VIEW FROM THE RISING SUN
by Masanori Horie

Greet The New Year

January will be one of the best times for you, foreign fans, to come to Tokyo to experience "Nippon no puroresu" (Japanese pro wrestling). A total of about 30 offices and groups have over 100 shows all over Japan in January 2001. Who will take over the 21st century?

Steve Williams & Mike Rotundo won the Real World Tag Team League Tournament Final
(December 9, 2000---Nippon Budokan, Tokyo)

We don't have Christmas holidays, but schools close for about two weeks of winter holiday before and after New Year's, and most companies also shut down for New Year holidays from around December 28 to January 3 and start to work from January 4. January 1 is New Year's Day, a national holiday and one of the biggest events on the calendar of annual festivities in Japan.

January 1---New Year's Day

Dawn on New Year's Day
(January 1, 2000---Choshi City, Chiba Prefecture, Japan)

From well before dawn on New Year's Day, people flock to shrines and temples to pray for a healthy and happy year. This is called "Hatsu-mode" and is one of the most important rituals of the year. When we greet our acquaintances; moreover, we say, "Akemashite omedeto gozaimasu" ("A Happy New Year") to convey our wishes that the year to come will be full of hope and good health.

January 1, 2000

---

January 2, 2001 (Tue) All Japan 12:30 Korakuen Hall

Mrs. Baba and her All Japan Pro Wrestling were in death agony in 2000 after Mitsuharu Misawa and 24 other wrestlers and 18 office workers left in the middle of July 2000. They have still been in a critical situation but kept their traditional New Year's opening shows at Korakuen Hall on January 2 and 3, which tradition started in 1976.

Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

One thing we look forward to doing on New Year morning is reading "Nenga-jo" (New Year greeting cards) from friends, and the biggest treat for children is receiving "otoshidama" (money given as a gift at the beginning of a year) from parents, relatives, and other adults they meet during New Year. It is a reason that January is one of the best times for puroresu business.

January 2, 2001 (Tue) Big Japan 6:30 Korakuen Hall

(L-R) Nick Gage, Justice Pain, Trent Acid, Wifebeater, and CZW president Zandig
(July 2, 2000---Korakuen Hall)

Zandig, Wifebeater, & Justice Pain beat Big Japan Pro's ace trio, Tomoaki Homma, Ryuji Yamakawa, & Shadow WX in a Street Fight Six-Man Tag Team Match with Barbed Wire Board, Fluorescent Lamp Board, Lemon & Salt Box, Thumbtacks, Barbed Wire Baseball Bat, Casket, and Cold Ice in Shin-kawasaki, Kanagawa on December 3, 2000. Zandig and CZW were not only nightmares but also the most valuable new comers for Big Japan Pro in 2000. In Japan, the first dream of the New Year is believed to set the tone for the kind of year it'll turn out to be. Since New Year's Day is a day for quiet celebration, and we don't start returning to our daily routines until the second day, the "Hatsu-yume ("first dream of a New Year") is usually the dream we have on the night of January 2. Legend has it that the three "best" dreams you can have are about Mount Fuji, hawks, and eggplants--in that order.

January 3, 2001 (Wed) All Japan 12:30 Korakuen Hall
January 3, 2001 (Wed) All Japan Woman 6:30 Korakuen Hall

January 4, 2001 (Thu) New Japan 4:00 Tokyo Dome

New Japan Pro Wrestling Poster
(January 4, 2001---Tokyo Dome)

January 4, 2001 (Thu) All Japan Woman 12:00 Korakuen Hall

January 5, 2001 (Fri) Atsushi Onita 7:00 On Air East, Shibuya, Tokyo

Atsushi Onita
Tokyo Human Rights Development Center's Poster
(December 2000)

January 5, 2001 (Fri) ARSION 7:00 Korakuen Hall

(L-R) Yumi Fukawa, Bionic J (Jessica Soto), Mika Akino, Rie Tamada
(October 5, 1998---Korakuen Hall)
Fukawa will retire from wrestling at Korakuen Hall on March 20, 2001.

---

January 6, 2001 (Sat) NOAH 3:00 Differ Ariake, Tokyo

Differ Ariake, Tokyo

January 7, 2001 (Sun) NOAH 3:00 Differ Ariake, Tokyo
January 7, 2001 (Sun) FMW 12:30 Korakuen Hall
January 7, 2001 (Sun) Battlarts 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 7, 2001 (Sun) Big Japan 3:00 Kawasaki City Gym, Kanagawa
January 7, 2001 (Sun) All Japan Woman 12:00 AJW Office Garage, Tokyo

January 8---Coming-of-Age Day (second Monday)
The second Monday of January is Coming-of-Age Day, a Japanese national holiday to encourage those who have newly entered adulthood to become self-reliant members of society. (The holiday used to be on January 15, but in 2000 it was moved to the second Monday of the month.) Municipal governments host special coming-of-age ceremonies for 20-year-olds, since an "adult" in Japan is legally defined as one who is 20 or over. They gain the right to vote on their twentieth birthday, and they're also allowed to smoke and drink.

