The Hachi #15: The Monster Mash
A Big Egg masterclass, hot wheels and fond farewells
Golden Week is over and we’re back! Enjoy this week’s roundup.
1. A ‘Monster' masterclass
There was a brief moment in Monday’s undisputed super-bantamweight title fight between Naoya Inoue and Luis Nery that hinted at potential generational trauma.
With 55,000 Tokyo Dome fans watching in rapt attention, a first-round left hook by the Mexican challenger sent the hometown hero to the mat for the first time in his pro career.
Was this the first crack in the armor for “The Monster?” Was Nery, previously suspended by the Japan Boxing Association for poor conduct1 surrounding his pair of bouts with Shinsuke Yamanaka in 2017 and 2018, about to expose the emperor as having no clothes?
Of course not.
Inoue, looking more surprised than anything else, patiently composed himself during his standing eight count, made it to the end of the round before returning to his corner, and then proceeded to unleash a masterclass that ended with the 24th knockout of his career, raising his record to 27-0.
It was a statement win in a career full of them, and it all began with a ring entrance featuring veteran rocker Tomoyasu Hotei performing Battle Without Honor or Humanity, otherwise known as “the Kill Bill Song,” as Inoue and his entourage appeared under the gigantic Tokyo Dome megascreen surrounded by fireworks and pyro.
I mean, how cool?
Monday’s event was a win everyone involved, including domestic broadcaster Amazon Prime, which said viewership broke the platform’s previous record, the 2023 World Baseball Classic final between Japan and the United States.
Meanwhile, Inoue is back on top of The Ring’s Pound for Pound rankings and gearing up for a fall bout against Australian challenger Sam Goodman, which is likely to take place down under.
2. Shohei’s got jokes
Speaking of Japanese contenders for the greatest athlete in the world moniker, let’s check in on how Shohei Ohtani is doing in Month 2 of the post-Ippei Mizuhara era.
Seems like he’s doing just fine!
Ohtani and LA Dodgers manager Dave Roberts — who himself is half-Japanese and was born in Okinawa — had been enjoying some friendly back-and-forth over Roberts’ ‘record’ as the team’s top Japan-born home run hitter.
After tying the record — a whole seven dingers — last week, Ohtani gifted Roberts the toy Porsche on Saturday before hitting the ‘record-breaking’ eighth that night.
The toy was a callback to Ohtani’s gift of an adult-sized Porsche — for whom he serves as a brand ambassador — to teammate Joe Kelly’s wife Ashley, who had offered her husband’s No. 17 uniform to help lure the Samurai Japan star to LA.
The exchange suggests Ohtani is getting comfortable in Dodger blue after a tumultuous start to the season, in which his former interpreter Mizuhara admitted to stealing millions of dollars from the superstar to finance his gambling addiction.
Mizuhara, who will have to repay Ohtani $17 million after filing a guilty plea, has been replaced by Will Ireton (wearing a blue T-shirt in the video), who previously interpreted for Kenta Maeda and will have a helluva book to write about this season when it’s all said and done.
3. Half measures
We’re about a third of the way into the J.League season, but the league only has a few more months before it needs to announce its plans for 2025 — and, by extension, the transition period before the current spring-fall calendar and the new fall-spring calendar that will start after the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Sponichi claims to have a clearer picture, saying that instead of extending the 2025 season through May 2026 — a proposal that everyone agrees would be far too much to ask of the players — the league is dialing in on a “half season,” held between February and May, that would feature all 60 clubs drawn into eight regional groups, with a round-robin stage followed by a seeding tournament.
Sponichi’s sources say the competition wouldn’t include promotion/relegation, meaning that the fates determined in the 2025 campaign would hold true for roughly 18 months.
Still plenty to be figured out on this front; watch this space.
4. So long, Shoma
Weeks after finishing fourth in his men’s singles title defense at the 2024 ISU Figure Skating World Championships in Montreal, Shoma Uno has decided to hang up his competitive skates for good.
The 26-year-old’s retirement closes out a storied career that’s included two world championships, three Olympic medals (two silver, one bronze), Grand Prix Final gold and six national championships.
Uno’s departure makes Yuma Kagiyama, whose second-place finish in Montreal was his third silver at the worlds, the de facto leader among Japan’s men with less than two years to go before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano-Cortina.
5. Nick the Last
This year’s B.League has been a season-long tribute to Kawasaki Brave Thunders star Nick Fazekas, who’s called it a career after spending 12 years with the club.
