JOSHI PROFILE: Tsukasa Fujimoto

Tsukasa Fujimoto working in JWP against Masu-me

all photos are courtesy of Youji Kawauchi

Thanks to Youji Kawauchi who knows Tsukasa Fujimoto personally, we know that she has a charming personality accented by an attractive smile and personal warmth. She has earned the teacher's certificate in university, and loves to do volunteer work. She is highly intelligent as well as bright-eyed with great sense of humor.

Tsukasa Fujimoto is in excellent physical condition and is a fearless, acrobatic worker in the ring.  She is almost monkey-like in her quick facility with every part of the ring and her ability to use all to her advantage.  She works mainly for Ice Ribbon and JWP.  In Ice Ribbon she and Haruku Shida are the Tag Team champions.  In JWP she often works tags with the young Masu-me, but she also pursues a singles career in that promotion as the Youji Kawauchi photos in this blog demonstrate.

Profile Questions:  Is this the typical profile of a young lady who goes into the Joshi business in Japan?  does this description match the descriptions of many USA indy wrestlers or is it atypical?  I find the intersection of these cultures and questions to be fascinating and I would welcome your comments or thoughts on the matter.  One thing that does seem clearer in Joshi circles in Japan is that a young woman may be a part of a dojo in Japan for the teen and early twenties, but after a period of time the woman decides to retire from Joshi, marry, and begin a family.  Often a very normal career, such as a teacher or a nurse, ensues.  Often motherhood and homemaking does.  There seems to be a very clear divide between one's Joshi years and the rest of one's life.  This is not to say that there are not some old guard lions in Joshi -- Toyota, Gami, Shimoda, Takako Inoue, KAORU, Ozaki, and Aja Kong come to mind.  In most of these cases the women remain unmarried and very committed to wrestling. 

Take Michiko Ohmukai as an example.  A big worker in LLPW, Arsion, and M-Style for at least a decade (1993-2005), then a full stop; marriage; and now two kids.  I don't think she has gotten close to sliding on the kickpads again in the past five years.  This line is less clear in the USA where indy workers like Jazz and Allison Danger can have careers while also having husbands and children, something that it definitely frowned upon in Japan.  There, when a woman marries, she must be available to help and support her husband and raise the children -- it's not the other way around.

How would you like this woman to be your Second Grade teacher?