”
Itoh: “You’re welcome."
Kamifuku: “Everyone, thank you, too. I’ve lived such an enjoyable life with the dreams I have, so everyone, hold onto your dreams and goals, cherish your friends and family, and day by day, do your best and keep living!”
“Thank you, hometown! Thank you, friends! Yay!”
The tricky part for me here was Kamiyu’s second paragraph, in particular the last part of the second sentence: “みんなもありがとう。私ね、夢を持ってこんなに楽しい人生を送れたから、みんなも夢とか目標とか持って、仲間も家族も大事にして、１日１日頑張ってみんなで生きていきましょう！”
For the post-match comments, here’s what I had:
Kamifuku: “I never thought in my wildest dreams that this Shonandai show would be held.”
Itoh: “But you’ve been saying all along that you wanted to make a triumphant return.”
Kamifuku: “Yes, I was saying it. But after all is said and done… Now that the mayor has left, I can say that Fujisawa has too many delinquents.”
Itoh: “I have that impression.”
Then Kamiyu said:
非行に走る、そういう子が多いので。夢とか見つけずにさ、悪いことばっかする子が多いと言われているのでね。そういう子たちに夢とかやりたいこととかを見せてあげられたらいいなって、東京女子をきっかけに何か調べてもらってさ。この子はこういうところからこういう人になったんだとかさ、してもらって。みんなが輝けるように私は応援しております。いや、大変だった.
I wasn’t quite sure about the middle two sentences in particular. Here’s what I had:
There are lots of children turning to delinquency. It is said that there are a lot of children who don’t have any dreams, so they do bad things instead. I thought it would be good if I could show these children my dreams and the things I want to do, so I asked them to look for something using TJPW as inspiration. How this girl from a place like this could become someone like this, think about that. I’m supporting them so that everyone can shine. Yes, it was hard.
Itoh said, “You were so nervous,” and then Kamiyu said:
めちゃめちゃ緊張したし、でも、東京女子プロレスって私が東京に出てからどんな飲み会よりもどんな有名人との食事会よりも、何よりもずば抜けて一番の宝物になったなって今回より思えたし。そういう東京出ていくって決めて、親に啖呵切って、一人暮らしを始めていろんなことがありましたよ。詐欺師みたいな男と付き合って別れたり、いろんなことがあったんですけど。でも、やっぱこうやってそこで出会えた宝物をふるさとにブリングバックするっていうのは、すごくありがたいことだなって思ったし。今回興行やるにあたって全然ぽーいってしちゃってた地元の友達たちが『うちラーメン屋やってるから（ポスター）貼ってやるよ』とか協力もしてくれて。あらためてどんなことよりも仲間とか家族とか人っていうのは財産なんだなってことに気付けました。アラサーです。ありがとうございます。
The first two sentences were a little hard, especially 親に啖呵切って, which I had to look up and still didn’t feel like I quite understood .
I also struggled with this sentence: “今回興行やるにあたって全然ぽーいってしちゃってた地元の友達たちが『うちラーメン屋やってるから（ポスター）貼ってやるよ』とか協力もしてくれて.”
Here’s what I had for the whole thing:
I was extremely nervous, but now more than ever, I felt that TJPW has become my greatest treasure above anything else since I moved to Tokyo, more than any drinking party, and more than any dinner with a celebrity. After moving to Tokyo, I exchanged harsh words with my parents, and started living alone, and many other things happened. I dated and broke up with a guy who was a cheater, and so on. But nonetheless, I’m so grateful that I was able to bring back the treasure I’d found to my hometown. When we did this show, my local friends who had been so nonchalant said stuff like, ‘We run a ramen shop, so we’ll put up posters for you,’ and collaborated with us. Once again, I realized that friends, family, and people are bigger assets than anything else. I’m around thirty. Thank you.
I learned that アラサー just means “around 30 (years old)”, but apparently it can have the nuance of “I will never be young again,” or “I should seriously think about marriage soon.”
They ask Kamiyu about the next time they hold this event, and she said:
第２回やるとしたら、オーディションしたいですね。最近、朝倉未来さんとかがやってるじゃん。そんなかんじで藤沢の気合入ったギャル、もしくはヤンキー、もしくは引きこもり。その３人のなかでオーディションして東京女子に入れさせる。藤沢さわやかキャンペーンをおこないます。よろしくお願いします
The third and fourth sentences were tricky for me. Here’s what I had:
If we do it again, I want to hold an audition. Mikuru Asakura-san and others have been doing that recently. With that sort of feeling, a gal from Fujisawa with fighting spirit, or a delinquent, or a shut-in. I’d like to hold an audition and have someone join TJPW from among those three. I’m carrying out a campaign to reinvigorate Fujisawa. I look forward to working with you.
Then it seems like Itoh and Kamiyu basically roleplay this scenario out?
Itoh: “The person who passes the audition will become a pro wrestler.”
Kamifuku: “Let’s start from the beginning as a trainee. From cleaning the floors with a rag.”
Itoh: “She debuts in Fujisawa, and her opponent is…”
Kamifuku: “Yuki. I’ll be waiting.”
Itoh: “I’m looking forward to it.”
The interviewer asked about Yuna’s participation in the show, and Kamiyu said, “いたね。まなせさん来てくれました。でもまなせさんはね、家族ぐるみでね。うちの実家のお風呂に平気で入っていくような人なんですよ.”
I wasn’t sure how to interpret “でもまなせさんはね、家族ぐるみでね.” Here’s what I went with:
She did. Manase-san came for my sake. But Manase-san, she’s part of the family. She’s the kind of person who’d take a bath at my parents’ house without batting an eyelid.
Itoh responds “それはね…いやです” (“That’s… gross”).
Then Kamiyu finishes with:
うちの家族全員に会ってて、藤沢に来てくれて。ちょいちょいのポイントで東京女子の試合にも絡んできてくれる人で。こんなね、どうせ東京からきたら最低でも１時間はかかるんでね。どんぶらこっこ来てくれたんですよ。なんで、きっと何か企んでるんだろうなって思うんですけど、まなせさんのことはデビューしてちゃんとしたシングルで勝ててないので。どっか東京女子の場でも何でも使って、いつかぶっ倒したいと思います
I think I actually did okay with this? The only part that really confused me was どんぶらこっこ来てくれたんですよ. Apparently どんぶらこっこ is an onomatopoeic word for something flowing (mainly down a river). I ended up translating it fairly literally, because I didn’t know what else to do with it .
Here was the final result:
She met my entire family and came to Fujisawa. She’s someone who comes to TJPW every now and then and gets involved in matches. In any case, it takes an hour minimum to get here from Tokyo. She came like a peach flowing down a river. Why? Surely she’s up to something. But Manase-san, given that I haven’t won a singles match with her since my debut, I’d like to beat her someday, whether that’s at TJPW or somewhere else.
I’m… excited but also a little bit afraid for the double Korakuen shows coming up. No idea how long it’ll take me to finish translating those, but I guess I’ll just have to try my best, haha.
The transformation part is fine, but I’d point out the どう, and “I’m looking forward to her dramatic transformation on the appointed day in the tournament” sounds maybe more active to me than the original, which sounds to me more like, idle curiosity shared between Yuka and the audience about wondering how Suzume’ll transform for the tournament.
Combined, I would maybe go with something like “It’ll be interesting to see how she’ll step up to the occasion.”
I wouldn’t say “I still felt anxious in front of a big wall” is wrong, but I would say it could be spruced up a bit with preserving more the sense of the originally that she’s painting a figurative picture to describe her state internally. Also, more of the momentum/impending danger - the wall is the match/Yuka, and the 焦ってる is I’d say particularly the kind of anxiety of having to do something about it, soon.
“I still felt inside like I’m rushing towards a great wall” is probably the kind of second pass I would give it.
I think “bravely” is a good natural sounding non-literal pick for しっかり here!
I think this is good!
A few really small things:
The one small tweak I’d make is “and day by day, let’s all do our best and keep living!!”
Only note about this is the 大変だった is after a pretty lengthy pause after the previous stuff, and it connects more with the next stuff they talk about (it’s what prompts Itoh’s comment about her having been nervous). The いや、is sorta the transition from talking big to like, breaking from the speechifying and admitting it was tough/strenuous. So while this isn’t a very good translation, I’d say it conveys roughly like, “… geez, that was a hell of a thing. I’m pooped!”
The chronology is a bit off here - “東京出ていくって決めて、親に啖呵切って、一人暮らしを始めて” is she decided to leave for Tokyo, informed her parents, and started living alone, in that order. I’m also not ultra familiar with 啖呵切って, but I looked around a bit and I think kotobank was clearest to me in forming my impression that it’s about her firmly informing her parents of her decision (rather than necessarily a fight or them objecting and scolding her which I thought maybe at first).
I don’t think this fits 詐欺師みたいな男 – the original is more like I think, he was some kind of sketchy not upfront dude who was trying to take advantage of her or other people by lying or misrepresenting himself. Like the kind of stereotypical big city dude who might take advantage of a girl who’d just moved there. “like a swindler”, not necessarily “cheater”
I don’t know how exactly to phrase it in English, but I think she’s saying more like – the local friends who she dropped contact with / abandoned.
Like, ぽーい is the kind of thing you might say when throwing a paper ball in the trash, or she makes a brushing-away motion when she says it. So I think she’s talking about leaving and dropping them, but now them being nice enough to help her.
Yeah, it’s a joke from the start – I’d say from the video and the chuckles that the tone is more like, her straight-facedly declaring she’s going to hold this silly-sounding audition as a bit, and her and Itoh riffing on it for a little while.
Yeah, the 家族ぐるみ is quickly supported by the bath thing, so I think it’s just saying that Manase is / is like family to Kamiyu.
The comparison sounds a bit odd in English, but I presume she’s talking about の実家のお風呂 because of how Japanese families share bathwater, and so joining in on that with no qualms would indeed be a mark of really being like family.
WHEW okay, I got TJPW’s August 13 Korakuen Hall show (the TPC semifinals) done! Here’s the recap for posterity, though I didn’t reference it.
The tournament had some, uh, spicy results, shall we say, but I had a good time, so I tried my best to ignore the twitter discourse .
I did find out that unfortunately, shupro doesn’t transcribe all of the comments. So I’ll start with the ones just on twitter:
First up, Shoko vs Kaya Toribami! A fun fact about Kaya is that she and Shoko trained together (Shoko has done stunt training), and that’s sort of how Kaya was brought into TJPW. Their first singles match last year was a genuinely great match, despite the fact that it was right after Kaya’s debut, so they have great chemistry.
In Shoko’s comments, she said that she was in the opening match for the first time in a long time, and it has also been a while since she’s had a singles match with Kaya. Then she said: “ここからトーナメントの結果を見届けるためにも自分も自分で積み上げられるものはコツコツ積み上げていきたいという気持ちで今日は試合をしました.”
I got tripped up over various parts of this. Here was my attempt? “Seeing the results of the tournament from here, I wrestled today with a feeling of wanting to keep accumulating experience for myself and by myself.”
I think I understood Kaya’s comment well enough:
She utterly beat me. Our last match was the match immediately following my debut, so this was our first singles match in a year. I’ve gotten a little better, and I understand just how high that wall is. I want to be able to show everyone that I’ve grown and improved.
The next match was Free WiFi vs Raku and Yuki Aino.
In Nao’s comment, the second sentence gave me trouble: “やっぱり定期的にふりーWiFi組んでもらわないと！” I also wasn’t quite sure what she meant in her last line. Here was my translation for the whole thing:
Kakuta: “At the end, I won and bounced back. We need to tag as Free WiFi more on a regular basis!”
Hikari: “Today was Yuki-san’s return match, but it was a little scary because I didn’t sense any ring rust.”
Kakuta: “I wonder if Raku-chan was also trying especially hard today.”
In Raku and Yuki’s comment, I was a little confused by Yuki’s: “そういうこと？ こんなに休んだことなかった不安だったんですけど、らくと一緒に入場してそれまでのうっ憤が吹き飛びました.” I wasn’t sure exactly what she was talking about with うっ憤 . Here was my attempt:
Raku: “Today the bullet train was delayed due to the typhoon, so I was late, too.”
Yuki: “Was that it? I was anxious because I’d never taken time off like this, but when I entered together with Raku, all of my pent-up feelings disappeared.”
Arisu Endo fought visiting guest Mei Suruga, in a match that Mr. Haku was jokingly referring to as a “Suzume on a pole match”, since both of them are tag partners of hers. Unfortunately Arisu’s first singles victory still eludes her.
I think I did okay with these? I made a slightly bold translation decision with Mei’s (I went with it because the fandom 英語 book I have suggested “stan” for ～を推す), so hopefully this doesn’t result in Mei finding my translation and making a tweet that says: “English words learned today: stan” . Here was my translation:
Mei: “I’ve been a little curious about Arisu-chan for a long time. After this singles match, I’ve come to love her. In Arisu-chan’s hometown show, I’ll be cheering for her as an Arisu stan! Everyone, do your best! Fight!”
