Ended up having to postpone the trip, but had so much else going on I could hardly work on the translations anyway…
Well, I finally managed to finish the translation for the May 3 Golden Week show.
This one opened with an announcement of a new trainee!
Trainee Konatsu (tentative name) will make her debut on June 1 at Chunichi Hall. She is from Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, so the venue will be near her hometown.
Konatsu: “I will be making my debut at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya on June 1. A debut match is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I am going to give it my all, so I hope you will support me.”
This show was my first time seeing Nor “Phoenix” Diana wrestle. I think she might be the first wrestler from Malaysia that I’ve seen? I think her gear looks really cool, and it’s awesome how she incorporates her hijab into it. I really liked her wrestling style, too.
She teamed up with Matcha and Alexis Lee against Mizuki, Pom, and Arisu, though none of them gave comments after that match. Nor got the win, giving her some nice momentum going into her title match.
Then Kyoraku Kyomei teamed up with Raku against Nekonchu and a visiting Yuna Manase. Misao got the win and started cutting a promo on the mic afterward, but the three of them were interrupted by a dastardly attack from their challengers. I laughed when Nor and Raku were having a very polite interaction and meanwhile Alexis and Matcha chose violence.
Shupro had one big paragraph of exposition with a bit of dialogue for this.
After the match, Misao says, “Alright, we won! At this rate, on May 5, the three of us are absolutely going to defend our belts!” As she was speaking on the mic, Matcha, Alexis, and Diana, who had been watching the match from the back of the crowd, entered the ring.
This isn’t super important because it’s not dialogue and is more open to subjective interpretation anyway, but I had some trouble putting this into English: “「怖いけど私たちがチャンピオンだからな！」とマッチャとアレクシスにベルトを見せつける中島とミサヲだったが、アレクシスはミサヲに噛みつき、マッチャは中島にエルボーを叩きこむ戦闘モード.”
Misao says, “You’re scary, but we’re the champions!” Nakajima and Misao show off their belts to Matcha and Alexis, and the latter two become combative, with Alexis biting Misao and Matcha hitting Nakajima with an elbow strike. However, Raku asks Diana for a handshake, then tries to get her to do the oyasumi pose, but Diana refuses. In a show of strength to Matcha and Alexis, who are hoping to win the belts in Osaka, Nakajima says, “I am Big Kaiju!” And Misao says, “I am a hero!” Ignoring them, Raku approaches Diana again and once again tries to do the oyasumi pose, but Diana refuses and leaves the ring.
I had a bit of trouble with the 応援のほど part of this: “ミサヲは最後に「圧勝でしたね。私たち5月5日に向けて準備万端というところを見せつけたと思うので、皆さん、5月5日、応援のほどよろしくお願いします！」とマイク.”
Misao closes with: “We won in a landside. I think we showed that we’re totally prepared for May 5, so everyone, please give us that much of your support on May 5!”
The Southeast Asia team gave their comments in English. I managed to catch almost all of it, but couldn’t for the life of me figure out what Nor was saying at the very start…
Diana: “[???] pro wrestling in Asia, and now, Nor ‘Phoenix’ Diana Rising’s in TJPW.”
Alexis: “So I made my debut last May, and it’s great to be back. And this time, I’m not just coming here alone; I have these two: the first female wrestler in Thailand, the first hijabi wrestler, and… Asia’s favorite skelly?” (laughs) “So I’m really excited to finally be tagging with them. I’ve known them for so long, and we’ve wrestled all around Asia, but this is our first time tagging?”
Diana: “Yes.”
Alexis: “I think we did a good job, yeah? We took home the win in a debut match?”
Matcha: “We wanted the best today, so in Osaka, we will keep the momentum to win the titles back to southeast Asia.”
All: (putting their hands together in the middle) “Southeast Asia!”
Kyoraku Kyomei & Raku’s comments:
Nakajima: “It’s finally right before our second defense in Osaka, and our opponents are from Thailand and Singapore. I’m really ambitious right now. I have an aspiration to see the pro wrestling styles of various countries, so I think if we beat the two of them, it’ll be the first step to being able to go to those countries.”
Misao: “I want to go!”
