Why The UFC Doesn't Matter In Japan, And How They Can Fix It

By Ross Everett

The UFC is of borderline relevance in Japan. This isnt to disparage the UFC, which has done a great job growing MMA in North America and parts of Europe. Its an effort to put Dana Whites claims of Zuffas inevitable worldwide dominance into perspective. Without traction in the #2 fightsport market in the world, UFC's hopes for 'world domination' are doomed to failure.

Here are the three essential qualities for doing business in Japan, along with an analysis of what they mean to Zuffas efforts to build the UFC brand there:

Group Orientation/Collaboration: Japanese businessmen are notorious for sublimating their individual talents and personalities to the greater good of the group. For US businesses seeking to enter the market, a certain degree of partnership with existing Japanese firms is almost mandatory. The UFC worked with Germanys largest concert promoter (MLK) to enter that market with a fair degree of success. Even if the UFC didnt want to go promote with one of the major players in Japanese fight sports, theyd be well advised to seek some sort of a partnership similar to their German initiative to help smooth their way.

Hierarchy: Japanese culture, including business, is almost ridiculously hierarchical. The societal reverence for age, experience and accomplishment in Japan is well known, and thats often a difficult concept for American companies and businessmen to grasp. US businesses love mavericks and Horatio Alger stories. That accounts for much of the business medias fascination with Dana White and theyre quick to celebrate how a former aerobics instructor is now the most powerful man in MMA and the driving force of a billion dollar company. That storyline doesnt play as well in Japan, however. One approach would be for White to take a back seat in UFC efforts to promote in Japan in favor of Zuffa co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta and perhaps the widely respected former Nevada Athletic Commission director Marc Ratner.

Respect: Respect in business dealings is essential in Japan. In a typical Japanese business deal, the first few meetings arent intended for any substantive decision making to take place. Instead, theyre used for evaluation of your professionalism or, as the Japanese like to put it, to determine your suitability for conducting business with. To succeed in Japan, the UFC must realize that theyre not considered a major fight promotion in that country. They must understand that theyve got to win over a skeptical public, but before that they have to win over a skeptical Japanese business community. They might be able to run their company like Tony Soprano ran the garbage collection business in the US, but that approach applied to Japan will leave them exactly where they are now"on the outside looking in at the huge, fight crazy economy.

Dana Whites fanciful stories about corrupt promoters and Yakzua gangsters out of Quentin Tarantino movies might amuse his sycophants in the MMA media, but countless US companies including fight promotions have done business successfully and profitably in Japan. The UFC might be able to convince the clueless US media that theyre making progress in Japan due to a deal on a low profile TV network or more recently a big ad campaign on a Japanese social networking site but theyre currently spinning their wheels and going nowhere. Properly promoting stars like Yoshihiro Akiyama will help, but the only way that Zuffa will be able to become a factor in the worlds #2 MMA market is to do what every other company has done to be successful there"learn how to understand the Japanese approach to doing business, and play by their rules. - 30215

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Horo - The Archers Foe

By George Ross

Horo is an interesting form of a armor used by the feudal lords of ancient Japan to protect themselves from the arrows of pursuing archers. It is made of of a lightweight cloth, presumably silk and is worn like a cape at the back of the warrior. The Horo is usually worn by messengers of nobility and is strategically designed with large colorful emblems to make it stand out in the battle field. This way the messengers are easily visible when they arrive.

The name of this implement in English means arrow catcher or arrow entangler. Many people doubt that the Horo could actually stop a flying arrow dead on its tracks and save the life of the wearer. Since it is just made of cloth, a very thin one at that, it is hard to believe that it could stop a speeding projectile. Add to that the large and colorful designs that make the wearer a visible and easy target on the field.

A few weeks back, I was watching a show on the History Channel. It was a show about past warfare tactics and weapons. This episode talked mainly about the Horo. Like the doubtful lot, the researchers were also in doubt about the cloak's ability. They modeled a cape according to studies made, and printed a large colorful logo on it. The researchers tied it to a dummy and stood it against a blowing fan to simulate a messenger atop a horse.

The following clips were quite surprising. What was thought of as an easy target was the exact opposite. The large colorful design danced in the air as the fan blew against it making it quite confusing and very difficult to judge where behind the cape the rider really was. It was a dizzying vision and I imagine it would be a really difficult target to hit.