And here was Arisu’s:
Endo: “I still haven’t won a singles match on my own, and I thought that if I beat Mei-san here, I’d be able to show everyone how cool I am, but I was way too optimistic. It was as if I’d been pulled into Mei-san’s world. It’s frustrating, but I think it’s because I haven’t trained enough, so I’m going to keep working hard.”
The next match was one I was really, really excited about. It was a 3-way match between Misao, Rika, and Mizuki. I think I’ve talked about these individual dynamics before, but basically: Misao is in love with Rika, but Rika is in love with Mizuki, and Mizuki does not particularly like either of them, but also she’s not above exploiting people’s affections if it gives her a temporary advantage.
The wrestlers themselves billed this one as a “love triangle match” (the second one this year after Yuki Aino vs Raku vs Pom). Mr. Haku helpfully translated some of the in-ring for it, and it was pretty funny because at the beginning, Misao claimed that part of the love triangle was mutual because she got Rika’s photo at the merch table, and Rika has green highlights in her hair, which can mean only one thing.
Rika got Mizuki to agree to work with her, only to get betrayed at the earliest possible opportunity. And, well, from there things got pretty messy, haha, with lots of unintentional friendly fire from one wrestler toward the target of her affection.
I was very bummed to see that shupro elected not to transcribe these. How could they deprive us of such vital lore details?? Thankfully, the twitter captions had quite a lot.
With Misao’s comment, I had trouble with the first line: “最後めちゃくちゃカタいものが私の胸を打ち抜いた……私がスプレーやったからかー！” Here was my attempt:
Misao: “At the end, something hard pierced me right through the chest… Because the cold spray was my doing! I wonder why I can never convey my love to Rika-san… Is it because of Mizu-pyon? But I’m going to keep doing my best until my strength is conveyed. #I love Rika Tatsumi!”
Rika’s was straightforward enough. She said:
Rika: “It’s totally and completely Hyper Misao’s fault. I think this has made Mizu-pyon reevaluate, and I think next time we’ll definitely be able to form a Dorapyon tag team, so higher-ups, please put us together in a Dorapyon tag match! I think this laid the groundwork for that!”
For Mizuki’s, the part that confused me was her third sentence: “多分意見合わへんから……” Here was my attempt at the whole thing:
Mizuki: “I thought it would be a tough 3-way, but it was way harder than I’d imagined… This made me think that I absolutely don’t want to team with Rika-san. We probably don’t agree with each other… I don’t want to win by teaming up with Rika-san; I want to win by myself.”
Next was Pom Harajuku vs Max the Impaler, which was about as perfect a wrestling match as you can imagine. I think Max might be the best guest that TJPW has had thus far? The Japanese fans took to them instantly.
Shupro gave me a transcription for Pom’s comment, thankfully! There were a few lines that were confusing to me, so I’ll post the part with the confusing bits:
ちょっと何があったか分からないですけど、あれはホントに実在しますか？ ホントに途中でワケわからなくなって帰りたくなったんですけど…あの時帰っておけばよかったなんて思いました。やばいよ、何アレ。ツイッターでたくさん見たけど、あんなに怖いと思わなかったし。ぽむ、ホントに宙を浮くってこういうことだなって思ったし、敵わなかったんですけど。
I was a little unsure with “ホントに途中でワケわからなくなって帰りたくなったんですけど”, and with “ぽむ、ホントに宙を浮くってこういうことだなって思ったし、敵わなかったんですけど.”
Here’s what I had for the full comment:
Pom: “I don’t really understand what happened, but was that person really real? I really didn’t know what was going on as it was happening and wanted to go home, but… I should have left then. Oh man, what was that person? I saw a lot of them on twitter, but I didn’t expect them to be THAT scary. I thought, ‘Pom, you’re really floating through the air’, and I was no match for them. But, now that I know that my shin kicks work even on someone who is that scary, I’m going to keep working to master shin attacks. But I never want to see them again. I thought my remains were going to get scattered all over Korakuen, to the north, east, south, and west. But I was still there. Thank goodness… I don’t remember anything else.”
Max didn’t say, uh, words in their comment (in English or Japanese), but I’m including it because it’s fun 
This show had so much going on, I think I’m going to split up my posts about it so that it’s not a super gigantic block . I’ll post about the latter half of the show tomorrow!
She was a guest on commentary for the rest of the card after the first few matches, so I’d say the “ここからトーナメントの結果を見届ける” part is referring to that. After this promo she’s going to have a first-hand look at how the tournament progresses (by being on commentary), and so partly that’s why she had this match (since guest commentary from someone who had an early match on the show is very common) but she’s saying also she did it to build up experience.
The 自分も自分で part sounds to me like it’s just emphasizing that (in contrast to that first reason) she also had the match for herself and her growth. I found one source that lists it as a grammar point anyway (it seems hard to google). I’d also say, anyway, that it connects with 積み上げられるもの, as like, the stuff she can accumulate/improve on within/about herself.
I would put it all as something like:
“Today I wrestled in part, yes, so that I can go out now and get a first-hand look at how the tournament goes, but also for myself, because I want to keep working to steadily improve where I can, and this match helped me do that.”
For this part, the 分 in the original gives it a structure/flavor, of like, “I’ve improved a little, but that just means I’m that much more able to see how high the (metaphorical) wall is” - like a seeing how far you’ve come just makes it easier to comprehend how far you still have to go, type of deal. there’s a stack exchange post about it that suggests it’s the same as in (the more easily look upable) その分.
The tweet bunches it up a bit – the “そういうこと？” is her comment on Raku’s comment, and then they separately transition into talking about the other topic. It sounds like Yuki took off from two matches, but it meant a total of three weeks off? And so she was uneasy since she hadn’t been out that long of a time off before.
For うっ憤, weblio gives “内にこもりつもった怒りや不満。晴れないうらみ。” so I’m sure she’s mainly just talking about that 不安 she was talking about. If there’s an 怒り or うらみ component it would probably just be at whatever was causing the break if it was out of her control, or in kayfabe, the tournament loss that preceded it.
One nitpick here is I would describe the original more like, “If I beat Mei-san here, I’d get to look incredibly cool in front of everyone” - like, she’d get to show a めっちゃカッコいい姿 not that she herself is inherently めっちゃカッコいい.
Well, she’s definitely thinking through the finish, which involved (among other things) 1. Rika trying to spray Misao, 2. Misao ducking so the spray incapacitates the ref (I enjoyed his dramatic “pause 目が！！！” a lot here), 3. Rika hitting Misao in the chest with the can 4. Rika pulling the ref over and winning.
The twitter text cuts out a little part in the middle where she wonders something about the ref, so I would speculate that the specific thing she’s confused by could be why Rika was able to hit her with the can without being disqualified, with the answer she figures out being oh right, she intentionally made sure he got hit with the spray earlier, oops!
Or if not that specific, then in any case yeah, the second part is her figuring out through consulting her memory that her loss was ultimately because of her spray. The からか I would note here gives it like, an “oh, so it was X, eh?!” type of flavor - yours kinda drops the か
Sounds like Mizuki’s from Kansai! (yep, Kobe apparently). The へん here is like ない. So yeah, she doesn’t want to team with Rika-san since they probably don’t agree with each other. (bit of a catch-22 there for Rika, since it doesn’t sound like she agrees about this either…)
The nuance missed here is that the “途中でXなって” part conveys not “during it, I was X” but “in the middle of it, I became X” - in the middle of the match she came to be in such a state of not not really making heads or tails of anything anymore and just wanting to go home. (頑張って -Raku)
Having a bit of trouble going directly into English for this one too,
but she thought, that this → [ホントに宙を浮く] is this → [こういうこと], and that’s one of the reasons she was no match for them. Like - “so this is what it means to really be midair” to try to put it literally.
I guess I’d put the meaning conveyed like this:
“oh my god I’m literally midair right now”
(from the spot right before she tries to leave the match)
Hi guys! I’m pretty new here but got sent a link to this in another thread.
I’m learning Japanese because my brother and I want to go watch Wrestle Kingdom maybe next year or the year after. The promotion I follow the closest right now is AEW, but I watch all the big NJPW and TJPW events.
Welcome!
I’m also learning Japanese because of wrestling, though my path has taken some turns I really did not expect . I got into wrestling in early 2019 because of the Golden Lovers story, started watching AEW at the very first Double or Nothing (and NJPW shortly after), got into TJPW in late 2019, then, uh, watched way too many companies through most of 2020. I started learning Japanese at the end of 2020, but didn’t get serious about it until around March 2021.
Then, well, at the end of 2021, Mr. Haku left CyberFight and stopped translating DDT and TJPW, and it was a really soul-crushing moment as a fan. I managed to pick myself up off of the ground and stop moping, and I realized that if I wanted to keep following the stories, I kind of had to step up long before I was ready and try translating them myself .
I started out doing very rough translations for DDT, then moved to TJPW after DDT got another translator again, and my friend who was covering TJPW ran out of time to keep up with it. So I’ve been translating TJPW stuff regularly now for like the past six months?
If you’re interested in TJPW, this thread is definitely the place to be, because I share everything from my translations here, and rodan has offered such amazing help to clarify things that were confusing and correct my translation errors. I also have a brand new twitter account for my translations, if you’d rather read the more polished end results.
Of course, this isn’t just a TJPW thread, haha, so you’re welcome to post about other wrestling as well! rodan frequently shares all sorts of fun highlights from shupro, if you’re interested in anything from that magazine.
I used to keep up with NJPW as well, though I stopped watching earlier this year in May after what they did to Kota Ibushi. But for a long time, NJPW was a decent part of my motivation, and a huge amount of my immersion. I can definitely say that if you truly love wrestling, that love can get you pretty far with Japanese.
But yeah, don’t be scared off by the long posts! We just have a lot of things we want to share .
Continuing with TJPW’s August 13 show, the last three matches were actually covered pretty extensively in the shupro recap. I also double-checked my translations for the in-ring stuff with Mr. Haku’s partial live translation thread for the show, which was handy.
Kamiyu and Mahiro teamed up with Haruna Neko against Saki Akai, Yuki Arai, and Moka. I was thrilled to see perpetual underdog Mahiro get the pin here, and over Arai, too! Sweet revenge.
Something that stood out to me when I was translating their comments is that there is a parallel of sorts between Toyo Mates (Mr. Haku translated their name the same way I did. Vindication!) and Reiwa no AA Cannon. The parallel between Kamiyu and Saki already came up earlier this year when they teamed together, and I think Mahiro and Arai’s mini-feud recently has been neat.
But what stood out to me this time was the parallel between the two as teams, with Saki sort of mentoring and looking after Arai, and Kamiyu sort of… not really doing that with Mahiro. Well, she sort of tries, but she’s also not exactly the mentoring type, haha. They have an interesting dynamic because Kamiyu clearly does like her and want her to succeed, but she also has the tendency to be really aggressively controlling of Mahiro, and they seem to have fundamentally different personalities and ideological standpoints which makes a balanced and effective tag team seem impossible to achieve.
I thought it was really funny how Mahiro challenged for the tag belts, in a very characteristically Mahiro kind of way. Here was my translation of the first part:
Kiryu: “I am very sorry to detain you when you are so tired. I’d like to ask you something, if you don’t mind? Akai-san and Arai-chan, when the two of you first formed your tag team, I fought you as your opponent. At the time, I lost. After that, the two of you won the belts, and then I lost to Arai-chan in the singles tournament. I kept losing… this whole time, I’ve been losing. But I can’t just stay silent. After today’s match, you can no longer ignore me, right? So, your belt… please let me challenge for it!”
Akai: “Alright. If you both are ready for that.” (She leaves, taking care of Arai)
Kiryu: “Okay, and now…” (She looks at Kamifuku) “Ah! I’m sorry. I didn’t say anything to Kamifuku-san…”
Then Kamiyu says: “そうだよね？（謝る桐生に）いいよ。突然でビックリしたけど、でもいつかこんな日が来てくれたらいいなって。マヒロが無駄に頭を下げまくるばっかりじゃなくて、もっと主張してほしいって、一番近くで一番強く思ってたのは私だよ。マヒロ先輩についていきます.”
The tricky part for me was the ビックリした line . Here was my attempt:
Kamifuku: “You didn’t, did you? That’s okay. That was sudden, like, ‘oh my god!’ but I’d hoped that this day would come someday. I wanted you to be more assertive instead of just bowing and apologizing over and over, and I’m the one who was closest to you and felt the strongest. I will follow Mahiro-senpai.”
Then Mahiro brings out my nemesis… mahjong metaphors. Here was the last bit of their in-ring exchange (with my best shot at translating it ):
桐生「ありがとう！ 今の状態、私の好きな麻雀に例えるとベルトにリーチを掛けたかんじなので。私たちでツモっていきましょう。一緒にツモってくれますか？」
Kiryu: “Thank you! In this current situation, to liken it to mahjong, which I’m a fan of, it’s like declaring ready on the belt. Let’s win on a self-drawn title. Shall we draw a title together?”