The 38-year-old leaves the court as one of the B.League’s greatest players, having steered the Brave Thunders to two league championships and been a three-time league MVP and two-time finals MVP.
Fazekas naturalized in 2018, allowing him to represent Japan at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup alongside Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe.
Present at Fazekas’ last home game in late April were several of his family members including both of his parents, who spoke to my former Japan Times colleague Kaz Nagatsuka, who covers Japanese basketball on his own Substack, PAGE 2.
From Kaz’s interview with Kim and Joe Fazekas:
Q: Basketball is getting really popular in Japan, but when Nick came to Japan there were a ton of empty seats here at Todoroki Arena.
Kim: You’re right. I’m amazed at how much it’s grown since I was last in Japan six years ago. And I’m grateful that so many people have come to see my son today. It’s special to see so many people wearing his No. 22 jersey.
Q: How did you feel about Nick's decision to naturalize in 2018?
Joe: The team was essentially able to have one more foreigner on the court because he became Japanese and their quality improved, so as far as I’m concerned it was a good thing.
Fazekas’ testimonial will be held on May 30; the “Nick the Last” branding, which Kawasaki have been using all season in merch and promotional material, is certainly a choice.
6. Ici c’est Paris
A little over two months after Nadeshiko Japan qualified for Paris 2024, Go Oiwa’s men booked their own flight by getting past hosts Qatar in the quarterfinals before beating Iraq and Uzbekistan to win the 2024 U-23 Asian Cup.
With just five of Japan’s squad based in Europe, all of the team’s goals in the tournament came from J.Leaguers, including two each from Mao Hosoya (Kashiwa Reysol), Seiji Kimura (Sagan Tosu) and Fuki Yamada (Tokyo Verdy). Joel Chima Fujita, who moved to Belgium’s Sint-Truiden from Yokohama F. Marinos last summer, was named the tournament MVP.
But with Japan heading to the Olympics for an eighth straight tournament, the question remains: Can they finally earn the country’s first men’s soccer medal since 1968?
Well, it depends on who the Japan Football Association are able to call up, especially given that European clubs aren’t obligated to release players for the Games.
Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo is still Olympic-eligible, while Wataru Endo and Takehiro Tomiyasu have been touted as potential overage selections.
Leo Kokubo (who started all of Japan’s games at this U-23 Asian Cup) and Zion Suzuki (likewise for January’s Asian Cup) are in the mix for goalkeeper, while Stuttgart defender Anrie Chase could be a major pull.
But on the attack, the surprise weapon may be Brondby striker Yuito Suzuki, who’s been on an absolute tear in the Danish Superliga with eight goals and seven assists this season.
I spoke to Danish outlets Bold and Tipsbladet late last month about the former Shimizu S-Pulse man’s form, and honestly there’s a lot to be excited about if the club decides to clear him for Paris.
7. Double duty
Speaking of the Olympics, Japan will boast a very unique representative at the games in the form of former women’s rugby sevens player Ano Kuwai, who has been selected as a match official three years after converting from playing to refereeing.
The 34-year-old became the first Japanese player to score an Olympic try at Rio 2016 and was a part of the Sakura Sevens squad that won Asian Games gold in 2018 with an unbeaten 6-0 record.
“It’s been a tough journey and many times I felt like losing heart, but I received so much support and encouragement that I could persevere and make my dream come true,” Kuwai said in her Instagram post. “I will do my very best to maximise the performance of the players, to ensure a spectacle worthy of the Olympic stage and to represent and show to the world the spirit of Japanese rugby.”
Japan’s men’s and women’s teams both qualified for the games through the Asian Qualification Tournament last November.
8. April 不幸s bring May 休場s
The third grand sumo tournament of 2024 kicks off at Ryogoku Kokugikan on Sunday, and once again we’re going to be missing a lot of top wrestlers.
Osaka Basho champion Takerufuji? Injured.
Former ozeki Asanoyama? Injured in last month’s regional tour.
Yokozuna Terunofuji? On the banzuke chart for now, but who knows whether he’ll be able to contest a full tournament.
Friend-of-the-Hachi John Gunning has touted komusubi Onosato as the man to watch this time around, and after his inspiring runner-up performance in Osaka (and two straight 11-4 records to start his top-flight career) he’s certainly got the stuff to do it.
No matter who’s still wrestling at the end of Day 15, they’ll be doing it in front of a packed house: the May Basho sold out just as quickly as March and January did, with the Japan Sumo Association once again declining to sell any tickets at the door.
Failing a drug test and failing to make weight, respectively