Whatever happened to.....?

[wolf4537]

This is a topic to post about all former competitors that no longer appear on Sasuke and to discuss why they are no longer competing or where are they now.

So it seems like Hibari and Kinnikun Nakiyama just quit, I wonder what they are doing now.

Also, does Naoki Ikatani (sp?) still compete?

[lostinube]

Iketani still competes.

Nakayama Kinnikun took a break from the Japanese entertainment world in 2006 and moved to America to work on various things but he's back in Japan now. He tried to reclaim his crown as Geinojin Sportsman No. 1 but wasn't successful.

Hibari has worked for various new-half "show pubs" in Tokyo. No idea as to the current working situation though.

[scnoi1217]

I remember seeing a video of Hibari auditioning for the Muscle Musical around 2005, other than that, I haven't seen too much of her/him/it. Kinnikun I know quit Sasuke in 2005 because of the course redesign, or at least that was what I was told.

What about Masāki Kobayashi? Whatever happened to him?

[lostinube]

Masaaki Kobayashi 小林正明 is running a sort of physical eduction school for children:
www.cocoro-presents.com/
Profile: www.facenetwork.co.jp/sports/kobayashi_masaaki.html

[Zorn]

does anyone know what happened to ken hasegawa?
why did he stop competiting after sasuke 3?

[Homeslice]

Man, I hope Masaaki comes back. He did well during his time in SASUKE and that's a guy we haven't talked about much.

As for Hasegawa, I don't think he stopped after 3. G4 fast forwards show clips of him failing the First Stage until at least the 9th or 10th competition. But yeah, he fell off after doing so well before, and I guess he finally had enough. Same could be said for the construction worker, Eiichi Miura (who hadn't been shown in full since failing the Pipe Slider in Sasuke 4).

[Zorn]

Really? I thought the japanese wiki entry said he only competed 3 times, or is this false information?

[scnoi1217]

Eiichi Miura I know competed 9 times (in the 1st 9 tournaments). He almost always wore #40 and in Sasuke 9 he failed the Jump Hang while wearing #40.

Also, Ken Hasagawa only competed 3 times (Sasuke 1-3), according to the Japanese wiki.

[Homeslice]

Well, in the 2nd tournament, I know Miura wore #30 (he failed the Pipe Slider then as well) and then in the 3rd I saw him wear #83 (that was when he unexpectedly went out on the Barrel Climb).

As for Hasegawa, hmmm. I could swear that someone of his similar stature - and ninja gear - was seen failing a few times during fast forwards (I think he failed the Quintuple Step on one of those if I'm not mistaken). Then again, I could be goin' crazy.

What about another face from the past: Hiroaki Yoshizaki? He hasn't competed in many tournaments either. I think the last time I saw him in full was the 6th tournament where he couldn't pass the Warped Wall (I think he came back a couple more times but it wasn't shown in full).

[Zorn]

Speaking of old competitors i read an entry on the japanese sasuke wiki and it said that Toyohisa Ijima (AKA Bruce Lee lookalike) competited in sasuke 14 but timed out on the 1st stage's rope climb.

[lostinube]

On one hand, the Japanese wiki has incomplete information since most of what they have is based on the original broadcasts that exist only amongst people's video tape collections. They are starting to fill in information (notably from the 1st SASUKE) using Ninja Warrior. On the other hand, one would expect that someone out there might know something about a person getting cut for that long.

For what it's worth, the Chinese wiki has the exact same info (Hasegawa competed only three times) and they've been pretty good about keeping things accurate.

Also, last I checked, Hasegawa was still working here: www.edowonderland.net/nikko/index.html

[Homeslice]

Interesting. I know that happened to him in 11 (posing much, anyone?) but I had no idea on 14. Guess he got cut then, dunno. Kinda too bad we didn't see him back for 20.

[scnoi1217]

14 had a lot of little gems that missed the G4 broadcast, such as Masami Yusa beating the Jump Hang.

I'd say the Chinese wiki is probably the most accurate out of all of them. They have access to the original broadcasts since JET TV shows Sasuke in its original form. Problem is, the Chinese to English translator isn't that good.

[Homeslice]

Yusa cleared the Jump Hang? Damn G4! I want to see that!

Another person I wonder about: where is Terukazu Ishikawa? He put on a show in 14, and that was, I think, the only time he appeared.

[scnoi1217]

Yusa beat the Crooked Wall too, but G4 didn't show that either. You'd think that would be important since she's the only woman to do so in competition. Ishikawa, I'm pretty sure only competed once. I have seen the full Sasuke 15 broadcast (not G4's) and he wasn't shown at all, then again neither was Hiroyuki Asaoka but that was his last tournament. Ishikawa did compete in Viking later on in 2005 (after Sasuke 14), beat the 1st Marine Stage but then got eliminated in the Brain Ship Stage.

[RiderLeangle]

Brain Ship stage?

[arsenette]

Yeah Viking had some pretty wierd stages LOL

[RiderLeangle]

Well what exactly is it? I know of the marine stage, the adventure stage, the divided in two parts Fantasy stage (which is too easy, they have it two seperate parts and let someone else go on the heartbreaker between it from what I can tell, or maybe that was just for Nagano (so THATS where he learned it! )) and the Final, but not the Brain Ship, what is that anyways?

[arsenette]

brain stage is where they go and have to remember numbers in a particular order when it's flashed in front of them.

Nagano also had to do the Bio Clock after that Viking sign (another thing the English broadcast decided to omit).. luckily he made it past or he would have never made it to the final.

And I have no bloody clue about you thinking the 2nd stage was easy.. there is no break..he did it right after the other. First part is timed.. second he gets on it. Again.. you are missing something. It doesn't stop after the timed part.

[scnoi1217]

Yea, the Brain Ship Stage was between the 1st and 2nd Stages. The 10 competitors were split into groups of five and from those groups, one person was eliminated. They were shown a series of numbers which they had to memorize and then write down from memory. The person with the most mistakes lost, so Terukazu Ishikawa and Kosuke Yamaguchi got eliminated and 8 people attempted the timed part of the 2nd Stage, where only 2 people made it to the Heartbreaker.