上福「敬語はやめようぜ」
Kamifuku: “Let’s not use honorifics, okay?”
桐生「あ、ツモろうね。なので、みなさんで東洋盟友の応援、よろしくお願いします！」
Kiryu: “Oh, uh, draw a tile from the wall! Everyone, please support Toyo Mates!”
In their post-match comments, Mahiro starts with:
Kiryu: “I won! I did it! Today, I… really wanted to win and announce my challenge. Sorry I didn’t tell you first.”
Then Kamiyu says: “いいよいいよ。いつも私が勝手に決めてる分。いいっすよ、なんすか.”
Some of the more casual language is still confusing to me, and I couldn’t quite figure out “いいっすよ、なんすか” here. Here was my attempt at that line (and then Mahiro’s response):
Kamifuku: “It’s okay, it’s okay. I always decide stuff on my own. It’s fine.”
Kiryu: “Thank you so much. I won today thanks to the help from the two of you.”
Then Kamiyu says: “当たり前だよ！…嘘嘘（笑）”. I translated this as: ““Obviously! …No, no, that’s a lie (laughs)” But I was a little uncertain about “嘘嘘” .
Then Mahiro says: “すげえよ”, which I translated as: “Unbelievable!”
Kamiyu says: “今日は絶対に自分で勝ちたいって目をしてたので。最後は荒井ちゃんを前に顔つきが変わるなって見てたから、あえて見守ってたかったし。絶対に荒井ちゃんに勝ってほしいなって個人的に思ってたから。みんな気付きましたか？（桐生の）髪の毛の色、鉄紺やぞ。東洋大学のイメージカラー、鉄紺やぞ.”
I was just very uncertain on what and who she was exactly referring to, so took my best stab at it based on context:
Kamifuku: “Today, her eyes definitely said that she wanted to win on her own. At the end, I saw her face change when she faced Arai-chan, so I was intentionally watching over her. I personally wanted her to beat Arai-chan. Did you guys notice it? The color of (Kiryu’s) hair, it was iron blue. That’s Toyo University’s color.”
Then the other two said:
Kiryu: “That’s right”!
Haruna: “Oh, I see!”
I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole with the color 鉄紺, since it’s one that we don’t have an exact equivalent for in English, but I know that schools can be really particular about their colors. Here’s a little more about it. Funnily enough, Toyo University is the third result if you google it.
I ended up going with “iron blue”, accompanied by probably the world’s most boring translator note . Something I wasn’t able to determine when doing cursory research on it was if iron was actually used as a mordant during the indigo dyeing process.
From my (very limited) personal experience, you don’t actually need a mordant with indigo, but according to (English language) dyeing tutorials on google, some people do use iron with it. I definitely don’t have the vocabulary to read about this in Japanese, though. So I’ve filed that away under a subject to learn more about when I’m more advanced .
That digression aside, here’s what they said next (and my uncertain translations of both):
上福「気合入れてたからね」
Kamifuku: “She was full of fighting spirit.”桐生「そういうことなのよ」
Kiryu: “That’s what it means.”
Then Neko and Mahiro said:
Haruna: “Today, Mahiro was so cool, and the two of them worked together perfectly, and even I got a ribbon (from Kamifuku). I’m glad I was able to team up with them.”
Kiryu: “Thank you.”
Then Kamiyu said: “ずっと真弥のそばにいたのは、一番近くにいたのはゆきだと思うから。私も真弥と同じ気持ちだし。アラサーの夏、花咲かせよ.”
The first line there was confusing to me. It sort of made sense? But not enough for me to feel confident. Here’s what I had:
Kamifuku: “I stuck by Mahiro the whole time. I think I was the person closest to her. Mahiro and I feel the same. Let’s bloom in the summer of our thirties!”
Then Mahiro said:
Kiryu: “Yes, let’s do it! (Kamiyu punches her shoulder) I will! I have no idea what my next plans are, but I’m definitely challenging for the belt! …Sorry. I’m suddenly at a loss for words.”
Then Kamiyu said: “絶対うちらで力を合わせて真弥の未来を明るくしていくぞ！ 一皮も二皮もむけるぞー！” That last bit was an expression I’d never heard before, so I looked it up, then tried to figure out what seemed like a possible English equivalent?
Here’s what I had for the rest of their comments:
Kamifuku: “We’re definitely joining forces and making Mahiro’s future brighter! Let’s give you an uplift!”
Kiryu: “That’s what I mean!”
Saki, Arai, and Moka’s comments were a lot more straightforward! I think I did okay with the first half:
Miyamoto: “Today I teamed up with Akai-san and Arai-san, and they were really encouraging, but I wasn’t able to help them, and we lost, which was frustrating. I want to improve more and more.”
Akai: “Will you be okay?”
Arai: “Yes. Today, even though I had the reassuring presence of the two of you with me, I still lost to Mahiro-san. It was a really frustrating result… After all, if I lose the title here, I won’t be able to do everything that I wanted to do. I definitely want to win this next match.”
Then Saki said:
私が前に上福選手、真弥選手とやった時よりも今日はなんか何段階かレベルが上がってるように感じました。でも、言っても真弥選手なんて（荒井に）割と最近も当たったよね？ なんで最初からその鞘を抜かなかったんだろうって気持ちと。今日ね、『すみませんでした』みたいな挑戦のされ方をされたのは初めてだったんですけど。挑戦してきて、私たちに敵わなくて。今日挑戦してきたことを謝らないようにしてほしいなって思います。でもこうやって初めてチャンピオンのなって、防衛していくことがチャンピオンとしていい姿をお客さんに見せられると思うので。どんどん挑戦したい方はきてくれて大丈夫です
Lots of stuff I wasn’t quite certain about . Here was my attempt at the whole thing:
Akai: “In comparison to my matches with Kamifuku and Mahiro before, I feel like the level of today’s match was higher. But, didn’t Mahiro face Arai relatively recently? I wonder why she didn’t pull out this strength from the outset. Today is the first time someone has issued a challenge to me like that, with an ‘excuse me’. She challenged us, and was no match for us. I hope she won’t apologize for challenging us today. But I think becoming a champion like this for the first time and defending your title shows the audience how good you are as a champion. If you want to challenge us, come and do it, it’s okay!”
The semi-main event of the show was a semifinal match for the Tokyo Princess Cup, Suzume vs Yuka! I really liked this one. Yuka really comes across as so brutal and terrifying in her final stretch of three tournament matches, starting with her last one against Hikari, and really elevating here with Suzume. I feel like you can really see her desperation and her fear. Suzume really brought out the part of Yuka that is completely no-nonsense and serious, as opposed to her normal playfulness. Which is a testament to how much Yuka actually respects and fears her.
I think I understood the first half of Suzume’s comment?
Suzume: “Since I made it this far in the tournament, of course I was aiming for the overall victory. In the preview match, Yuka-san said that I’m ‘not a threat’, but I wanted Yuka-san to think I was dangerous in some way or another. I was really nervous because I was thinking about all sorts of things, like everyone’s expectations and the future of the company. To be honest, when the match started, I forgot about the tournament, and I thought, ‘in any case, I’m not going to lose to the person in front of me.’ I really fought only with the desire to win.”
Then the interviewer asks her about the new plancha she revealed. Here’s where things fell apart for me, haha. Suzume said:
このトーナメントに挑むに向けて、なんか生み出したもののひとつですね。いっぱいいっぱいながらも自分のやりたいことというか、用意した武器を全部出し切ったと思うので。当たって砕けて粉々になってもしがみついて勝とうと思ってたんですけど、さらに粉々の粉々の粉々にされたので…ここまで粉々にされると、もはや清々しいなと思っています（笑）
Here was my unsure attempt:
“It was something I created for this tournament. Although she took me to my limit, it was something I wanted to do, or rather, I think I used up all of the weapons that I’d prepared. Even if she hit me and smashed me to pieces, I was going to cling to victory, but she shattered the pieces of me into even smaller pieces. Now I think it’s refreshing to be pulverized to this extent (laughs).”
The main event was Miu vs Miyu, and it was my favorite match in the entire tournament (and honestly maybe my match of the year across all companies). I still remember Miu and Miyu’s last singles match, in 2019 right after I had just started watching TJPW, and the two of them wanted to fight before they tried teaming up.
It’s just absolutely incredible how far Miu has come since then. I was riveted the whole match, especially that last stretch of it, when Miyu was basically putting Miu through the absolute ringer, and she just wouldn’t stay down. I feel like it sort of validated my theory that Miu is being set up as a future ace of sorts.
After Miu won, Yuka came out, and the two of them exchanged some words in-ring. I think I more or less got all of this? Here was my translation:
Sakazaki: “Oh, so it’s Miu. Well, I can’t lose. I won’t lose. This is my ninth time doing this since the tournament started, and I’ve been doing this since before Miu came to be TJPW’s Miu Watanabe. So this summer, Yuka Sakazaki is absolutely going to win. I won’t lose!”
Miu: (While crying) “‘I don’t want to lose’ to Yuka-san, either! To get to here, I beat Nakajima-san and Yamashita-san… next is Yuka-san. Before I came here, the three of you built TJPW and made it so awesome and amazing, and I respect you so much. That is why in the 9th year, this summer, I am going to surpass Yuka-san and get the overall victory.”
Sakazaki: “Okay, tomorrow, then?”
(The two of them fist bump. Sakazaki makes her exit.)
Miu: “I beat Yamashita-san! Beating Yamashita-san was my very first dream after I debuted and became a wrestler. It was way too big of a dream at that time, but now, after four years… I was finally able to win! In the finals tomorrow, I’m going to face Yuka-san. Fighting Nakajima-san, Yamashita-san, and Yuka-san, everyone is too strong! But I’ve decided that this summer is going to be the summer I surpass my senpais! So I hope to defeat Yuka-san, too, to beat her and win the tournament tomorrow! Please give me your support in the finals tomorrow. Thank you again for today!”
I actually got kind of choked up while translating Miu’s last set of lines there. I feel like I feel the emotion and the power of the promos so much more when translating them, even if it has been several days since I watched the match. Miu’s promo skills in particular have really stood out to me over these shows. She’s so good at this!
After the match, Miu said:
Miu: “I was able to beat Yamashita-san in the finals. Ever since my first singles match with Yamashita-san at the Up Up TJPW event directly following my debut, I have always really wanted to beat her someday, to surpass that wall one day. But at the time, it was too reckless, too big of a goal… But after four years, I finally, finally caught up with her. She is a senpai who has always been a great help to me, and she has watched over me with great warmth and occasional severity, even when I was just starting in pro wrestling four years ago. So I have so much respect for her because she’s a senpai to whom I owe so much. Today I finally caught up with her, and it feels like I finally reached her level, but I have to fight Yuka-san in the finals next, and this tournament… I’ve had to have singles matches with all three flagship members of the roster. They loom overwhelmingly huge to me, and I really respect them from the bottom of my heart. Since I’ve come this far, I want to beat Yuka-san, but I think It’s going to be insanely difficult… But I’ve decided that this summer, I’m going to surpass my senpais and win the tournament. I’m going to do my best and aim for the victory tomorrow.”
In the second half of her comment, they asked her about being in the main event for two consecutive Korakuen shows, and a couple things threw me off. Here’s what she said:
やっぱり先輩たちが普段メインに立ってものすごい試合をしているからこそ、自分もそんな試合をしないと勝てたとしても追いついたことにはならないし。そこもひとつ、自分にとっての課題だったんですけど。どうだったか分かんないんですけど、すごい今回ファンの方が今まで以上に、過去最大に応援してくれて、たくさん期待してくれて。ものすごい応援の声をもらったので、その声だったり会場のお客さんの声はないけど“声援”だったりがものすごく力になったので。明日もメインイベント、後楽園で決勝戦。頑張りたいと思います
One was how to translate the “ホントにやばくて” in her first line. I went with “amazingly terrifying”? I dunno . Her line about the cheers was kind of grammar soup to me, but I tried my best. Here was the result:
“Being in a Korakuen main event makes me really nervous, and today was also amazingly terrifying. My senpais are always in the main event, and always wrestle amazing matches, so if I don’t also have matches like that, even if I win, I’m not on their level. That was one of the challenges for me. I don’t know how, but this time the fans were supporting me more than ever, and they expected more from me than ever before. I received their amazing cheers, and it was their voices and their ‘shouts of encouragement’, even though the audience couldn’t vocalize, which became my strength. Tomorrow, I’m also in the main event, the finals at Korakuen. I will do my best.”
