Please explain about Japanese fight-fans

[Ronin]

We all hear about how the Japanese are much more astute about martial arts than us stupid Americans. And certainly the behavior of the fans at MMA events is much better in Japan compared to the rednecks who show up at the UFC.

Yet, the Japanese have a strange fixation with their own pro-wrestlers, and seeing them demolish "bad foreigners", even in worked fights like Takada/Coleman. Whereas the MMA community here (such as this forum and the UG), is much more diverse, and cheers for Brazilians, Japanese, and Russians, as well as Americans.

What is up with this? Are the Japanese just super-patriotic, or are they not quite as knowledgable as their reputation suggests? Do they care if fights are real or worked, or do they just want to see "their guy" win? Those in the know, please explain.

[Ryu (non-working password]

To my knowledge, they are just "rooting for their home team" so to speak. The Japanese enjoy seeing "Nippon" win out over the challengers. So I guess it's a very patriotic kind of feeling, but not really in any kind of rascist sense at all. A lot of young Japanese are not patriotic for their country at all haha, but when it comes to sports...well they want to see "their boys" win. I don't think it's much different from the chants of USA that usually float through a lot of UFC's and such.
Japanese love "underdogs", and the "Japanese hero" winning out in the end. So yeah it's patriotic. But I probably can't explain it that well. I'll ask some of my friends

Take care,
Ryu

[E1am]

Fight fans vs. MMA community

Yes Japanese fight fans are a lot more knowledgable about MA and especially grappling than your average American fight fan. The grappling knowledge must come from the the popularity of judo (every public school kid does some judo as part of the PE curriculum) and the success of hard style pro wrestling. You really realize how much they know when you go to a live event (I went to both rounds of Pride GP 2000). The whole stadium will gasp and cheer when a guy starts doing a hip escape or sets up a reversal. But that doesn't mean that they won't (like most people in most countries) cheer for their man. As for fake fights, I don't think your average fight fan knows they are fake. The line has been blurred here between pro-wrestling and shoot for a while. And just because they know something about grappling doesn't mean they'll notice things like Coleman pulling his punches and then just leaving his leg out there for Takada. I mean it's not like Takada was doing elbow drops off the top rope. The MMA martial arts community here, though, is very diverese. The guys I train with at Gracie Japan were probably cheering for Renzo in his last fight. They are much more likely to like a fighter based on style, attitude, etc. than national origin. They don't like seeing worked fights, Takada fights, or poor match-ups just to get a Japanese win. A hardcore fight fan that I work with desribed Takada as "Mr. Fullhouse" to me, explaining why he kept getting to fight. But remember, your avergae fight fan in Japan isn't part of the MMA community. They're probably a pro wrestling fan looking to see a foreign heel get beat.

[SweepEm]

Good post, but a bit stereotyped.
Just as there are very knowlegeable fans in Japan, there are the clueless ones. And the same can be said here, not that all American MMA fans are named Joe Bob or Jethro and drive pick ups. If you can watch, they do play a few professional sports games in Japan, but whereas in American, there are many very rowdy fans, but in Japan, there isn't as much yelling or "trash" talking as let's say, a Yankee's ball game. A few years ago, I was watching an NBA game being played in Japan and it was almost too quiet.

For those that don't know, E1AM is an American, works and lives in Japan. Our resident forum idiot, Karl, hooked up with E1 in Japan to watch Pride Grand Prix. The pictures he brought back were unbelievable.

Just as other countries follow the World Cup of Soccer, Japan is very much more attentive to NHB and MMA competitions and many non-Japanese/Asian athletes are very well known.

I was talking to Marcus Vinicius, who accompaned Bas Rutten to Japan, and he said it was just astounding, Bas and him were walking down the street from the Pride arena to get something to eat and they were just mobbed by fans. I don't think they ever did get to eat.
Guys like Kerr, Rickson, Royce and others are walking legends in Japan, similar to Michael Jordan walking down a street in Europe, would get recognized and mobbed.
But each country has it's heros. Now, if you take the most famous soccer player from what ever country, he walks down the street here in an American city, I doubt if he would be recognized by any of the Americans here, it would probably be the foreigners.

[Shimora]

..

I imagine that you have never witnessed the way the foolish americans wet their pants at a WWF or WCW show?? What is wrong with these idiots? Dont they realise that WWF and WCW is fake? Obviously the Americans dont have any real martial arts knowlege or they would realize the stuff is fake. What about all the idiots that believed the UFC doesnt have works? Many of them were Americans.

I always think its hilarious how the stupid, ignorant, loud mouth Americans start chanting "U.S.A...U.S.A" whenever some backward ass hick American starts to show the advantage in a sporting competition. The fools were even doing it in Severn V Gracie in UFC4. What is it with these pathetic displays of exagerated patriotism? Do they really need to kid themselves all the time of their superiority?

No wonder the Japanese love to see Americans get their asses whupped. They deserve it.

[Karlinhos]

"forum idiot"???

uh, okay.