The next step then would be finding out if the cape or what looks like a cloak could really stop an arrow. When they tried to shoot the dummy with sharp arrows, amazingly the darts where entangled in the dancing cloak and were actually stopped. The arrow looses speed as soon as it gets entangled on the Horo and falls off to the ground.

After gathering the results, the next question was if a cape wearer would actually entrust her life on a piece of silk. They wanted to test how it would feel like to be atop a horse wearing a Horo and be pursued by enemy archers. They simulated the scenario but they dulled the arrows to protect the horse. They used professional archers and you could see the arrows raining on the cape wearer. Amazingly, the wearer came out of it unscathed.

When it was over, the rider said that he could actually hear the arrows hitting his cloak but he could feel them stop and just feel them fall. After all their research, they have concluded that the myth of the arrow catcher was no myth at all and if they were actual Japanese warriors, they would trust their life on the Horo.

Although the Horos capabilities have been proven, still it is only just a piece of history these days. Arrows and bows are no longer weapons of war. They are no longer seen as a threat to lives so the Horo has lost its significance. Although archery has long been dismissed as a tool of warfare, archery is far from dead.

Today archery is considered a serious sport exercising skills of discipline and precision. Not only is it a sport, it is also a means of recreation. I guess people would always want and will always try to hit a target. - 30215

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Reform Needed In Regulation Of Japanese Fight Sports

By Ross Everett

Ian Murphy was in over his head and the he fact he was allowed to fight at DREAM 2 in April 2009 against Ronaldo Jacare underscores the profound lack of regulation and oversight of Japanese mixed martial arts. There really is no regulatory oversight of the sport or the actions of individual promoters. The fight culture rooted in sumo and continued in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts is extremely backwards. Fight promoters' first, second and third priorities are making money. With the exception of the top stars, fighters are largely viewed as interchangeable and expendable. Mandatory drug testing is completely nonexistent and there's little elective testing by the individual promotions. Even the simplest steps to protect the fighters well being are unenforced or non-existent.

There's not a state athletic commission in the US that would have sanctioned the DREAM 2 matchup between Ian Murphy and Ronaldo Jacare. Murphy had just turned 22, and as of a couple of months prior to his DREAM 2 appearance was completing his senior season of wrestling at Cal State Fullerton. While he was a standout collegiate wrestler, he'd been seriously training for mixed martial arts for little more than a month. He'd never even had an amateur fight. His athletic background definitely suggests potential as a MMA fighter but at this point he was essentially a novice.

His opponent, Ronaldo Jacare Souza, was in no way a novice. Jacare began training in judo at age 14 and later changed his focus to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Now 27, Jacare is a BJJ black belt and has been called one of the most feared submission grapplers in the world. That was evidenced in 2006 when Jacare fought former UFC heavyweight champ Randy Couture to a draw in a submission wrestling event. Even Jacare's original opponent--tough veteran Frank Trigg--would have found him a difficult matchup. After Trigg was forced to withdraw days before the fight, DREAM management approached Murphy who readily agreed to take the fight.

The fight itself was essentially over before it began. Murphy was visibly nervous to the point of near panic as he made his ring walk. He could be seen taking a few deep breaths to steady his nerves. This underscored the reality that he hadnt any real experience or knowledge competing or even training in a mixed martial arts environment. That training would have taken him to a point where he could at least sublimate the problematic emotional cocktail of fear, excitement, nervousness, uncertainty and confusion. Murphy's amateur wrestling pedigree aside, DREAM might as well have picked someone out of the audience as they would have had a greater familiarity with MMA.

From the start of the match it was all Jacare. Murphy tried to use the only real weapon at his disposal and shot in attempting to take down his opponent. He partially succeeded, but more likely Jacare allowed himself to be taken down. From this point on, Murphy was in Jacares world where he received an emphatic crash course in submission ground fighting. Jacare eventually forced Murphy to tap out to a rear naked choke, evidencing that he'd had no experience on how to defend a basic MMA submission.