Miyu’s comment was also confusing, or at least, I felt uncertain about most of it, even if it seemed like I had the general idea. She said:
負けた。うーん…まずは素直に悔しいですね。悔しいけど…けどというか悔しいしかないけど、最後終わって未詩の目を見た時に、結果からして『強くなったね』っていうしかないんですけど。でも未詩の目を見て、あらためて未詩の過ごした４年間っていうのは本当に濃いものだったんだなって思いました。私ももうすぐ10年になりますけど、この10年すごく濃く東京女子のなかで闘ってきて。すごく、この準決勝が決まった時から４年前の（新宿）FACEであったチャレンジマッチからの未詩のことを思い出してすごくなってるなって思ったし、だからこの準決勝ホントに最初から倒しにかかってけっこう攻めたと思うんですけど。自力の強さと未詩の本質の強さに今日は飲み込まれてしまったかなっていう風に思います。まぁまぁ悔しいですけど、また負けたら強くなればいいので。次は絶対に負けませんよ。
Here was my attempt:
Yamashita: “I lost. Well… first of all, I am honestly frustrated. I’m frustrated, but… maybe I should say I have no choice except to feel frustrated, but when I looked into Miu’s eyes at the end, based on the result, all I could say was ‘you’ve gotten stronger’. But looking into her eyes, I realized once again that these four years of her career were so rich. It will soon be ten years for me, and my ten years of fighting in TJPW have been very intense. After this semifinal was decided, I thought back to the challenge match at (Shinjuku) FACE, and I thought about how much stronger Miu has gotten since then. So in this semifinal match, from the beginning, I truly came at her to win, and I thought my attacks were enough. But today I think I was swallowed up by my own power and Miu’s true strength. Well, it’s frustrating, but if I lose again, I’ll just have to get stronger. Next time, I will definitely not lose.”
The next part of her comment also confused me. They asked her how she expects the finals to go, and she said:
予想できないですよ。今日未詩と闘って…ユカちゃんも勝って私も決勝でユカちゃんと闘うつもりだったので。ユカちゃんが勝つのかなって思う反面、今日私負けてますし。未詩の勢いとか瞬間的な強さに最後やられたので。どれだけユカちゃんが攻めてても、最後飲み込む力はホントに強いなって思ったので。ちょっともう…分かんないですね（笑）。でも、今回の準決勝の鈴芽と坂崎、私と未詩っていうのは、ここにきて初めて分かりやすく世代闘争みたいな形になってたので。ここはでも、ちょっとユカちゃんに壁になってもらいたいなって思いますけど…予想できないですね。
Here’s what I had:
“I can’t predict it. I fought Miu today… Yuka-chan won, and I had intended to face her in the finals. I think Yuka-chan is going to win, but on the other hand, I lost today. Miu’s spirit and sudden strength got me at the end. Even if Yuka-chan attacks her with everything, I thought the power she took in at the end was really strong. So… I don’t really know anymore (laughs). But, these semifinals, with Suzume and Sakazaki, and myself and Miu, for the first time it feels like a clear generational struggle. Here, though, I kind of want Yuka-chan to be the wall, but… I can’t predict it.”
Then they ask her if she feels happy about the growth of her juniors. My favorite line in this was also the trickiest for me, and I wanted to make sure I got it right: “いま世代闘争って言われるっていうのは、すごく団体としても歴史を重ねてきて…（涙ぐみ）すごく大きくなってるなっていうのもあるし.”
Here’s my translation of the rest:
“Yes, I do. From the position of an athlete, I’m really frustrated, but when I look at TJPW from an outside perspective, I see more and more young girls coming up, which gives me a sense of the future of the company. That makes us get even more fired up. The fact that people call it a generational struggle now means that the company has built up a long history… (breaks into tears). It’s also because we’ve grown so much. I think the young girls… especially Watanabe and Suzume, but also everyone who didn’t make it to the semifinals, are working very hard. It makes me feel like I have to work even harder myself.”
Yuka’s comment was fairly straightforward. The only part that threw me off was this: “でも、上がれたこともすごい嬉しいんですけど、鈴芽とかヒカリとか鳥（喰）ちゃん、当たった子と闘ってる体感は…トーナメントで当たるとよりガシガシくるというか。ガッツがすごいというか.” I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with “ガシガシ” . DeepL suggested “aggressive”, so I went with that. Here’s my translation of the whole thing:
Sakazaki: “Today, I won with stubborness. Suzume also had a strong desire to win, she was truly tenacious, trying to trip me up and roll me up over and over again. To be honest, my stamina was completely whittled down, and it was a close call. But I think my desire to win this tournament was just a little stronger. I’m glad I got to go on to the finals. But even though I’m happy, Suzume, Hikari, Tori(bami)-chan, the girls that I beat, I think they’re more aggressive when you beat them in a tournament. They have a lot of guts. I thought it was great that they’re trying to change, because as everyone’s level gradually gets higher and higher, the tournament gets better and better. I hope that this show makes everyone in the audience think ‘TJPW and their summer tournament can’t be missed.’”
In the second part of her comment, there were a few confusing things. They asked her about Miu being her opponent in the finals, and here’s what she said:
ねー。そっかって思って。裏で見てたんですけど、まぁ心のどこかでは山下だろうなって気はしてたんですよ。けど、なんでしょう。あの泣きじゃくりながら（打撃を）打つみたいな。あれはすごいグッときましたね。渡辺未詩の今年の夏に懸けてる思いっていうのがすごく伝わってきたので。次決まった時は未詩かぁー…。この未詩はなかなかだぞって思って。明日どうしようかなって気はしてるんですけど、でも９回目の正直。夏いつも超えられないので、夏を超えて自分を超えていきたいですね。今年の夏は絶対取ります
I wasn’t quite sure about “けど、なんでしょう”, or really the last chunk of it after the ellipsis. Here was my translation:
“I thought, ‘is that so?’ I was watching from the back, but deep down, I felt like it would be Yamashita. But, I don’t know. The way she hit those blows while crying. I was really moved by that. I could really feel the passion that Miu Watanabe put into this summer. When it was decided that my next opponent would be Miu… I thought ‘this Miu won’t go down easily.’ I’m not sure what I’m going to do tomorrow, but for this ninth time, I’m going to be honest, I’ve never been able to reach the top in summer, so I want to surpass the summer and surpass myself. This summer, I will definitely win.”
And that’s everything I have for that show! I thought it really delivered. I’ll talk about some overall tournament/story impressions when I finish translating the finals, haha.
Hopefully the next one won’t take me quite as long, because there’s quite a bit less to translate.
I’ve noticed she does also sometimes tends towards like - “friendly belittling”, like when she was briefly on guest commentary for the show after this, she did an accurate but unflattering impression of Kiryu, and I remember a backstage promo or two where she was awfully quick to say 馬鹿野郎 when Kiryu wasn’t following whatever she was on about. So I concur on the kayfabe relationship not being 100% conducive for tag team success! (Makes sense character-wise of course! Kamiyu seems like the kind of friend where you overlook the self-centeredness because “well that’s Kamiyu…” and she’s too cool to be mad anyway…)
Clearly the move is for Kiryu to join Stardom and form a faction with Saya Kamitani…
Honestly, I’d just translate it as “you surprised me…”
“突然でビックリしたけど” is like “It was sudden, and I was surprised, but…”
ビックリ is common enough for surprise (as in like “AAAH!! → びっくりした。” for “AAAH!! → that startled me.”) it doesn’t read to me as needing special treatment as a phrase.
This is pretty minor nitpicks, but it’s specifically the preceding thing that she’s saying she felt the strongest, and the bowing and apologizing is particularly 無駄に, so I would potentially spice it up like, “After all, who’s the one closest to you, the one who most wants you to be more assertive instead of fruitlessly bowing and apologizing over and over? Me! So I’ll follow your lead, Mahiro-senpai!”
eyyyyy!!! My time to shine!!
Okay, so this is actually very simple mahjong terminology so I’m quite confident about it!
In Japanese-style mahjong, the goal of the game is to win a hand by fully getting your tiles in order, right? Through a process of drawing 1 tile and discarding 1 tile, repeated over many rounds.
Calling リーチ, is something you can do when your hand is 1 tile away from being ready to go out. I.e. if you draw certain tiles on your next turn - you can end the round.
What it does is it increases your point total if then you do go out, but it prevents you from doing anything other than drawing tiles and discarding them if they weren’t the tile you need.
It’s like saying “I’m close enough to victory – I bet I’ll be able to win as-is!!” and in-so-doing, foregoing the option of potentially modifying and bettering your method of victory, in favor of increased spoils.
(In my limited experience playing mahjong against computer players, it’s extremely common to call リーチ when possible, and as a total novice I definitely just call it when I have the option, unless the resulting ‘wait’ - the pool of tiles I would need to go out - was really really terrible).
Okay - so ツモ then, is drawing the winning tile YOURSELF.
There’s four players in Mahjong, and to get a winning tile, you can draw it yourself (ツモ), OR you can take it when another player discards it (ロン).
ツモ is better, and gets you more points, but obviously it’s completely a matter of chance because at that point you’re just waiting to see what cards you draw, and numerically the other players’ draws (and therefore discards) are going to outnumber yours because there’s three of them. And while you might be able to psychologically intuit what tiles they’re likely to discard, or vice versa they might be able to guess what tile you’re waiting on and avoid discarding it – other than that, the possibility of a ロン is mostly chance too, and there’s 3x the players discarding each time you draw, so the chance of a ツモ is relatively slim.
So when you call リーチ, the only thing left in the game for you to do, is to pray for a ツモ (especially a ツモ on your next hand, since it’s even more points if you go out in the first hand after リーチ!). On a personal note, I’ve never felt any sense of religious faith, and yet – something about calling リーチ just fills you with the utmost faith that your next draw will definitely be a ツモ and that will definitely make your mediocre point total amazing.
And so anyway – it’s a very Mahiro Kiryu sort of thing to say here since there really isn’t anything to do to get a ツモ after calling a リーチ except to do nothing and hope chance smiles on you - you can manufacture the odds a bit beforehand (like, setting it up so there’s 7 remaining tiles that would mean victory for you instead of just one or two), but once you call リーチ you’re locked in (and it will probably be a ロン anyway – or some jerk will go out before you and it will all be pointless), there’s literally nothing left to do except hope for the best outcome.
Anyway that’s some mahjong flavor, good luck with the translation! 
i’s just です being dropped both times – いいですよ, なんですか - “It’s fine, it’s fine, what’s the matter, it’s fine” – she says it in the video like “いいっすよ、いいっすよ、そんないいっすよ、なんすか, なんすか, いいっすよ” like an incantation while patting her leg, so it’s a rhetorical なんですか like “what is there even to be worried about” and Kamiyu’s really trying to tamp down on the Kiryu apologizing front…
No yeah – it’s Kamiyu saying 当たり前! of course the victory was thanks to her,
then softening the joke with 嘘嘘
I would definitely translate it as like “I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” though.
嘘 doesn’t have as strong of a malicious connotation as it does in English - it’s the go-to often when stuff is untrue for any reason, not just active lies (like “嘘!” is the equivalent of “no way!”). And here it’s clearly Kamiyu telling a (characteristically vain and very slightly mean) joke.
Honestly? I’m pretty sure here she’s insisting further that the help from the other two was incredible. I wouldn’t say すごい here has a negative or literally “unbelievable” feeling at all, and it echoes her original comment where (at least in the video) she uses すごい to describe their アシスト. So I would convey the sense more like, “I’m serious!! You were both an incredible help” in response to Kamiyu’s initial joke making light of it.
I think the 今日は絶対に自分で勝ちたいって目をしてたので。 part is fine - I found a result saying 目をしている is about the speaker’s impressions of what the person being spoken of is feeling, so that checks out with Kamiyu saying Kiryu wanted to win herself.
And she pats her on the shoulder kinda emphasizing where 自分 is pointing there
The transcript for the next chunk sounds kind of different to what she said in the video to me, which combined with a stumble or two on her part, and the other two’s reactions after it (Kiryu’s just like “…ありがとう!”) makes me think that maybe her thought didn’t come out 100% well, but it seems like the gist is roughly she’s saying she helped by watching over while Kiryu won because she saw the fire in Kiryu’s eyes (sure).
For a bit there I thought the “最後は荒井ちゃんを前に顔つきが変わるなって見てたから” part was maybe referring to Arai’s rather confident and haughty change in expression at the beginning of the match when she took careful watch of Akai and emulated her action - since that was something Kamiyu definitely saw and reacted to (when it seemed like at the end of the match Kiryu’s expression wasn’t particularly different and Kamiyu wasn’t really looking at all), and since the particles seem odd with that 荒井ちゃんを… but honestly my best guess is the transcriber got tripped up a bit (which is fair) or clarified the sentence in a way I’m not seeing (which is fair too - one way they did clean it up is they removed a 自分 later in the sentence where Kamiyu was talking about herself and not Kiryu like before) because the original audio sounds more straightforwardly to me in line with what you said in your attempt.
I think again, she’s probably just lightly talking up her control of the situation in a Kamiyu-ish way. And the sentence sorta starting about Kiryu and ending up being about Kamiyu I suppose reflects that .
These are tweaked too for some reason (I assume to clarify them in print in some way) but yeah, you have the literal meaning.
