Episode 100: 100 Column Milestone
July 1, 2026
The President’s Diary: Tanahashi Hiroshi's Hare nochi Hare (Fair then Fair), which is serialized on the New Japan Pro-Wrestling smartphone site, has officially reached its monumental 100th milestone entry!
Since stepping into the President’s office in December 2023, I had been sprinting forward utilizing a "dual-wielding" approach—balancing my duties inside the ring and inside the management office. However, at the Tokyo Dome event on January 4, 2026, I pulled down the curtain on my stormy, action-packed 26-year active wrestling career, burning myself out completely to the very last spark.
Currently, I am pouring 100% of my passion into my daily life as a full-time President, steering the future of New Japan straight from the corporate headquarters.
To me, the number "100" is an exceptionally special digit where my past wrestling life and the future I am about to construct intersect. When it comes to discussing Tanahashi, "100" is an element that simply cannot be separated from my identity.
Back in the day, I stood at the absolute vanguard of the promotion by branding myself as the "Once-in-a-Century Talent" (literally, a talent that appears once in 100 years). Man, talk about a massive headwind of skepticism I faced back then (laughs).
When I first started saying that, the history of New Japan Pro-Wrestling hadn't even reached 50 years yet, so I think I also used to confidently claim, "For the next 50 years, a wrestler quite like me will never emerge again."
Since then, that very same absolute Ace (self-proclaimed) who spearheaded our miraculous V-shaped business recovery (self-proclaimed)—a talent that truly only shows up once every 100 years—is now squarely facing our corporate financial charts and fan satisfaction metrics as a full-time President.
Even to myself, the evolution of the words I’ve put down in this column since shifting exclusively to presidential duties has been deeply fascinating to observe. My current entries have transitioned into exploring the inner workings of our events, the internal struggles of being a businessman, and a pure, unadulterated sense of gratitude toward our fans.
Even though I have stepped away from the active roster and transitioned into an office-work lifestyle—commuting to the company from Monday to Friday—it appears that I genuinely love the act of putting thoughts into writing.
Having achieved this "100th Presidential Diary Entry," there are certainly aspects of the business that have finally come into sharp focus precisely because I retired from active competition.
I am aiming for the 200th milestone entry so that everyone can continue to enjoy New Japan Pro-Wrestling from a multitude of different angles and perspectives.
Hehehe. And once a substantial amount of these manuscripts pile up, it’s time to publish them as a book! And then, onto my dream lifestyle fueled entirely by book royalties! ...Wait, that's a no-go?
Yes, yes. I am well aware (100% aware) of that fact.