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 
.