The tone is like –
“気合入れてたからね!” nod
“そういうこと!!” nod nod “そういうことなのよ…”
It’s like – pep. Like “Because you gave it your all!!” “Yeah!! Yeah!..” (tiredly leads into Haruna talking)
(and to be clear the 気合入れてた connects to the thing about the hair with the から - Kiryu’s offering it as a somewhat nonsensical reason that Kiryu’s hair was Toyo blue)
I don’t really have an opinion about the expression since it doesn’t ring a bell and I can’t really make it out in the video, but “uplift” seems pretty good considering she literally does lift up Kiryu at that part and gesticulate with her arm like a puppet!
(I’ll try to help with the rest tomorrow!)
Could be wrong about these, but I think the “でも、言っても真弥選手なんて（荒井に）割と最近も当たったよね？” is just saying that recently Mahiro’s been succeeding more / firing on all cylinders more (that part I changed my mind about based on how 当たった was used in Yuka’s promo), and the “（荒井に）” is saying like – she said this part TO Arai (and Arai nodded).
The latter parts I think might be another area where the text doesn’t quite gel like it would if it were a fully composed written text.
I think what’s happening with this part:
“挑戦してきて、私たちに敵わなくて。今日挑戦してきたことを謝らないようにしてほしいなって思います。”
is she’s forming the thought one way, and has 敵わなくて open to tack more clauses on, but then the way she says 今日ね a bit abruptly and with a little head shake sounds to me like she interrupts that first formation of the train of thought and replaces it with another.
For this part the video still wins out! She pats Arai on the leg and says specifically “Yuki-chan” is who she’s talking about here.
I would put this one more clearly like this:
いっぱいいっぱいながらもXを全部出し切ったと思うので。
Like - “even there were a whole whole lot of them, I used up all of X”
Then the X - 自分のやりたいことというか、用意した武器 is her referring to them as the things she wanted to do, or rather, the weapons she prepared.
One thing I’d say is the many けど’s here in this part aren’t really like a connective grammary English “X but Y” and more like, uncertain/unconfident flavor for what she’s saying. This tofugu article may be a relevant reference.
Hard to describe exactly, but the ‘buts’ in your English rendition sound a bit odd since they don’t always fit together that they would normally with “but” since the sentences just support each other fine without the “buts.” They’re in there in the original because she’s beaten and shaken and frustrated so instead of say, ending thoughts with よ or ね they’re ended with けど as though each is ended with an unspoken follow-on to the “but” like “… I should have done better” or “… I’m just making excuses” or “… I’m not sure” or that kind of thing.
I think more this whole thing: “今日未詩と闘って…ユカちゃんも勝って私も決勝でユカちゃんと闘う” was her つもり. She intended/expected to fight Miu and for both Yuka and herself to win, and so then fight Yuka in the finals.
I would say the meaning is along the lines of “Even if Yuka-chan attacks her with everything, I was struck fighting her by just how much Miu was able to absorb in the end (so she might be able to absorb Yuka’s attacks too).”
Seems fine to me!
“Breaks into tears” might be over-stating it though – she wells up / chokes up but remains composed.
I think I would phrase it more like “although I’m the one who advanced, … when fighting them in a tournament they’re more ガシガシ than usual, or they showed extraordinary guts” - like, the tournament draws out side of them.
I think the “当たった子” is just - the girl you’re coming up against in the tournament, and トーナメントで当たるとより is like, “when facing them in the tournament, they’re more … (than when not in the tournament)”
That’s all fine I think! I’d maybe go with “but, wow!” or something like that maybe for “けど、なんでしょう” but it’s not a huge deal since it doesn’t really convey any concrete information anyway!
週刊プロレス No.２１９６ (from a few weeks ago, around the start of the 5 Star GP)
Giulia’s column is about Thekla missing the 5 Star GP and how it’s rough for her and a bittersweet opportunity for Momo Kohgo. One point she makes from her own experience dropping out of the tournament last year, is that an especially rough factor psychologically is not having a set daily routine while out injured since your regular obligations are taken away and no one’s supervising you to make sure you replace them in a healthy way. And resting itself takes energy - “「休む」「体を癒やす」ってのもエネルギー使うしね。”
Kenoh talks about regional shows and when asked says the region he would want to take a show is Okinawa. The interviewer insinuates (how dare he!) Kenoh just wants an excuse to visit Okinawa…
Looks like Keiji Mutoh was in an odd match in Dragon Gate.
Apparently for an Ultimo Dragon 35th anniversary show, このまま市川 was announced to fight a mystery opponent… that turned out to be the real Keiji Mutoh! I imagine that was a nice surprise for the crowd… I assume this doesn’t count towards his retirement countdown…
The costume column is about Hikaru Shida with a very cool entirely self-made Dr. Strange-inspired gear! Complete with Eye of Agamotto! Apparently she used her dad’s 3D printer for some parts including the amulet, and she likes the movie (and ベネディクト・カンバーバッチ a lot). The 和柄 Dr. Strange cape is very cool.
Now the special thanks under the copyright for the WWE column says “Special Thanks to WWE, Ms. Stephanie McMahon and Mr. Paul Levesque”
Hideki Suzuki’s column is about his N-1 Victory participation, and it sounds like what he’s interested in most is the opportunity to wrestle new opponents he’s never wrestled before, so he hopes Nakajima doesn’t make it through the other block since he’s wrestled him plenty recently.
The industry column talks with Rossy Ogawa about Stardom as the 5 Star GP gets underway. Mostly topics we’ve already heard about like the 5x growth, and the New Blood and Showcase brands. He says that this isn’t (yet) a “boom” like the joshi wrestling boom in the 80s (that he was around in the industry for), but the goal isn’t a boom anyway since booms don’t last. He makes the point that the Bushi Road guy was talking up the 5x growth, but that just means as a media corporation surely they’ll be expecting continued big growth in the future as well, so his and Stardom’s goal is to prepare for sustainable, sustained growth that’s safe from unexpected eventualities. And with growth comes more logistics, so it sounds his attention is as much or more on prudent behind-the-scenes logistical upgrades than public-facing creative decisions, like they got a new tour bus, stuff like that.
Honestly - a very sparse issue from my perspective, probably since the promotions I follow are all busy with tournaments!
Here’s a couple Stardom pictures to make up for the gap a little bit.
Finished translating the August 14 TJPW Korakuen show! This one has significantly less dialogue to translate than the last one! Here’s the recap for posterity.
The show opened with the Up Up Girls introducing a new member: Shino, who is a former bus guide! I thought it was funny that they introduced the new member on this show, considering rodan’s original prediction. Unfortunately for poor Miu, you were only half right…
They talk a little more with Shino backstage:
Miu: “So, we have held the audition and chosen a new Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) member! Please formally introduce yourself.”
Shino: “I’m Shino, 24 years old, from Shizuoka Prefecture. Nice to meet you!”
Miu: “Wonderful greeting right off the bat, well done. As a former bus guide, do you think you can make use of this experience as a wrestler?”
Shino answered: “生かしていきたいなーとは思ってるんですけど、ちょっと…控えめでいろってバスガイドの時は言われていたので。逆にその反動を使って、うまくプロレスでは爆発させられたらなと思っています.”
I wasn’t 100% sure about this, but here’s what I had:
Shino: “I want to put it to good use, but I was told to be a bit… reserved as a bus guide. So I hope I can do the opposite of that and have an explosive presence in pro wrestling!”
Miu: “Your target idol and pro wrestler are Oda-san and Nakajima-san.”
Shino elaborates on this: “初めて試合を生で見た時、中島翔子さんのベルトを懸けた試合で。その試合がものすごく記憶に残って、知識のない私の記憶に一番に残った選手っていうのがあったので憧れに挙げさせていただきました。大変だとは思うんですけど、目標にして一生懸命これから頑張っていきたいなと思います.”
That second sentence was a little tricky for me. Here’s what I had:
Shino: “The first time I saw a match live, it was for the belt that Shoko-san has. That match left a deep impression on me, and she was the wrestler I kept thinking about the most even though I didn’t know anything about wrestling, so I’m naming her as the wrestler I admire. I know it’ll be tough, but I’m going to make that my goal and do my best to work as hard as I can.”
I thought it was neat that the Shoko match that won her over was the same match that got you invested in Shoko, rodan!
Then Miu asked if the others had any questions, and Hikari said: “さっき聞いたから（笑）”. I translated this as “I just asked it! (laughs)”, but wasn’t quite sure. I think she’s referring to the fact that she asked Shino in the ring if she liked deathmatches.
Miu says: “やめてね？ あまり悪影響を与えないように（笑）。あらためて４人でアップアップガールズ（プロレス）にこれからなっていくので、みなさん応援よろしくお願いします！”
I think with that last line, she’s referring to the fact that the Up Up Girls have four members again?
Miu: “Don’t you dare. Don’t be a bad influence on her (laughs). Once again, the Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) is going to have four members from this point on, so everyone, please support us!”
The second part of their comments starts with:
(How did it feel to stand in front of TJPW fans for the first time?)
Shino: “Seeing the penlights and the applause, it felt like such a warm atmosphere. I feel like I don’t seem like someone who’d do wrestling, based on how I look (laughs), but the fact that they still welcomed me with applause, that’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life…”
(When you were a bus guide, where did you work?)
“I worked for three years, mainly in the Kanto area.”
I got a little confused starting from this question:
（今度はプロレスラーとしてそういったことも？）そうですね。いろいろ地方興行もされてると思うので、その時は私が図々しくみなさんを案内できればなと思っています。（４人でやってみたいプロレス、曲は？）なんでもありな遊園地みたいな興行？
Here was my attempt:
(Now as a pro wrestler, do you do that sort of thing as well?”
“Well, I think we’ll do shows in various places, so on those occasions, I think I’ll be able to boldly guide everyone around.”
(As a group, what kind of wrestling or song would you like to perform?)
“A show at an amusement park where anything goes?”
Miu gives her own answer for that last question:
そもそも私たち４年近く単独ライブをやってないじゃないですか。なので４人としてあらためてスタートするので、単独ライブだったりプロレスもあるライブだったり、ライブだけのライブだったり。もっとアイドルとしての活動の場も広げていきたいなって個人的には思っています
That second sentence was a little bit confusing . Here’s what I had:
Miu: “To begin with, we haven’t had a solo live concert in nearly four years. Since we’re starting anew with four members, we’ll have some solo performances, some performances with wrestling as well, and some concerts with just music. Personally, I would like to expand my activities as an idol.”
The first match with comments is Max the Impaler & Yuki Aino vs Shoko and Rika. Extremely fun match that made me really want to see Max get a singles match with Shoko, haha. TJPW has actually already announced that Max will be coming back for Wrestle Princess III in October, which I’m really looking forward to.
Backstage, Shoko and Rika said:
Tatsumi: “They had way too much power.”
Nakajima: “I only found out the day before that I was going to fight the Impaler. But Rika is kind of a monster, too.”
Then Rika said: “こっちも大怪獣がついてくれてたから！” This one was a little tricky, but I think she basically said: “Coming from the Big Kaiju over here!” ?
There was an exchange that went like this:
Nakajima: “It felt like with the two of us, we could manage somehow. Even though I was scared, I still had some fun, despite being in a bit of a pinch.”
Tatsumi: “I hope they come to Japan again.”
Tatsumi: “Come anytime!”
Tatsumi: “I’ll be waiting for you, Impaler-chan. We’re friends!”
Nakajima: “Friends!?”
Tatsumi: “We’re friends now that we’ve had a match together!”
Nakajima: “Be friends!”
(Is that power really something that you have never experienced before?)
“It really is.”
Tatsumi: “It blows me away.”
Then Shoko said: “あんなに軽々上げられることがないので、うちのパワークラスもね。あんなに軽々と猫を持ち上げるようにはなかったのでびびりました.”
I think I understood the meaning of this, maybe? But translating it was a little tricky. Here was my attempt, followed by the rest of the exchange:
Nakajima: “I’ve never had someone lift me that easily, because we don’t have anyone of that power level. It wasn’t like they were lifting someone as light as Neko, so that made me nervous.”
Tatsumi: “We made it back alive; we protected peace on earth!”
(Next, do you want to beat the Impaler?)
Nakajima: “Of course.”
Tatsumi: “I want to do it if I get the chance.”
Nakajima: “Maybe we could fight overseas, not just in Japan.”
Tatsumi: “I want to go worldwide!”
Max and Yuki’s comments were fun.
Yuki started out by saying:
センキューマックス、こんな強い人と組んでて負けたの本当に悔しいです。ああ、情けない。でも、コミュニケーション取れないかなと、難しいかなと思ってたけど、最初は。だけど、全然…まあ全然というほどじゃないけど（苦笑）、最後のほうはちょっとは通じ合えたんじゃないかなって思ってます。ねえマックス？
I think I did okay on the first half, but the second half was confusing . Here was my attempt, and the the rest of the exchange:
Aino: “Thank you, Max. I’m really disappointed that I lost when I was on a team with such a strong person. Oh, it’s pathetic. I thought it would be difficult, that we wouldn’t be able to communicate, at first. But it wasn’t entirely like that… well, not entirely (wry smile). At the end, I think we could’ve communicated a little better. Right, Max?”