Struggled a bit with translating this (and Misao’s comment afterward): “なので絶対に勝ちますし、勝った暁には連れていけよという気持ちを押し付けます.”
Nakajima: “So, we’re definitely going to win, and when we do, we’ll impose our desire on them to take us with them.”
Misao: “We’ll make them do it.”
Nakajima: “I will show them that I am ‘The Big Kaiju’.”
Misao: “For me, too, after our match today, after we won comfortably, Matcha and Alexis came in and bit me and beat us up. It’s good that they were so fired up, but I think they really ignited my determination to win, so I, too, am going to show them that ‘I am a hero’, and then win. Then we’re gonna conquer all of Asia.”
Nakajima: “We’re aiming for world domination!”
Raku: “I heard that people in Malaysia sleep a little longer than people in Japan. I think they value sleep more than Japanese people. I think she’s also excited to come to Japan and can’t sleep well, so I hope we’ll share a lot of good dreams together. Goodnight Express.”
Then Kamiyu had a title defense for the VPW title against Viva Van. When I heard this match was booked, I wondered if it might finally be Viva’s time to win the belt, and sure enough, she managed to get her big win over Kamiyu! Genuinely a neat moment because with Kamiyu being the first champ to hold that belt, that makes Viva the first Vietnamese woman to hold the championship. Deserved!
Sidenote: I was looking up Vietnam Pro Wrestling to try to make sure a detail in my translation was correct, and I stumbled across this post from them and was extremely charmed by the “VIVA VIETNAM!” in both the English and Vietnamese versions of the description. That’s a really fun pun on Viva Van’s name, haha.
In any case, Viva’s comments were in English, and she spoke pretty clearly and slowly and it was very easy to transcribe her:
Viva: “I’ve been fighting my whole life. This TJPW ring is just another round. Some of you may not know who I am, but you’re about to. I didn’t come all this way to be in anyone’s shadow. I’m here because I earned it. I did this for Vietnam. I beat the Queen of Asia for the VPW title. I am the first Vietnamese woman to ever win a title in Japan. History didn’t invite me. I broke down the freaking door. So you can either respect it, or choke on it. You can call me a villain, you can call me a savior, or you can simply call me Viva Van, the Hellbent Vixen. So remember that goddamn name.”
Kamiyu’s comments:
Kamifuku: “Viva Van beat me.”
The first line was a bit tricky to translate, and then the second was a little confusingly worded: “ベトナムのベルトを落とすことになったんですけど、ベトナムがあんまりまだ盛り上がってない感じで、私は初代女子のベルトを巻きまして。どうなっていくかなと思っていたんですけど、ビバ・バンというSNSで見る限り、一生懸命いろんなことをやっているアジアガールが狙いに来てくれることが華だなと思いまして.”
“I was supposed to lose the belt from Vietnam, but I felt like Vietnam hadn’t been livened up yet, so I became the first woman’s champion. I was wondering how it was going to go, but as far as I could see on social media bearing Viva Van’s name, I thought it was lovely that an Asian girl who is working incredibly hard doing so many things would have her sights set on me. Of course I’m frustrated, too, but (the belt) went to Viva Van, so I feel relieved, and in the hope that Vietnam will get a little more exciting, I’m rooting for them from Japan. Good luck, Vietnam. Sayonara.”
(You’re currently holding one more belt)
This was a bit tricky: “シンガポールのベルトは持っているんですけど、最初、自分がアジアのほうに行きたいと言ったときにけっこう「なんでそんなほうにいくの？ もっとあるじゃん」って言われたんですけど、私はゼロをイチにしたいタイプの人間でして.”
Kamifuku: “I have a belt from Singapore, but when I first said that I wanted to go to Asia, so many people were like, ‘What, you want to go there? There are more places out there.’ But I’m the kind of person who wants to make zero into one. I’m a contrary person. I like being a trailblazer, and before I even knew it, there were so many women I knew here as guest (wrestlers) today.”
This was a bit hard to put into English: “東京女子もアジアの子たちばっか呼んで、アジアを盛り上げているんだなと、自分がそんなきっかけになれたのならいいなと思いますけど.”
“TJPW inviting exclusively girls from Asia and there being so much excitement around Asia, I hope I was able to be a catalyst for that.”
