I started watching boxing seriously in early 1970’s. I was born and raised in Fukuoka the area where boxing events rarely happen. The only way to watch boxing was relying on TV and magazines. In those days, every world championship bout in which Japanese boxers fight were televised live in national TV networks. I dreamed about watching boxing bouts at the ringside not on TV. This childhood wish was finally realized when I moved to Tokyo for the change of my work place in 1992.
Tokyo is the center of Japan’s boxing as the headquarters of the Japan Boxing Commission is located and numerous boxing gyms inviting and promoting professional boxers. In addition to it, Tokyo has Korakuen Hall, the mecca of boxing, boasting the largest number of boxing bouts staged in the world. It is not Las Vegas or New York, but it is Tokyo that shows professional boxing events including world championship and regional title bouts most frequently in the world.
The reason why the center of Tokyo has such an enthusiasm and the large number of fight sports events is deeply rooted in the history of Tokyo where megalopolis Edo was under the Tokugawa Shogun regime for 265 years.
The Bushi (Samurai) class, the highest and ruling class was no longer in the state of war in the Edo period since the Tokugawa started reigning, but they were in principle required to be prepared for fighting in wars to support the regime. This means that they had to train themselves daily as much as possible as warriors to protect the Tokugawa Shogun in Edo.
The area I mainly cover is in Bushi residences which are very close connection with the Tokugawa Shogun of the Edo period. You can say that the Korakuen Hall is currently located in the middle of the domain where the residence of Mito Lord, the top bushi clan under the Tokugawa Shogun, was in place.
It is not a coincidence that the mecca of boxing exists in the domain of the highest class of warriors in the Edo period.
In the vicinity of the Korakuen hall, there is a number of shops selling budo and fight sport gears. Kendo, Judo, Jujitsu, Kyudo (Japanese archery) and other kinds of budo come from the must art of combat expertise among the bushi class.
As I explained in a historical perspective, it is no wonder why Japan has been flourishing as a nation of fight sports including boxing, kickboxing, MMA, sumo and all kinds of budo practices.
In Tokyo, the closest area to the Edo Castle in which the Tokugawa Shogun resides has naturally become the center of fight sports as well as the center of the Japanese government.
It is my utmost interest in watching the development of Japanese fight sports in Tokyo in line with introducing such information on Google Maps.