(NOAH) "Donmai, Donmai" ~ Mitsuharu Misawa's diary ~ 5th October 2007

Cheers! It's gotten a lot cooler, but has anyone caught a cold? For me, the weather has become much more comfortable. I'm wondering if I should wear long sleeves or short sleeves. Even in winter, when I wear a jumper, I usually wear a short-sleeved shirt or T-shirt underneath, so I never put away my short sleeves. 

Well, last week I had a GHC match in Osaka, and I managed to defend my title. Thank you to all the fans who came to watch. On the day, there was a title match signing ceremony in the ring, and some people were making fun of Marufuji. When I heard them, I thought, "If they do that to me, I'll say something back", but when it was me, they didn't say anything, and I couldn't say anything. Everyone, let's refrain from heckling in a way that will upset other fans.

This time, it was a rare one-off tournament in Osaka, so I went into the match in a different mental state than usual. It's hard to put into words how it was different, but I think I fought with a good sense of tension. I would like to thank all the fans who came to watch SEM the next day as well. I didn't have a match, but I came to the venue, watched the matches*, and then returned to Tokyo. There was a singles match between Taniguchi and Marufuji, and I found myself saying to Marufuji, "It must be tough the day after the title match," and "have some sympathy for him." Both of them had cuts above their eyes and went to the hospital right afterwards. No matter how careful you are, injuries can't be avoided...

Now let me answer Shio's question.

I first lived alone after I came back from Mexico, so I was probably about twenty-one or twenty-two. The first things you need are a refrigerator and a washing machine. Washing machines are expensive now, but when I was young, they weren't that expensive, but it was just when fully automatic washing machines started to become available. I didn't like fully automatic washing machines, so I got a twin-tub washing machine. Young people may not know this, but the twin-tub type takes less time overall, the laundry is done faster, and it's more flexible in many ways. By the way, the first spin dryer I saw had rollers like a noodle machine that squeezed the water out of the laundry, and in the manga "The Record of Boy Hanada," there was a scene where a frog got stuck in them, and I fondly remembered that while reading it. Now that I think about it, I guess Boy Hanada and I are about the same age. That's not really important, but if you're living alone, if it's the same price, it's better to live in a slightly larger place. Also, it's better to have separate toilets and bathrooms. Our job often requires us to come home in the middle of the night and do laundry, so soundproofing is essential so that we can do laundry then. Naturally, the necessities of a wrestler are of course an air conditioner, but if you want immediate results, you should also have an electric fan. Running the air conditioner and electric fan at the same time cools efficiently. Also, you might think that a small refrigerator is okay if you live alone because it's cheap, but this is a big mistake. Food that one person can't eat at once accumulates, and bottled water takes up a surprising amount of space, so a larger refrigerator might be better. Also, you need to be careful with food waste in the summer, because if you forget, and go on tour for a week or two, it's a huge mess when you get back. If you cook at home, be careful with your rice cooker. If you forget to use it and go out without turning it on, you'll be in for a shock. You should also be careful not to forget to turn off the lights. But I wonder if these are things you'll have to experience when you actually start living alone. By the way, I lived alone in Soshigaya - Okura and Futakotamagawa, which were close to the dojo at the time (this may be hard to understand for those outside of Tokyo, but both are residential areas in Setagaya). I have many stories of mistakes I made while living alone, but one that I remember was the time I fell asleep with the home phone unplugged and ended up being late for an event*. Apparently people from work called my house many times because I didn't come, but I was sleeping with the phone unplugged so there was no way I'd notice. At the time, we didn't have cell phones, let alone answering machines at home, so for a night owl like me, the only way to get a good night's sleep was to unplug the phone. That's why no one will wake you up when you're alone, so be careful not to oversleep. And if your phone is on too quiet, you won't notice. As I wrote, I think you'll gradually become more efficient at living alone by experiencing things one by one.

So, on that note, here are some questions for the next person in charge, Hirayanagi.

Autumn is in full swing, but what does autumn mean to you?

That's right, your recent matches have been really fun and I really like them. 

The Osaka tournament has just ended, but the October tour starts the day after tomorrow. There are two more tours left this year, including the one in October. We hope to finish the year on a good note. If you have time, please come and support us. This was Misawa, see you in two weeks! 

Notes

Misawa watching SEM: He used to watch from the balcony. 

Being late for an event: I'm trying to imagine Baba's most withering "Fool!" when he found out.   

"Donmai, Donmai" ~ Mitsuharu Misawa's diary