This sentence was kind of impossible… “私は自分の中で一番アジアで美しいと心にあの…念仏？”
“In my heart, I am the most beautiful in Asia… a nembutsu? …I hit my head a little, so I’m going home. I’m sorry.”
Then the main event was Himawari vs Suzume for the International belt. I don’t really remember this match in much detail, but I thought Himawari did a good job, even though she was totally doomed right from the get-go.
It was nice to see Yoppy come out to challenge afterward, too. I had hoped she’d get her title shot before she retired… Maybe if she wins, she’ll decide to stick around? I feel like I always hope that and it never actually happens, but maybe if I keep hoping, one of these days a wrestler will actually do it.
Here’s the post-match:
Suzume: “She had incredible momentum, but I’m the champion! HIMAWARI has always had her own style right from the get-go, and her skills are all skills that I myself don’t possess, and she’s someone amazing. HIMAWARI won the right to challenge and then challenged me today, and being able to defend my belt here has given me some confidence! I want to keep racking up the defenses from here, and have a vigorous schedule of defense matches. And, as I go on to fight in this way, I hope to become someone who will put TJPW on the map for people, just like my senpais who blazed the trail before me.”
At this point, Hasegawa enters the ring.
Hasegawa: (without a microphone) “Can I borrow your mic?”
Suzume: “Of course.”
Hasegawa: (taking the microphone) “Suzume-san, I said at my retirement press conference that I wanted to challenge for your belt. But I heard a variety of opinions at that time, and I wondered if I really could challenge. However, I’ve always been swayed by others, and I only have a short time left in my pro wrestling career, so I wanted to live selfishly and value my own opinion, and so here I am standing here now. But I also value the opinions of everyone in the audience here, so if anyone supports my challenge… please call my name!” (in response to the crowd yelling “Yoppy!”) “Thank you very much! I was scared.” (laughs) “Suzume-san, once again, please let me challenge for your belt!”
Suzume: “Of course! I was going to fight Yoppy-san regardless of what anyone said! But Yoppy-san is too humble, and I’m glad that she received everyone’s support and said those words with confidence. I will give it everything I’ve got to beat Yoshiko Hasegawa. Let’s fight with this belt on the line.”
After a handshake, they both bow deeply, and then Hasegawa leaves the ring.
Suzume: “My next challenger has been set, and I’m really excited. Everyone, thank you for coming to see us during Golden Week. Are you enjoying TJPW’s Golden Week?” (in response to the loud cheers) “I’m glad. So many people who like TJPW gathered here, but I’m sure that we’ll meet many more people in the future and have them fall in love with us. I want to keep marching forward with everyone in this ever-expanding world, so please continue to come along with us in TJPW. Thank you very much!” (in English) “Thank you!”
Suzume’s comments:
Suzume: “I successfully defended my title for the fourth time! I gained a lot of confidence in myself after having a title match in the U.S. I strongly felt that I want to defend this belt even more, and when I saw that HIMAWARI had won three matches in a row and earned the right to challenge in Japan on the other side of the world, I got excited and wanted to face her as soon as possible, and I was able to do that today. HIMAWARI may be a junior, but she has a lot of skills that I don’t have, and I respect her. Defeating someone like that meant that I got a lot of confidence from this match, too. Just when I was thinking that I wanted to defend my belt again and again, Yoppy-san (Hasegawa) came forward, and I don’t know when it’ll be, but my next title defense was set. Yoppy-san’s humble to a fault, but that’s what’s so good about her, and I’m really glad that everyone gave her a big push so that she could challenge me with confidence. I’m excited! I’m going to beat Yoshiko Hasegawa, too!”
(How does it feel as the champion to have a title defense against an opponent who is set to retire?)
This response was a bit tricky… “引退への気持ちもすごく強い決意を持っているし。でもベルトへの気持ちもすごく強く強く伝わっているので、なんかそこは別というか。引退という決意をしたからこそ、より強い長谷川美子ではないかと思っています.”
“She has a very strong determination to retire. But her feelings toward the belt are also super, super strong, so I don’t think it’s particularly—or rather, I think precisely because she decided to retire, Yoshiko Hasegawa is stronger now.”