(lol)

[Ryu (non-working password]

Ugh, Shim....I'm afraid you're going to bring on some Japan bashing with that kind of talk...don't want to see that, so let's keep the America bashing to a minimum too. Sound good?

By the way, I had fun on your board! Good thing Mousel's is back up. I was getting bored without it.
Your board is pretty cool though, I must say.

Take care,
Ryu

[yusul]

Sweep, Ei: great posts and accuarate too. I'd like to add, the reason that the Japanese fans are quiet in all sports is cultural; they don't cheer until someone scores or makes an amazing play. They dont make constant noise like Euros at a football match or Americans during a playoff game. I watch NHL exhibition on TV there, and they only cheered when someone scored or almost scored. it was freaky.

Shimora: sorry dude, but you sound like you are a character straight out of American Pro Wrestling. dont u realize that most the people who post here are American? insulting them is not a great idea. In American, there are cool people, and brain-dead people. just like anywhere else.

[Ronin]

OK, here's what I have picked up so far:

There are more "casual" fans of MMA in Japan, many of which just want to see "their guy" win. They're not totally ignorant, but they don't REALLY understand the intricacies of the sport. They just want to be entertained, like the casual American wrestling fan.

Whereas, in the US, you tend to get either hardcore enthusiasts (us), or total morons. Is that about right?

[yusul]

sorry my last sentence should read "in America" instead of "in American".

Ronin: on the whole, there are more knowledgeable fans at a Japanese MMA than at an American MMA. this is because the majority of the knowledgeable, intelligent, people in the US who watch fighting events tend to watch boxing over of MMA, because boxing is more respected and established (not because boxing is more entertaining or anything). boxing causes a brain-drain in MMA fanworld in the U.S.

[Ronin]

yusul:

Right! And overall the Japanese fans may be smarter, but that doesn't make all of them MMA geniuses. I've got it now, I think.

Hope I haven't offended any Asians with this question.

[Lacrymosa]

I think the martial arts and fighting events are a bit more mainstream in Nippon than they are here. I don't think it's unusual that the Japanese fans are any more patriotic than American fans....especially when you bring pro-wrestling into the picture.

Only in American Pro-Wrestling:

Do you hear the chant of "U-S-A...U-S-A" during a match between a wrestler named "The American Bodyslammer" (who is originally from New Jersey) and a wrestler named "Ivan the Roudy Russian" (who is originally from Ohio).

[Ronin]

Please Lac, let's not talk about it!

I will never understand.

[Tony10]

I think casual fans who don't know anything about the fighters will just go with what they know: "Hey! That guy's an American at least! WAHOO! U...S...A"

Face it: most of us Americans didn't know who the f&^! Royce Gracie was or most of those guys in those first UFCs. I'm sure that crowd didn't, either. So when Severn--looking like your garden-variety American lumberjack--gets mounted on that skinny tan guy with the kimono, it makes sense that Ole' Glory's gonna start riding up that pole. Especially when you're on you're fourth PBR.

American sports crowds hate a void, so what better way to get the crowd-participation going than the Golden Oldie U-S-A chant? One can conjure only so many peanut-gallery shouted observations ("You SUCK!") before the need for mob activity sets in. Thus, you get U Suck from All of us.

It's like the Springer thing: "JER-RY, JER-RY." Some mobile home mama pimp-slaps her stepdaughter for sleeping with her brother/uncle, and people start cheering "JER-RY." What's Jerry got to do with it?! Unless the brother/uncle's name is "Jerry," one can only conclude that the crowd--now whipped into a frenzy--must vocalize their excitement but are faced with limited choices:

a) "WHAAAAA!" Good, but taxing.
b) "U-S-A" Preaching to the converted
c) "JER-RY" Easy to remember! Two syllables! Sold.

Anyway...

I think Americans demand more instant gratification than Japanese audiences. So if there's a lull in the action--as when Severn's tattooed on Royce for 15 minutes--Americans are gonna create their own action. What quicker way to do that then go with whatcha know? I don't know if you can do the wave around the cage (those sightlines!), "Y.M.C.A." would be totally inappropriate in this setting for reasons that most still apparently don't understand, and "Kumbaya" is definitely a buzzkill.

And besides: do you know anybody who really knows the words to the national anthem ("Oh say does that star spangled.. banner ....ere um doo doodoo...for the la-yand of the free..)?

Cultural imperialism? Rabid nationalism? No.

Drunken yahoos? Bingo.

[YeLLa-TiGeR]

Ok this is going off on a tangent here, but I think you guys would find this info. I read interesting.
Did you know Japanese athletes tend to say "Im sorry"? Also tremendous pressure is on them to win sporting events in international competition. In sydney, many japanese watched the soccer game with Japan VS Brazil and the next day took a plane back and went to work. Its almost like a sense of duty!
Kokichi Tsuburaya finished 3rd at the Tokyo games and four years later he slashed his wrists in his dormitory. Moments before he said "I commited an inexcusable blunder in front of the japanese people."
The media also puts a tremendous pressure on the athletes. Tomoko Hagiwara finshed 7th in the 200m.
"What was the cause of your poor performance?" was the first question asked by the press.

Hows that for pressure???