The Impaler just growls.
Aino: “A super cool wrestler came, and that was super exciting for TJPW, and I learned so much. Thank you! The Big Kaiju and the Dragon were breaking some rules, huh? Big Kaiju and Dragon, very strong!”
The Impaler growls.
Aino: “But, Max is also very strong.”
The Impaler flexes their biceps.
And then the main event, Miu vs Yuka in the Tokyo Princess Cup finals… I really loved this match and was on the edge of my seat the entire time. I was so devastated to see Miu lose!
This result was, shall we say, a bit of a controversial one . It was, believe it or not, Yuka’s first time winning this tournament, so it’s not exactly an “Okada wins the G1” type of result, but it opened the pandora’s box of discourse among the western fandom re: TJPW’s booking style. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it, especially while spending so much time with the wrestlers’ words over the past couple weeks, but I think I’ll save that for its own post.
After Yuka wins, she says: “…夏に勝ったぞー！ ９回目のこのトーナメントで、メンバーが減ったり増えてるなかで、こんなにみんな強くなってて…めっちゃだるいけど、めっちゃ嬉しいです！ やべーよ、アイツ！ どんどん選手層も厚くなってて、一人一人がギラギラしてて。キラキラだけじゃない東京女子も見てもらえたかなと思います.”
I actually had a bit of help with this because Mr. Haku did some live translation on twitter, so I fell back on his translations to double check tone and overall meaning. That was especially helpful for something like “やべーよ、アイツ！”, which I pulled his translation for directly.
Here’s my attempt for the above part:
Sakazaki: “I surpassed summer! This is my 9th time doing this tournament. Members have come and gone, but overall the roster has gotten so much stronger… It’s lame, but I’m so happy! Holy shit, Miu was so tough! The bracket just keeps getting tougher and tougher, and everyone is shining. I hope you were able to see a side of TJPW that isn’t just sparkles."
Then Yuka said: “夏に嫌われ続けた女がこうやって新しいトロフィー…ちょっとピンクで気にくわないけど、でもこんなトロフィーが私の中にあって、とっても嬉しいです（涙）。でも今回のトーナメントで結果私以外は悔しい思いをしたみんながいて。トーナメントに９回出てる山下とか中島が負けてる姿を見て、私の中でもなんか変わるものがあって。すごい、このトーナメント中に心が揺さぶられました.”
The main line that confused me was: “でも今回のトーナメントで結果私以外は悔しい思いをしたみんながいて.” Mr. Haku translated it (on the fly) as: “but everyone else in the tournament holds a certain level of frustration.” But it seemed to me like Yuka was maybe being more general with みんな than just referring to the other TJPW members? I dunno. Here was my attempt:
“The woman who hated summer got the new trophy. The pink makes me a little bit sick, but having a trophy like this, it makes me so happy (cries). But everyone was frustrated over the results of this tournament except for me. Yamashita and Nakajima have participated in this tournament nine times, and when I saw them lose, something changed inside of me.”
This whole next part was tricky, haha : “感情がぐしゃぐしゃになって…なんて言えばいいのかな（涙）。私は東京女子のお姉ちゃんだからみんなに頑張ってもらいたいし、みんなのいいとこをもっと知ってもらいたいし、みんな頑張ってる姿を見てもらいたいって思ってるけど。いじわるばっかりして、でも私だって応援されたくって、いろんな感情になったけど…”
My attempt:
“My feelings are so messy… what can I say (cries). I am the big sister in TJPW, so I want everyone to do their best, and discover their strengths, and I want everyone to see how hard they’re working. I’m always mean, but I want to be cheered, too, and I have so many emotions…”
Then Yuka finishes with:
"but I have this gross pink trophy, so I guess I’m good now! Okay, I’ve surpassed the summer, so does that mean I get to challenge again for that white belt? Shoko, I’ve already challenged once, but can I do it one more time? Please? Can you come out?”
Shoko enters the ring, and she says: “調子狂うから（笑）そんな風に、そういう顔されると.”
I wasn’t quite sure about it, but here’s how I translated it, plus the rest of the exchange that followed:
Nakajima: “When you make a face like that, it drives me crazy (laughs).”
Sakazaki: “Sorry!”
Nakajima: “When I beat you at Cyberfight Fest, I thought that this time, I would definitely stand at the top of TJPW and lead everyone. But I lost the tournament… I lost because I was weak. You faced the same adversity but managed to win. I beat you once, but facing you always gives me courage, and you always encourage me to do better. It was very painful to watch, but you showed all of your preparation and pride from the past nine years, all of it. I, from my end, would like to fight you one more time, with the belt on the line.”
Sakazaki: “Thank you.”
Nakajima: “October 9, TDC Hall, please have a championship match with me once again!”
They both bow, then shake hands and embrace. Nakajima leaves the ring.
Sakazaki: “Okay, now that the championship match with Shoko-ta has been set, I have my new goal. Yeah. Now that I’ve conquered summer, I’m going to conquer winter, too. TJPW is going to keep marching on, and everyone is going to do their best, so please follow us!”
She closed out the show with, “Let’s go! Enjoy! Oh!”
Backstage, Yuka said:
Sakazaki: “Well, I’m really glad that I could finally conquer summer. Last year, I couldn’t participate, and that was partially my fault, but this time, I finally surpassed summer, and my bonds with the TJPW members have deepened.”
The interviewer asked: “１回戦から厳しさが目立っていました.” I had a little trouble deciding on a translation for 厳しさ. I think that quality is what a lot of the fans were noticing in Yuka’s last three tournament matches, and it was sort of Yuka, well, deciding to play the villain a bit, I guess. She was trying to make herself into an immovable wall to keep the younger wrestlers in their place, for at least a little while longer. It was interesting to me that they directly asked her about it.
Yuka answered the question by basically giving her evaluation of all of the younger wrestlers she faced. Lots of lines in this I wasn’t quite sure about .
For Kaya, she said: “鳥喰もハイフライヤーなんですけど、どこか自分自身を出せてないのかなって部分があって。私と試合することによって何かつかんでくれたらいいなって気がして…１試合１試合で聞いてるような。『どうしたいの？』って聞いてるような試合だったかなとは思うんですけど.”
Here was my attempt:
“Toribami is also a high flyer, but there’s a part of her that I feel like she’s not able to show. I hope that she can get something through her matches with me… like I’m asking her that in every single match. I think the match was asking, ‘How do you want to do it?’"
Here was her evaluation of Hikari: “ヒカリに関しては新しいサブミッションだったりとか、たぶん本人は言ってないと思うんですけど、グラップリングとか柔術とかもやってるのかなっていう気はするので。そういう部分でもっと伸びて、変わろうって気があったので。優しいので、どこか打撃とかも何回も打てばいいのにって気はしてて。外れてしまったら外れてしまったで、何回でも何回でも相手に効くまで打てばいいので。そういう部分で、もっとおいで、もっとおいでって思ってた試合ではありました.”
I was most confused by the 優しい line, and basically everything that followed after that. Here was my attempt:
"As far as Hikari is concerned, I think she has been doing some new submissions, and although she might not have said it, some grappling and jujitsu. It felt like she wanted to make progress and change in those sorts of areas. She’s gentle, so I felt like her blows could hit me over and over again. If they miss, then they miss; you should just hit your opponent over and over again until it works. In that part of the match, I was thinking, ‘c’mon, c’mon, more, more!’”
Then she talks about Suzume: “鈴芽に関しては、もう来なくていいのにってくらいガツガツきてて。いまこの夏に乗ろう、自分の波を作ろうっていう気があったのかなって.”
I wasn’t quite sure about ガツガツ or the second sentence, haha. Here was my best shot:
“As for Suzume, although she wasn’t able to make it yet, she’s becoming so hungry for it. It felt like she wanted to ride the summer and make her own waves."
Here’s her evaluation of Miu: “今日の未詩に関しては中島、山下を超えてきたって自信が伝わってきたのですごいやりにくかったですけど、でも肌を合わせてるとそれも嬉しくて。でも痛いし、力強いし。すごいヘロヘロになったけど最後は東京女子での姉ちゃんとしての威厳と言うか。ここで負けたらダメだろ、ここで私が食い止めないと…って気持ちがあったので。今回の試合で私もすごい、自分の中で心情的にも精神的にもつかめたものがあったので。すごい財産な年ですね、今年は.”
Just a lot of stuff I wasn’t fully confident on (including whether “ここで負けたらダメだろ、ここで私が食い止めないと” was about Miu specifically or about the younger generation as a whole…). Here was my attempt:
"And for Miu today, her confidence over having surpassed Nakajima and Yamashita came through, so she was very difficult to fight, but I was also happy to link up with her. But she was powerful, and it was so painful. I was utterly exhausted, but in the end, it was something like my dignity as an older sister in TJPW. I thought, ‘I can’t lose here, I have to hold them off here…’ In this match, there was something I was able to grasp mentally and emotionally from within myself. This year has been a great asset for me.”
The second part of Yuka’s comments is thankfully much more straightforward! She says:
(You find the trophy’s color to be displeasing?)
“Yes, I do. It was silver when they were making it. But when I took my eyes off of it for just one second, it turned pink. Why pink? I was a little bummed. But I was still happy to get it, though.”
(About challenging Nakajima)
“As for TDC, I had a match with Mizuki, and now I’m going to have another bout with Shoko Nakajima. TDC… I think it’s a turning point for me. As we head there this time, I intend to get that white belt from Shoko Nakajima!”
(I do wonder a little bit if Yuka keeps referring to it as a “white belt” on purpose just to troll a little )
I think Miu’s comment was pretty straightforward? The only line that confused me a bit was: “でも、私は悔しくなった数だけ、涙を流した数だけ、それ以上に努力して、また先輩たちの壁を追いかけるだけなので,” mostly because I felt like I more or less understood the Japanese, but had a little difficulty conveying the same meaning in English.
Miu: (With tears streaming down her face) “I lost in the finals… I’m really frustrated, but Yuka-san was truly strong and was too large, too high of a wall that I was unable to surmount. But as many times as I’ve been frustrated, as many times as I’ve cried, I just have to keep working hard and chase after the wall that is my senpais once again. From here, I will chase after them and catch up with them again. Someday, I will win, no, next year I will win. I’m going to try my best to become even stronger, and a more worthy wrestler, like the three senpais I faced this year. To everyone who gave me so much support this time, please continue to cheer for me.”
The next part of her comment starts:
(From your point of view, how was this summer?)
“It was more than sufficient. Truly, this timing, I’m so happy to be able to have matches with the three founding members of the company, in the ninth year of this tournament. I’m so, so happy. But it was also a great ordeal."
Then she says: “２日間メインイベントでめちゃくちゃ緊張したんですけど、やっぱりメインとして普段の先輩たちみたいにちゃんとした試合をして勝ってっていうのを決めてたんですけど…”
Got a little bit tripped up by this sentence, but I think I figured it out? Maybe? Here was the rest:
"Being in the main event two days in a row, I was ridiculously nervous, but I was determined to have great matches with my senpais who are used to being in the main event, and win like they do, but… Well, it was a really intense summer. It’ll probably be a summer I’ll never forget… But I want to make next summer even more intense and win the tournament!”
And finally, Shoko’s comment! She started with:
Nakajima: “I’ll be putting my belt on the line against Yuka Sakazaki in a title match one more time, at October 9 at TDC Hall. I was eliminated in the tournament. So I had a lot to think about."
Then she said: “やっぱり、ちょくちょく口にしてしまったんですけど、後輩たちに対する期待感というか。ファンのみなさんの勝ち上がってほしいという期待感を自分の後輩たちに向ければ向けるほど、また負けることを期待されてるなって思ってしまって.”
I struggled over this sentence for a long time . Here is what I puzzled out, plus what followed after it:
"It’s often said, but there are a lot of expectations for my juniors, or rather there was a sense that all of the fans wanted her to win, and the more they turned toward my juniors, the more it felt like they were expecting me to lose again. That doesn’t mean I was weak, but there were times where I felt like giving in to my weakness. But Yuka Sakazaki fought to the end and won after fighting with nine years of resolve and pride, and that really gave me courage. "
Shoko finished with: “情けないなとも思って…でも、こんな私でも『もう１回やろ』って言ってくれるなら、私は同じくらいの覚悟とプライドを懸けて、キャリアのすべてを懸けて、もう一度闘いたいと思いました.”
I wasn’t confident on this either, but here’s what I had:
“I felt ashamed… but if she could say ‘let’s do it one more time’ when I was in this state, then I could put on that same resolution and pride, put my whole career into it, and fight her one more time.”
And that’s everything for that show! Didn’t quite finish it in time for the next one, but I got close!
