Japanese martial artist victim?

A Japanese national has spent the last few weeks convincing members of the martial arts community in Metro Manila that he is a professional fighter and big-time sports promoter in his native country. In recent days, however, he has rapidly lost credibility with local contacts and partners, and may have even run afoul of the law.

This individual, whom we shall hide under the alias “M”, sought to partner with a well-respected businessman who is also an official of a worldwide martial arts body to boost his credibility. The influential businessman showed his hospitality in welcoming the Japanese national into his expansive new gym in Makati. The two were supposed to be partners in teaching and promoting several martial arts, including a popular form of grappling in Japan called catch wrestling. Catch wrestling has a mysterious history, but some believe it is an amalgam of English, Irish, Indian and Greek freeform grappling styles. Legendary 1970’s Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki, who fought in an exhibition card against Muhammad Ali, was a practitioner.

M showed off pictures of himself with well-known MMA, karate and muaythai personalities, and promised to invite members of Japanese media to a dinner to announce the partnership. He also introduced his Filipino assistant/secretary, a karateka and mixed martial arts practitioner who would photograph the proceedings. He bragged that he was very well connected in the international martial arts community and knew everybody, and even met with a Filipino sports media practitioner to arrange for press coverage of his planned promotions. Everyone gave him the benefit of the doubt.

At a lavish dinner in a Chinese restaurant at a casino complex near NAIA Terminal III on May 5, the two new partners signed their agreement. M reveled in the moment, smiling widely at the attention he got during the photo-op. He introduced a Japanese partner who he said would invest with him. This is where the story starts to get fishy.

After the dinner, the group moved to a well-known club in the casino complex. There, M proceeded to order bottles of expensive alcohol. His Filipino assistant, wanting to help keep his boss’ expenses down, told him that a particular bottle cost thousands of pesos. M waved him off, irked that an underling was keeping him from having fun. He was out to impress people, after all. The assistant wanted to leave early while there was still available public transportation available outside. The assistant alleges that later on in the evening, M reprimanded him for the incident and punched him in the face, saying he was a subordinate and inferior fighter and he had a lot of money. Even after the assistant left the scene, he claims M sent him text messages insulting him.

M claims that on the way home early Sunday morning, he and his Japanese partner were involved in a traffic accident near the airport. He alleges that his friend was held for days and had his passport seized by police. This supposedly caused him to delay pursuing his agreements with his Filipino businessman friend and media contact, whom he had repeatedly promised to compensate for services agreed upon. Despite the alleged assault, M even called back his Filipino assistant for help, since his Japanese partner spoke very little English.

Throughout the week, M alternately claimed that his partner’s passport was being he held hostage by authorities, and that a large ransom was being demanded. He said his partner’s visa expired middle of last week and this caused additional problems. M also claimed to have sought refuge at the Japanese embassy, but still promised to pursue his agreement with his media contact and business partner. Contrary to M’s claims, his Filipino business partner says M even tried to borrow money to bail his Japanese partner out of their dilemma.

As the weekend approached, M’s media contact asked friends in the industry to investigate the incident and provide assistance, as M alleged that he was being threatened not to talk to anyone and that his car had further been impounded. But when reporters tried calling him, he either did not answer his phone or told them to call back the following day, contrary to the urgency he had expressed earlier. The reporters and even his Filipino business partner called their police contacts, who in turn could not trace the incident or either the Japanese national. When his concerned media contact inquired what was going on, he instead gave his Japanese partner’s supposed mobile number and said he was “tired and needed rest”, and was leaving the Philippines to pursue projects elsewhere. In short, he was dropping everything that he had proudly set out to do. As of this writing, his assistant has not filed any possible assault charges which could prevent his departure.

This raises several questions. Why would the predicament of M’s business partner cause M to leave the country when he’s not the one in trouble? Secondly, passports and visas can be replaced; why did he not solve the problem that way? Third, why didn’t he patch things up with his assistant, knowing that their conflict could add to his problems? Fourth, why was M refusing help from the media and turning over inquiries to his partner who supposedly spoke almost no English? How come verification of events has been non-existent so far?

The story gets curiouser and curiouser.