(Hasegawa is someone you’ve been facing since she belonged to Ganbare☆Pro-Wrestling, so do you have a stronger emotional connection to her because of that?)
“Well, at the time, I felt quite frustrated.”
This was also tricky: “私は全力でぶち当たって勝っているのに、よぴさんは「すごい高い壁」みたいな扱いをしてくれたんですよ。その時は「なんで私はこんなに全力なのに！」って思っていたんですけど、東京女子で関わるようになって、それがよぴさんの素敵なところだと気づいて.”
“Even though I hit her with everything I had and won, Yoppy-san treated me like I was a ‘really high wall’. At the time, I thought, ‘Why does she see me like that even though I had to use all my power!’ But when she got involved with TJPW, I realized that that aspect of Yoppy-san was wonderful. Now I really, really love her. I’m glad that she put aside her humility and let herself be selfish.”
Yoppy’s comments:
Hasegawa: “I will be retiring on July 8, and when I said at my retirement press conference that I wanted to challenge Suzume-san for her belt, I received a lot of harsh words.”
This was a bit tricky: “思い出づくりじゃねえんだよとか、すごいいろいろいただいて、ずーっと自分の中で挑戦していいか迷いがあって.”
“Like, ‘it’s not about making memories’ and various things like that, so I’ve spent the whole time having inner doubts over whether I can challenge her. But in the midst of all of that, Suzume-san kept moving forward, and kept having title matches one after another. I realized that I was going to have to speak up after all, so I got in the ring today and announced my challenge. I also wanted to value the opinions of the audience in the venue, so I asked them, and since they called my name, I think I’m going to have to use the audience’s words to give my strength and give it my all when I challenge. So, I want to challenge for that belt not merely to make memories, but because Suzume-san is the one who has it, and I am confident that I am going to win it. I look forward to it.”
(With two months left until your retirement, in the event that you win the belt from Suzume, what do you have in mind for what comes afterward?)
I think I more or less got this, but I wanted to be sure: “まだ先のことは考えていなくて。目の前のことに必死な自分にいて、ベルトを獲った先に見えるものが出てくると思うので。私はまずベルトを獲った時の感情でいろんなことを決めていきたいと思っています.”
“I am not thinking about what comes afterward yet. I am laser-focused on what’s right ahead of me, and I think I’ll see how it all shakes out after I’ve won the belt. I want to decide some things based on my emotions when I win the belt, first.”
Himawari’s comments:
HIMAWARI: “Well, I lost. It was my first title challenge, and a singles match on top of that. I had won the right to challenge on my own, so while I felt more frustrated than ever at the loss, I felt like I had done everything I could this time.”
I struggled with translating the part in quotation marks here: “やり切れた上でかなわなかったから、「まあまあ自分なんてこんなもんだから」って自分にあまり期待してない部分があったけど、私ももっとやれるんだなと自分に対して思えて.”
“I did everything I could and couldn’t measure up, so there was a part of me that didn’t have high expectations for myself that was like, ‘Well, this is just what I am,’ but I could also believe that I was capable of doing more. I felt like today’s experience helped me to take a step forward in terms of feelings.”
This was tough to translate: “やっぱ鈴芽さんが正面から向き合ってくださって。ガッチリしっかりボコボコに向き合ってくれたので、もっと食らいついて、もっと追いついて、もっとやっていけば、いつかは私もそっち側になれるんじゃないかって自分に希望を持たせてもらえるシングルのタイトル戦だったなって.”
“Because Suzume-san faced me head-on, after all. She really laid it in and hit me solidly and firmly, so that singles title match gave me hope that I’ll be able to be on the other side someday if I really sink my teeth in more and catch up more and do even more. So I am full of gratitude to Suzume-san for taking on my challenge today. I’d be happy if it made everyone who watched it feel like they could expect a lot from me. I want to win the belt the next time I challenge, so I’m gonna practice a lot more so that I’ll be able to win it, and I’m going to aim higher and higher. So please support me!”
And that’s it for that one. At least it looks like we’re on a one show a week pace for the next few weeks, so hopefully I’ll be able to catch up eventually…
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ギリギリセーフ