A nuance I missed while watching initially is that Shoko felt like she wanted to ask Yuka to challenge her (instead of approaching it as Yuka having earned the right to challenge), because Yuka managed to beat the threat that Shoko couldn’t. It sort of restored Shoko’s faith in herself because it showed that their generation is still standing tall (for now…).
Also, Yuka made the front cover of shupro after winning the tournament! I love seeing joshi wrestlers make the cover, and it makes me especially happy when TJPW does, because that only started happening recently (last year, I believe).
There was also a special extra feature on Yuka in the back, for having made the cover. I didn’t really have the time to attempt to properly read it, but I couldn’t resist skimming it, and it was interesting to me because it seemed to touch on a lot of topics, including TJPW’s generation struggle and their overall booking strategy (in a very kayfabed way, of course), which have been hot-button discourse topics among western fans lately, haha.
It’ll be interesting to see what you think when you get to that issue, rodan! I’ll save the rest of my thoughts for another post .
Ah, but I said it was unlikely so I got to smug both when it looked like it would happen and when it ultimately didn’t!
I think this is fine, but the nuance that ties it together is that the 反動 isn’t like, the opposite, but like, the recoil. She’s saying like, she hopes she’ll be able to use the built up tension from having to be reserved as a bus driver, to be let loose in pro wrestling.
For this part, something I’d note is that I guess while Miu doesn’t technically ask a question here (just prompts her a little to comment) – she’s asking Shino to elaborate about something she said in the ring when introducing herself, when she said what kind of wrestler she wanted to be and then said “憧れの選手は中島翔子” and similarly cited Oda as an idol she looked up to.
Miu raises the subject sorta parroting the introductory rhythm those two names were mentioned, and they laugh – it’s got a very like, “this is the fun fact I was told to provide on move-in day at college and now I’m getting grilled on it” kind of vibe to me
Which is just to say I guess that in the English transcript adding a "You said that [ X ]…? " might be good to make it clear what’s happening.
With that context, this is definitely a nitpick since it means more-or-less the same thing, but I would say this alternate rendition is closer to the original tone:
“That match stands out a lot in my memory, and since there was one wrestler who stood out the most vividly to my uninitiated eyes, I listed her as the wrestler I look up to.”
The original doesn’t imply to me the deep, active impact the way “deep impression” and “I kept thinking about the most” do to some extent. And similarly the past-tense of 憧れに挙げさせていただきました means she’s talking about when she said it in-ring.
I’d say there’s an aspirational element to 憧れ in this introducing-her-to-us context where the choice is asking as much about what kind of wrestler Shino wants to be as who she admires (so that’s the sense that informs the transition to her last sentence here about working to that goal) – 憧れる might be one of those words that’s a little hard to get the exact right analog for in English sometimes. I know it’s one I’ve occasionally taken to dropping into English sentences because of that…
Not quite! For me it was Grand Princess when she won it, but for Shino she said in-ring that the first wrestling show she saw was actually 05/03 of this year in Korakuen, so it was Misao’s title shot!
I got the impression she didn’t follow wrestling at all before applying (having done so from more the “idol otaku” direction), and went (or got taken?) to that show to see what it was like because she was far along in the process at that point. But she said she was impressed and she got wrapped up in the show and wanted to do pro wrestling from it! Answering job interview-style questions seems stressful enough without it being on stage too! But she seems really good at providing good job interviewee style answers
Minor language point since I’m already talking about it – It’s entirely possible you were characterizing that korakuen hall match as when I got invested in Shoko Nakajima (which is completely fair! ), but just in case you were talking about Grand Princess, I would say that “中島翔子さんのベルトを懸けた試合” sounds to me like “a match where Shoko Nakajima-san’s belt was on the line” – like, it sounds as a phrase more like a title defense match where she went in as champion than where she challenged for it (even if it could maybe technically apply to the latter too.)
(but either way yes, when she mentioned Nakajima and a match I’d seen and remember too I thought it was neat and was on her side haha)
Yep, definitely!
(She responded in-ring that she watched a Hikari deathmatch on youtube and thought “気持ちいいな!” and said if there was a possibility of Hikari being willing to train her, perhaps…)
After googling to check if that was ever the case, I agree!
A really minor nitpick / context tidbit is when she says 見た目, she gestures and looks downward from the t-shirt down, so I would say it’s more like, generically “judging by appearances” or talking specifically about how she would come across at the moment in that particular outfit. “how I look” sounds a little more like based on her inherent looks/facial features than the original does to me.
I feel like there’s a decent chance the Japanese transcriber was working off the video and the same bad audio for the non-mic’d reports as me, and that the original question was more like “so next time you’re in that area it’ll be as a pro wrestler, right?”
I feel like I hear a ところ more than a こと… and
“Where did you work as a bus guide?” → “So what’ll it be like going to those places now as a wrestler?”
makes waaaaayy more sense to me as clear follow-up question and train of thought than
“Where did you work as a bus guide?” → “So are you going to be doing that sort of thing as a pro wrestler?”
But who knows!
Just a context note here – the other wrestlers cheer when she says this, so she’s talking about like, guiding the other wrestlers around while touring 
I feel like this guy didn’t formulate his question super duper well because I mean, I can’t ever make out anything the reporters are saying, but this time it seems like everyone stands around for a bit confused trying to figure out how to answer whatever he’s asking about
and he clarifies, I think by saying 主催 and maybe プロデュース - I think what’s happening is he asked them like (maybe following a line of thought from the talent agency raising the possibility of like, all Up Up Girls shows and stuff), what kind of events they as a group would like to hold or produce, but they didn’t have a set answer because… they’re the performers? That’s not really their job?
So that’s why I think Raku gives a sort of empty whimsical answer before Miu shifts around the focus of the question by rephrasing it enough to successfully answer it.
With that context one thing to be careful about is I think the "だったり"s here are like, her providing answers to the question (of events she would like to hold) - “we’ll have some solo performances, some performances with wrestling as well, and some concerts with just music” makes it sound like a surer thing than examples offered to a hypothetical question, and might be one of those things twitter folks jump on and get turned around about
The literal is like – “yeah, but only because I also had a 大怪獣 with me!”
“大怪獣がついてくれてた” is like, “a Giant Kaiju was gracious enough to come along with me.”
So yes – she’s referring to Nakajima and her nickname (commentary also was constantly doing that with respect to her and Max both being 怪獣)
Typo! Nakajima said the middle one 
This one seems like it could use an English tweak – it sounds in yours here like he’s maybe asking about the power of friendship
In the original, the topic broach of “パワーは、” signals the topic change better.
I’m pretty sure the 猫 part is like, a real cat 
I got tripped up a bit looking at the transcript too, but I’m pretty confident now about what’s going on here, and here’s what I think:
She’s excited and talking pretty quick and getting a bit of a clause traffic jam, but the idea she’s communicating is: “I’ve never been picked up so effortlessly – it was like I was a cat Max was picking up! – I was shocked!”
So the end of the sentence is:
びびりました, right?
Why’d she びびりました?
Well, two reasons:
I think the period in the transcript tricks you into thinking that it’s the full end of a thought like in English, but it’s not English, it’s a transcript of a person talking in Japanese so if you swap it out for a comma, I think the structure is clearer. It connects more with the following thought than the clause before.
But crucially, conceptually it works for both! so I’d speculate the transcriber understandably (as I did initially when reading the transcription and writing this) interpreted it as tacking on information to the preceding clause (like “I’ve never been shot – not even by Bob!”) when the only problem with that is then the なかった later on when she ties up her sentences’ loose ends is out of place! (sort of like – “I’ve never been shot! Not even by Bob has such a heinous attempt on my life been made!”)
It’s just one of those things you might not notice got tripped up since it means basically the same thing either way and periods don’t have quite as much stopping power so to speak in Japanese anyway… unless you’re trying to translate specifically the transcript, in which case it’s a sneaky source of understandable confusion!
Does that explanation make sense? I could be wrong, but I feel pretty confident about it! And it felt kinda neat when the pieces fell into place and I saw what was going on.
Was the original 苦笑?
Minor nitpick, but this seems more like a “pained laugh” to me:
It comes across to me like it’s mainly the pain of losing and the physical pain of the match that’s contributing the 苦 element here.
I think the catch here is that the 結果 alone like that particle-wise conveys like, “in the end”
Like, I think grammatically speaking it’s not the 結果 of the tournament that everyone is feeling 悔しい思い about, I think it’s that in this tournament, the end result is, everyone’s 悔しい思い except her.
With that + then her talking about the other participants who lost, I do lean towards Mr. Haku’s conceptualization of the みんな here being everyone in the tournament, but it might be one you can phrase similarly enough to her original to pass the interpretation buck on!
It doesn’t look like the translation for this part got pasted. Just mentioning in case it was overlooked in the translation!
Looks pretty good to me!
Minor maybe-nitpick not super sure comment, Since she’s addressing the crowd, I think the “みんな頑張ってる姿を見てもらいたい” and maybe the clause before it is maybe addressing them.
Also minor, but I think the いろんな感情になった is like, describing the conflicting emotions she’s been talking about - wanting others cheered, wanting herself cheered, being mean, etc.
I don’t really know how best to phrase it or put what I’m getting at into words, but “and I have so many emotion” makes it sound a little like a separate thing to me – like (description of a bunch of emotions), and I have a lot of emotions. When I think it’s more like, various emotions have welled up (like all those ones I just described), if that makes sense.
Another nitpick (apparently I’m picky today?) but the original sounds like もういいや! to me – and… I guess I don’t have a great alternative to offer, so I’m not sure what would be better, but the sense of the original is a bit… harsher? More forceful? to me.
Like, it’s a triumphal moment with crowd applause where she raises her conflicted feelings, then says like, but I won, so enough with all that!
Switching from talking about the conflicted emotions of the moment to basking in the moment that she won, with a half-serious but sincere like, verbal desk clearing to cut the emotional tension.
I guess the point to make is in もういい, it’s もういい in the sense of like – that’s enough already, drop it / let’s make a change, that kind of thing, not いい in the sense of, I’m fine!
Some video context here is that Shoko enters ringside maintaining a serious face, breaks into a little nervous laughter when Yuka asks for her to be provided with a microphone, and then Shoko forgets to turn on the microphone and makes this face right before saying all that:
So I believe that’s why the から is in there in “調子狂うから” like “(if it seems flustered) it’s because I’m flustered!” and so in a sense she’s kayfabing why she’s corpsing
The 顔 される’ing her would I suppose just be teary-eyed Yuka.
“drives me crazy” makes me think more like “getting worked up” whereas this feels more to me like “getting all out of sorts” – Nakajima seems definitively on the shy side (at least as far as pro-wrestlers go…), so “I’m nervous and it’s your fault for looking at me” is a valid complaint…
For some reason (time? Relevancy to the day’s match?) the twitter version cuts directly from the answer to the previous question to her talking about Miu.
I would say the どこか自分自身を出せて part isn’t so much about 出せて’ing a どこか of your 自分自身, but more like, 出せて’ing your 自分自身 どこか, if that makes sense.
Like, Yuka’s wondering if there’s room for Toribami to show more of herself and her personal flair in some way. That lines up with the 『どうしたいの？』 question - her matches are trying to draw that out of Toribami, to help her find her personal style.
Not that much more but I will have to pick up the rest later!
Thank you! I did miss that sentence! Does “My spirit was so shaken during this tournament” sound about right?
That one actually came from Mr. Haku, too! Though of course, he’s translating on the fly (and trying to compress it into a single tweet), and also could have misheard, haha. His translation for this part was: “I’m the big sister here so I want everyone to do well and I want people to see our roster members do well, but at the same time I want to do well too… it’s really complex BUT I GUESS I’M GOOD BECAUSE I HAVE THE TROPHY.”
Maybe what mine lacks is the capslock? ahaha
Thanks again for all of your help!
This year’s TPC inspired some, uh, very heated discourse on twitter. It started with Yuka vs Hikari, then reached nuclear levels when Yuka beat Miu 
. It’s really frustrating to read for a lot of reasons, and I tried to stay away from it, but the consequence of translating this stuff is that you end up kind of marinating in the emotions of the shows a lot…
So, uh, here’s a post?
Something that bugs me about a lot of TJPW discourse in western fandom is that people get really upset over TJPW’s singles title scene being (at least in the present day) heavily dominated by three wrestlers: Yuka, Shoko, and Miyu. It’s a frustrating criticism to me because 1) all three of those wrestlers are really, really good and deserve the title reigns that they got, and 2) men’s wrestling promotions in Japan have had a similarly restricted title scene since the beginning of time??
Like, I started watching NJPW at what is generally considered the tail end of their peak, in 2019, before things went sort of sideways. At the time, it was just generally accepted that NJPW would only give their top title to a small pool of guys (there was about four of them at any given time). One of those guys would be the G1 winner, and the Wrestle Kingdom main would be a match between him and another one of their so-called “pillars”. And, yeah, that was how it went! And this was considered generally great booking!
