President's Diary RSS

September 15, 2026 "I served concurrently as both wrestler and President for two years, and starting this year, I became dedicated solely as President."—Every time I say this single line myself, I actually feel a little proud inside. That's because I feel I've finally steeling my resolve to support the company not from inside the ring, but from the outside. During the two years when I was both wrestler and President, to be completely honest, rather than "two-way player," I was stretched to the limit wearing "two pairs of shoes." Concentrating as a wrestler before matches, and facing numbers as...

September 14, 2026 Sendai is packed with so many memories from my own professional wrestling life. I fought a match at Zepp Sendai. However, I wasn't able to hype up the venue the way I wanted to. After the match finished, set aside my own lack of ability, I even made a comment like, "What is everyone even coming here to watch?"Then, time flowed by to February 2011. The location was Sendai Sunplaza Hall. What's more, it was an IWGP title match. The venue was packed to capacity. Deafening cheers. Back then, I couldn't stop the overflowing tears. And yesterday,...

September 11, 2026 What are the indispensable abilities for a corporate management executive? When I tried thinking about it in my own way, the scoring turned out surprisingly harsh. The 1st ability is "the power to articulate a vision." Conveying where the company is aiming for, in your own words, filled with passion. Since this is something I've been honing ever since the days I held a microphone in the ring, I honestly have confidence here. Even on the first day at the new office, when I told everyone at the morning assembly, "Hold onto your goals and aim for...

September 10, 2026 "Can something this exciting actually exist in this world?!" During my high school days, a single pro wrestling match I happened to watch on TV—I still cannot forget that shock even now. In my life up until then, which had been purely dedicated to hardball baseball where all I knew was chasing a white ball, a sudden and unbelievable light burst right in. I started watching pro wrestling together with my younger brother, and before I knew it, I was totally hooked. It's no exaggeration to say that living became 1,000 times more fun. Without the shock...

September 9, 2026 On a certain day at 3:00 PM, a contract signing ceremony for Yota Tsuji and Hirooki Goto was held in Kobe. As the witness, I sat right in the middle between both wrestlers. This "middle" position is actually a spot I didn't have much connection with during my active ring days. Inside the ring, I was always in the "diagonal" position, directly facing my opponent. In order to win, I only thought about defeating the person in front of me. Yet here I am now, sitting right between the two of them. As a witness, what will...

September 8, 2026 The other day in Sendai, I was given the opportunity to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles. How many times have I thrown for Rakuten now? Until now, I've had the privilege of experiencing ceremonial first pitches for various baseball teams, but every time I stand on the mound, I get a slightly mysterious feeling inside. That's because, as a young boy, I genuinely wanted to become a professional baseball player. Ever since I was small, I loved the Chunichi Dragons and continued playing baseball all the way through high school. I...

September 5, 2026 In the New Japan Pro-Wrestling office, there is no President's office. Yep, I'm still bringing it up (laughs). However, I have a running private room: the Shinkansen bullet train. Nobody calls out to me, and nobody taps me on the shoulder saying, "President, do you have a moment?" This exact situation is the ultimate luxury for a President. Today, I'm off to Sendai. Departing from Tokyo Station, I'm being swayed by the "Hayabusa." Since it's a train named after a bird famous for its speed, I'd like to blast through my work all at once too. The...

September 4, 2026 Set the schedule. Book the venues. Prepare. Communicate. Transport. Move. Assemble the ring. The matches. Tear down. Move again. ...In every single process, staff members are involved. No matter how passionate the battle inside the ring may be, if there's no one to deliver it, it will never reach the fans. Conversely, no matter how flawlessly the preparations are arranged, if there are no wrestlers burning their very souls in the ring, it's just an empty space. You could say it's a relationship like the front and rear wheels of a car. With only the front wheels,...

September 3, 2026 From September 18th to the 20th, I'll be heading to Hokkaido. On the 18th, it's wrestling at Chitose Airport. On the 19th, the Muroran show. It's a 3-day, 2-night Hokkaido tour. As President, my main objective is to oversee things directly on site. Therefore, I've set several "missions" for this upcoming Hokkaido trip. The 1st mission is to hear the raw, direct voices of the fans. Normally when I'm at the office, I inevitably spend a lot of time thinking while looking at numbers and documents. However, the answers in pro wrestling reside at the venue. Why...

September 2, 2026 In truth, there was an era when I actually struggled with matches at Korakuen Hall. Both before and after becoming IWGP Champion, I used to feel much more nervous there than usual. Because Korakuen Hall hosts the largest number of events for us, I held an arbitrary preconception thinking, "There must be a lot of fans with a really discerning eye here." Before matches, I would sometimes get faint-hearted, thinking, "I want to hype up the crowd, but man..." That very Tanahashi, of all people! However, I feel Korakuen Hall possesses a feverish heat unique to itself....