September 9, 2026
Hello!! It’s Thursday, the day right after the middle of the week!
Every week, I always struggle right up until the day before trying to decide what to write for this column. I usually have a few different candidates in mind, but I think about it until the very last minute before deciding, “This is the one for this week!” and writing it all out.
I’m actually writing this on Wednesday. Yesterday, we had wrestling practice, and since we had some time to kill before our night bus, Manami-san and I went to a bathhouse and grabbed some food. While we were talking, it hit me—”This is it!”—so this week, I’m going to talk about Manami-san and Yurika-san!
Yesterday after wrestling practice, Manami-san and I went to a bathhouse. A lot of bathhouses are in places you can’t really get to without a car, so they were never places I frequented. But recently, I’ve had more opportunities to go, and I’ve finally realized how great they are. I also realized the appeal of saunas for the very first time.
We spent forever chatting about silly, trivial things in the bath. Since I haven’t been in saunas much, I had Manami-san teach me the ropes. We went from the sauna to the cold bath to resting in the open air, and just from that first cycle, I completely understood the feeling of totonou! It was a level of comfort I had never felt in any sauna I’d been to before… I honestly thought, “I could fall asleep right here. I don’t want to move.”
After getting out of the bath, I had some coffee milk and Manami-san had some fruit milk, and we were absolutely buzzing. Afterward, we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner. When I’m with Manami-san, there’s never a silent moment. We must have talked non-stop for about five hours. We really just talk forever, to the point where you’d wonder what we even have left to talk about. It’s almost scary. For more details, please go read Manami-san’s blog!
Yurika-san has also opened up to me recently, and we talk about all sorts of things. (Though she firmly insists that she hasn’t opened up at all.) Yurika-san is the senior wrestler (senpai) whose career length is closest to mine, and whenever I’m overthinking things, she’s the very first senpai I want to go to for advice. But since she’s shy, she still won’t look me in the eye when we talk.
Even though Manami-san, Yurika-san, and I talk almost every single day like this now, at first, it wasn’t an environment where we could chat casually. In fact, there were a lot of times where I felt a bit of a wall between us, and even when we did speak, it was strictly about work. At the time, I had a fellow trainee (douki) debuting alongside me, so my stance was generally, “If anything happens, the two of us will handle it together.” But then, my douki quit. Suddenly, everything the two of us had been doing together, I had to do on my own. To be completely honest, that was really tough at first. However, that was also one of the biggest reasons that made me realize I needed to get my act together and become stronger.
I’ve never been a particularly put-together person to begin with, and looking back, I think I was way too easy on myself and completely underestimated how hard things would be (laughs). Because that happened, and because I had senpai who guided me, I am who I am today. From that point on, I slowly started getting “used” to Manami-san. (What a way to phrase it, right?) Since we’re the same age anyway, our topics of conversation and overall wavelengths match up perfectly. I selfishly like to think we’ve built enough of a trusting relationship that I can even make a hashtag like #ManamisanQuotes (#愛海さん語録).
Being able to hold a proper conversation with Yurika-san is something that’s only happened within the last year or so (laughs). Whenever we spoke, it really was only about work. I didn’t even know if it was okay to talk to her casually, so it just stayed like that forever (laughs). But as I started talking to her little by little, we eventually got to the point where we could have normal, everyday conversations—and now it’s escalated to the point where she even messes up my bangs! Every time we talk, I’m reminded that while they both seem incredibly innocent and carefree, they absolutely love pro-wrestling and Sendai Girls. They are so passionate and have so many different deep thoughts on the business.
Manami-san, Yurika-san, and I are often grouped together as Sendai Girls’ wakate (rookies), but Manami-san is in the 9th year of her career, and Yurika-san is in her 7th. They aren’t rookies at all! Even though our ages are the same, they are my absolute seniors in terms of career length. That being said, I strongly believe that it is up to us, with our combined power, to keep changing Sendai Girls for the better.
Sometimes they both mess up their Japanese or do things that make you do a double-take, but they are senpai that I truly, deeply love. I will continue to follow them, and one day, I will surpass them.
To change the subject completely: some fan letters arrived at the dojo, and reading them really tugged at my heartstrings. There are people out there who feel motivated to do their best because of my words. Just knowing that my experiences are giving someone else strength makes me so incredibly happy! Physical letters really are the best! Thank you all so much!
This has gotten pretty long, but there’s something I’ve wanted to start doing since Chapter 2! It’s the “Song of the Week!” So, I’ll say goodbye by leaving you with a song recommendation! See you next week!
BUZZ THE BEARS Ashita e to (Toward Tomorrow)
Translator’s Notes:
- Totonou (整う): A slang term deeply embedded in Japanese sauna culture. It literally means “to be arranged” or “put in order,” but refers to the euphoric, meditative trance-like state (a “sauna high”) achieved by repeatedly cycling through a hot sauna, a cold plunge, and an outdoor air bath.
- Coffee Milk & Fruit Milk: In Japan, traditional public bathhouses (sento) frequently sell chilled glass bottles of flavored milk. Drinking these right out of the bath is a culturally beloved post-soak tradition. “Buzzing” (キマりまくりました – kimarimakurimashita) is used here as slang for the incredible, giddy high they felt after completing their sauna cycle and drinking their milk.
- Douki (同期): A term used for individuals who join a company or a wrestling dojo in the exact same class. It signifies a unique, deep bond between trainees who go through the grueling early days together.
- Senpai (先輩): A senior colleague or mentor. In joshi puroresu, this hierarchical dynamic is strictly observed based on career length, not biological age (which YUNA points out when comparing her age to Manami’s and Yurika’s career lengths).
- Sendai Girls (仙女): In the original Japanese text, YUNA refers to the promotion as “Senjo” (仙女), which is the standard colloquial abbreviation for Sendai Girls’ Pro Wrestling.
- Wakate (若手): A term referring to the younger generation of wrestlers or the rookies in a promotion.