From my understanding, AJPW and other companies have had very similar booking to TJPW’s style. I’ve heard it referred to as “dojo style” booking, though I have no knowledge of my own to really back this up, haha.
So I guess my question here is why is it considered uniquely bad for TJPW to book their top, most experienced wrestlers, who are in the prime of their career, very strongly? Why can men’s wrestling do this and it’s fine, but not a joshi company?
Obviously it’s a very different approach to the one that Stardom takes, where outsiders are frequently given huge opportunities and lengthy title reigns without having to come up in their dojo system. And I’m glad that other companies are out there doing different stuff so that there’s some diversity, but personally Stardom’s booking style has a habit of frequently ripping the rug out from under me because things change so often there (especially the tag teams… ). I tried to watch Stardom for a solid two years, and their booking kept bouncing off of me because it felt like it was punishing my investment in tag teams .
I guess maybe I’m just someone who prefers stuff to be on a much longer term scale. Which shouldn’t be a surprise, considering the fact that the thing that got me into wrestling in the first place was a decade plus long story, which I have been faithfully waiting to resume for 3+ years now.
So I really like stories that are slower moving, but which reward your investment the longer you follow them. And TJPW’s booking style is great for this! The growth of the characters and their relationships often happens in small, subtle moments that accumulate over time, but nothing ever really gets forgotten. People sometimes accuse their stories of being static, but I think there are loads of narrative details happening at all times that are just getting overlooked.
And the climb to the top is a very, very long one. Rika only just won the Princess of Princess belt for the first time in 2021. Even Shoko is only on her second reign, despite how long she’s been with the company. Her first was in 2019.
Mizuki, Maki Itoh, and Miu are all on their way there. But TJPW is a company where storylines play out over many years. Their pacing is much more akin to the Japanese men’s wrestling companies I watch (with the exception of NOAH, which makes utterly inexplicable booking decisions…). You have to adjust the timeframe a little due to the relative newness of TJPW as a company, but expect these things to still take several years.
Which I guess brings me to this year. I think Shoko actually set this up really well right before she won the title, though I don’t think I really noticed at the time. She mentioned being afraid of basically losing her place because the competition from the younger members is getting tougher, and so she challenged for the belt with the feeling that it would be the last time she’d ever get to hold it and main event all of those big shows.
She also said that with her reign, that was the start of chapter two of TJPW.
And, well… chapter two is essentially sowing the seeds for Shoko, Yuka, and Miyu’s own destruction. The end of chapter one was establishing them at the top, and now we’re seeing the end of their era looming over the promotion.
It’s an interesting story because it’s sort of a tragedy but a hopeful story at the same time. It’s really inspiring and hopeful to see the younger generation really succeed and thrive, but it’s a tragedy for Shoko, Yuka, and Miyu (who I’m sure will continue to be prominently involved, but won’t have such a monopoly over the top of the card).
The wrestlers themselves have talked about this over and over. Yuka, Shoko, and Miyu all feel super conflicted over it. They want their juniors to succeed, but at the same time, they’re scared and desperate, willing to do just about anything to hold onto their power while they still can. Yuka and Shoko were so extremely shaken by Miu’s performance in the TPC, because she’s their worst fear manifesting right before their eyes.
But Yuka winning means they can hold on for a little longer. That’s why both Yuka and Shoko felt relieved and reassured by Yuka’s victory. Yuka vs Shoko for the title is familiar ground to them. Even if they lose to the other person, that’s not as scary, because it doesn’t portend the end of their era like losing to Miu would.
(Sidenote: I’m not a big fan of rematches, so I wasn’t the most excited for another Yuka vs Shoko match coming so soon after their last one, but I saw someone point out that they’ve only wrestled for this title twice before (once in November 2019 at DDT Ultimate Party, and then a couple months ago at CyberFest), and neither of those times were at an actual TJPW show. So maybe they deserve to have at least this one…)
None of this is really new analysis, I don’t think, for anyone who has been following their post match comments and interviews over the past year . But it’s frustrating to see other fans treating Miu losing to Yuka in the TPC as if it’s a sign of ~typical TJPW booking, where the “pillar” goes over the younger talent at the moment when it really counts 
~
For one thing, this TPC was actually very, very different from how the tournament typically goes. I can’t speak for the years before 2020, but I think that 1) it’s very telling that Yuka and Miyu, despite their reputation in the fandom, had never won it before, and 2) in 2020 and in 2021, it was very much set up to give a big feel-good victory to Mizuki and then to Itoh.
2022 was not like that! The first half of the tournament felt pretty typical to me, but then it all changed in the quarterfinals, which is when Suzume got her big upset victory, and then Miu pinned Shoko. From that moment on, it really felt to me that we’d suddenly entered unknown territory. There was this amazing sense of possibility, like anything could happen. Could Miu really pin all three of the so-called pillars just like that? In a row? It would be completely unprecedented.
Of course, at the end of the day, she couldn’t quite do it. She was almost there. And it was the first time I’ve seen the TPC have, well, a bad ending (not “bad” in the sense of bad writing, but bad in the sense of the good guy loses).
Overall, I think the whole thing will be one of those wrestling things that really sticks in my memory for a long time. I was utterly floored by how Miu had managed to get me so behind her here (after I was rather lukewarm when she won the tag tournament earlier this year ), and naturally I was devastated to see her lose. She got so close…
But she did get her message across (and Suzume, too). The generation struggle storyline is one that has been brewing quietly all year, but it has been a frustrating sticking point in the twitter discourse because lots of fans apparently haven’t noticed it or don’t really believe that it’s, like, the text of the story, or something.
Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m going crazy for seeing something that feels so obvious to me, but which is invisible to other people, but I have to remind myself that I quite literally had access to information that most western fans did not have, so of course it’s harder for others to notice or believe…
In any case, I feel pretty confident in saying that Miu’s legendary but ill-fated TPC run is just the beginning of the story. The generation struggle is not over.
And I think the, well, text bears me out here? When I looked at the piece at the back of the shupro issue where Yuka earned the cover, it was labeled: “世代闘争主題のトーナメントに東京の歴史あり自在独立路線を守るため新人育成はに意識.”
One of the pull quotes said: 「新しい選手が簡単にベルト挑戦できなかったり、歴史を重んじている」
And, yeah! That’s basically everything I just said summed up. I like the last part especially, 歴史を重んじている, saying that TJPW respects history, because I think that’s kind of the heart of long-term booking in general, and it shows that that’s an actual deliberate focus for the company.
The piece also appears to talk about TJPW’s evolution as a company. I feel like fans also forget this part, that they’re still fairly young, and only just now reaching the point where they can run Ryogoku Kokugikan on their own, and the like. Even in 2019, that was an impossible dream for them. They’re a promotion that quite literally started with the wrestlers wrestling on a mat in like bars (not unlike Prominence…).
I just think about Miyu tearing up because they have enough history to have a generation struggle now. This is truly only the beginning.
I guess one last note, I saw a little bit of discussion over the term “pillars”, which the fandom had been using for Yuka/Miyu/Shoko. As far as I can tell, this term did not originate at all from anything in the actual canon. Fans just took it from other wrestling and applied it here.
It has got me thinking about what term I would use to describe them, haha. From stuff that I’ve translated, the two possibilities that stand out to me are 看板 and 壁, which have both been applied to those wrestlers. I think 看板 is just an impossible concept to capture in English, unfortunately, so that one is out, but 壁 is used pretty frequently. I actually remember it from when Mr. Haku was still translating (which is why I made the decision to translate it literally as “wall”, because that’s what he did).
This is probably the deepest/most niche wrestling cut that I’ve shared here, but as soon as I thought about them as “walls,” my first thought was actually a metaphor that Hangman Adam Page had used to describe the Elite/AEW a few years ago (which sort of came up during his feud with CM Punk as well, when Hangman took offense at Punk basically trying to take credit for writing the blueprint for the walls that Hangman himself helped build).
He gave this monologue in Being The Elite that is still to this day just about the only media from and about the pandemic that I can tolerate watching. I highly recommend watching the whole thing, but I also transcribed it here.
Basically, the whole monologue weaves together the real person’s real anxieties/ethical conflicts concerning the pandemic and its affect on his career with the character’s anxieties and insecurities.
He employs a long extended metaphor that likens AEW to a house (“does momentum even exist in a house that’s empty?” is one of my favorite lines of all time from anything, ever). “Teaming up with a broom” refers to his tag team with Kenny, and he says: “And I feel like I might have been starting to… patch up the holes of the walls of the house. The walls that made the house what it was in the first place.”
At the time, there had been some conflict brewing between him and the rest of the Elite, so that line is referring to him patching up his relationship with the rest of the faction. I always thought it was interesting because it sort of equates the Elite with AEW itself. They make up the literal building that makes it what it is. It wouldn’t exist without them.
AEW has a set of wrestlers who are referred to as its “pillars,” (for better or for worse, the label has been canonized). But interestingly, to me at least, I only ever see the term used to refer to the next generation of wrestlers. It’s the future of the company. I can’t recall the Elite ever once getting referred to as the pillars of the company, even though they quite obviously have carried the company in many ways, and it would never have existed without them.
They’re not the pillars; they’re the walls. Someday, the walls won’t be there anymore, so the pillars will need to bear the weight, but the building wouldn’t exist in the first place without the walls.
And that’s how I think about Shoko, Miyu, and Yuka in TJPW, too. There was this line in the last set of comments, where Miu said: “この３人は私がここに来る前からめちゃくちゃすごい東京女子を作り上げてきて、とても尊敬しています”. I loved her use of the word 作り上げる here, literally “build up” “create” “construct”. Not only are they holding up the promotion; they literally built it. Without the three of them, there would be no building, and no TJPW.
I think the way 壁 gets used in their comments and interviews is different than how Hangman talked about the “walls” of AEW, but I still think it’s a neat parallel. I think in TJPW, the walls are both support for the building that is the company, as well as a sort of a boundary that the wrestlers are constantly seeking to surmount. It’s like a walled garden. The wrestlers are ready and eager to break out of it and expand the horizons of what they and the company can be.
And none of us know what the TJPW that comes next will look like. It’s uncharted territory. I think that’s part of the excitement of following the company, because although its growth has been very gradual (especially when compared to the high-stakes stress of watching AEW’s growth, haha), there’s something so satisfying about getting to enjoy all of the little twists and turns along the way.
Sorry for the long ramble . I don’t know if any of this is actually interesting to anyone else, haha, but this is where my brain has been at over the past few weeks.
sure, yep! For context, It follows on from the previous sentence - 心が揺さぶられました is the 変わるもの she introduced in the previous sentence, is how it comes across to me.
Yeah, honestly! Not that capslock is the right solution for a translated transcript of course, but his version does retain that wry “but screw all that, I won!!” feeling I get from the original, mainly thanks to the capslock.
For this part, I overthought it a lot last night so I’m going to try not to do that here (especially since the twitter video didn’t include this part), but I read the whole thing as Yuka’s general current impressions of Hikari, with all the 気はする, 気があったs and so on are Yuka describing her own thoughts about her.
like Hikari’s trying new submissions recently and, though she probably wouldn’t say it herself (maybe because it’s not her background training, or maybe because I have a vague sense of やってる implying like, generally being successful enough with it to keep doing it and that’s that part Hikari wouldn’t brag about, I don’t really know) grappling and jiu jitsu too.
And Yuka was of the opinion “そういう部分でもっと伸びて、変わろう”
and Yuka wanted to convey “優しいので、どこか打撃とかも何回も打てばいいのに”
I think she’s saying that Hikari’s 優しいness meant she was hesitant to keep attacking like that, and Yuka wanted to draw that out of her to make a point, to keep attacking until its effective.
Only other very minor thing I’d say is that “もっとおいで、もっとおいで” sounds to me more coaxing and carefully drawing that out than an aggressive ‘c’mon, c’mon, more, more!’ おいで is what you would say to like, draw out a cat for example (cute example I found to doublecheck)
Here the impression I get from the original is more like – she’s already gotten what I can give her and she should ride this summer and make her own wave out of it.
“もう来なくていい” is like, “it’s okay if you don’t come (here)” and calls to my mind, like, someone being let go, but I think in the context of all that stuff with Hikari she’s talking about like, Suzume showed enough drive and hunger that she’s ready to go off and do her own thing.
I would say she’s talking about specifically this match (that’s the ここで), so Miu. (but I mean, the motivation would apply to the younger generation as a whole anyway)
Yeah, she’s referring to what she was saying a match or two ago about wanting to not just be in the main event and not just win, but also to put on a match at their level as well.
Close, but I would say it’s Shoko herself who’s said it, rather than “It’s often said” (with the 口にしてしまった being like, maybe I shouldn’t have said but couldn’t help it).
And I think the 期待感を connects up with the 向ければ向けるほど - the more they turn that expectation to my juniors, the more I realize they’re hoping I lose.
Seems fine!
(I’ll read and comment on the booking thoughts too but I wanted to get the rest of the translation help out of the way first!)