January 8, 2001 (Mon) LLPW 12:30 Korakuen Hall

LLPW's Shinobu Kandori and Muhammad Ali's daughter, Leila
(November 22, 2000---Yoyogi Gym#2, Tokyo)

January 8, 2001 (Mon) NEO 5:00 Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo

Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo

January 11, 2001 (Thu) DDT 7:00 Club ATOM, Shibuya, Tokyo
January 13, 2001 (Sat) IWA 6:30 Korakuen Hall

IWA's Juggernaut vs. Leatherface

January 14, 2001 (Sun) All Japan 12:30 Korakuen Hall
January 14, 2001 (Sun) GAEA 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 16, 2001 (Tue) FMW 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 16, 2001 (Tue) DDT 7:00 Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo
January 18, 2001 (Thu) NOAH 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 21, 2001 (Sun) Titan Fight (Ken-ichi Yamamoto) 2:00 R'n Hall, Tokyo
January 21, 2001 (Sun) All Japan Woman 3:00 Differ Ariake, Tokyo
January 21, 2001 (Sun) Jd' Korakuen Hall
January 25, 2001 (Thu) DDT 7:00 Club ATOM, Shibuya, Tokyo
January 26, 2001 (Fri) NEO 7:00 Itabashi San-bun Hall, Tokyo
January 27, 2001 (Sat) ARSION 6:00 Differ Ariake, Tokyo

January 28, 2001 (Sun) CMLL 12:00 Korakuen Hall

(L-R) Dos Caras, Mil Mascaras, El Sicodelico--Mascaras Brothers will be wrestling in Japan from January 27 to February 4, 2001.

---

January 28, 2001 (Sun) All Japan 3:00 Tokyo Dome

One of the greatest gaijin (foreign) wrestlers, Stan Hansen will have his retirement ceremony, and Terry Funk & Atsushi Onita will face Abdullah the Butcher & Giant Kimala in "Giant Baba Memorial Match" at Tokyo Dome on January 28, 2001. "Terry vs. Abdullah vs. Hansen" was one of the biggest feuds in Japanese puroresu history.

The Funks, Abdullah the Butcher, and Stan Hansen were the prime movers in letting me become captivated by pro wrestling. When I see their matches, I always reconfirm my reason for being a wrestling fan in the stream of the time. I have made my view to wrestling with a lot of memories, which I got through countless live shows. I will never forget about them and my sympathy or telepathy with them. Both Terry and Abdullah can still satisfy me with their works, so it will matter little to me how old they are.

January 28, 2001 (Sun) Big Japan 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 28, 2001 (Sun) Capture (Koki Kitahara) 7:30 Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo

January 29, 2001 (Mon) Toryumon 6:30 Korakuen Hall
January 31, 2001 (Wed) New Japan 7:00 Differ Ariake, Tokyo

"Mr. Wrestling Observer" attacked a "Toshi-otoko 2001"

In ancient times, Japanese were known to have lived their lives by the Twelve Signs of the Oriental Zodiac. They are related to the date, the time of day, and the compass directions. Analogous to astrological divination, these twelve branches were symbolized as animals, and people's fortunes were cast in relation to their times of birth. Twelve animals are representing the year in which he or she was born. When the sign of a particular year is the same as a man's birth sign, he is termed "Toshi-otoko" (year's man), while a woman is termed "Toshi-onna" (year's woman). 2001 will be the Year of the Snake. For those of you born in 1953, 1965, and 1977, 2001 will be YOUR (and MY) YEAR, where you may be carrying the notion of a new stage or change in your life.

We have a total of about 600 wrestlers here in Japan now, and there are over 20 wrestlers who were born in 1953, 1965, and 1977, like Daisuke Watanabe (1/5/77), Naoki Sano (2/2/65), Gran Naniwa and Ultraman Robin (2/15/65), Urban Ken (3/1/77), Kishin Kawabata (4/29/65), Makoto Hashi (5/10/77), Kazumasa Nihei (5/21/65), Tatsuaki Nakano (6/16/65), Hiroyo Muto (6/21/77), Shinya Hashimoto (7/3/65), Chihiro Nakano (7/3/77), Kousei Kubota (8/11/77), Kengo Kimura (9/4/53), Minoru Fujita (9/5/77), Ricky Fuji and Katsumi Hirano (9/27/65), Daisuke Ishii (9/29/77), The Broody (10/8/77), Jun Izumida (10/28/65), CIMA (11/15/77), Rumi Kazama (11/28/65), Noriyo Tateno (12/1/65), Miyuki Fujii (12/17/77), and Tatsumi Fujinami (12/28/53).