Ronaldo Jacare is the one player in this story that can be held blameless. He did what a fighter is supposed to do, which is to try to defeat his opponent to the best of his ability. Virtually everyone else involved in the fight bears some measure of culpability. FEG should never have booked Murphy to fight, Murphys handlers should have never accepted knowing their fighters almost non-existent MMA training and the official in the ring for not stopping the fight much sooner. At least this tale of indifference and ineptitude has a somewhat happy ending as Murphy emerged unscathed, with the exception of having suffered a beating. Still, the potential for disaster and tragedy by involving a completely inexperienced fighter in the event is significant as is the collateral damage such an occurrence would have on MMA worldwide.

Any legitimate regulatory oversight body would have done what everyone else involved did not by refusing to sanction this fight. In Japan, however, there isn't any significant oversight of the sort and none focused on the well being of the fighters. In the United States, the sport is regulated by state athletic commissions in the same way as boxing. In Japan, the sport that grew out of professional wrestling is regulated in essentially the same way. That is to say like pro wrestling its largely anything goes in terms of rules, safety and other issues concerning fighter well being.

Change comes slowly in Japanese culture and in political matters slower still. The two organizations that oversee Japanese boxing (the Japanese Boxing Association and the Japanese Professional Boxing Association) have historically done little and have existed more as money making ventures than regulatory agencies. Its taken some high profile in ring deaths in recent years to even generate talk of reform. Despite some nominal show of concern by government officials little has been done and the JBA and JPBA are more concerned about their turf war as sanctioning bodies than they are doing anything to protect fighters who box in Japan. The promotion behind World Victory Road has done what they can to rectify the situation with regard to MMA by creating a Japan Mixed Martial Arts Commission to serve as the oversight authority for the sport. Unfortunately, without some government involvement its unlikely they can have much of an impact just as the supposed current group in charge of rules in Japanese MMA, the International Shooto Commission, has been rendered largely impotent.

The sad reality is that with the glacial pace of progressive reform within Japanese political culture any government involvement is unlikely. Even if a death were to occur the lack of progress in boxing regulation when faced with a similar scenario doesn't provide much hope for improved safety rules for MMA fighters. While WVR is trying with their MMA oversight commission the only hope for real change in the near term is for promoters to realize that protecting their fighters is in the best interest of the sport which, in turn, is good for the bottom line. - 30215

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Iron Chef Invades America

By Ross Everett

'Iron Chef' is a crazy Japanese import cooking game show that features accomplished chefs from around the world going head to head in a competition format that's part Julia Child, part pro wrestling. Even non-foodies are drawn to the show for its sheer entertainment value.

The story behind the show goes something like this"theres this rich dude, MC Kaga who summons the finest chefs in Japan to do battle in his kitchen stadium. Needless to say, a TV studio wouldnt suffice for such a production: the kitchen stadium is in Kagas castle. Also in residence are three Iron Chefs, each representing a different type of cuisine (Chinese, French and Japanese). The summoned culinary challenger picks which Iron Chef he wants to take a crack at and the contest begins. The show was originally created by the Fuji TV network in the Japan, and the original Japanese title translates literally to The Iron Men of Cooking.

Adding even more 'spice' to the show--each dish must include the 'theme ingredient' which is kept a mystery until immediately before the competition begins. With great pomp and amid smoke and pyrotechnics, Kaga reveals the 'mystery ingredient'. Sometimes it'll be something basic like apples or tofu, other times it's more obscure like ox tail or some otherworldly shellfish.

At that point, the chefs have an hour to prepare a seven course meal, served to a discerning panel of B-List celebrities that usually include a couple of 'TV Presenters' and a 'fortune teller'. The judges rate and discuss each course and declare a winner. Its a great honor to beat one of the Iron Chefs, though its no easy feat.

What really brings the show together is the announcing. Theres a hysterical play by play announcer, an excitable color commentator, and an even more hyperactive sideline correspondent who will break in the commentary frequently with revelations such as observing that a chef is using fresh ginger in a dish or some similar piece of trivia. Apparently one of the announcers is a legit sumo wrestling announcer in Japan, making the strange juxtaposition between cooking shows and wrestling even more complete.

The dishes that are presented are always amazing and creative. Sometimes they might not be the most appetizing creations, but that's to be expected when you have to make a desert with something like pickled carp as a theme ingredient. The creative process and the competition is what makes the show a must watch.

The Food Network has recently begun production of a native grown version called 'Iron Chef America'. It has a similar format, but really loses a lot from the Fuji TV original. - 30215

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