We are currently going through a Golden Era of Jkick (Japanese Kickboxing), and as a foreign fan, I’m curious on how popular the sport is in Japan.
Are you aware of any big events, like THE MATCH 2022, or the NYE events?
Are the fighters popular? Have they crossed over to the mainstream?
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/zuvk0q/how_popular_is_jkick_in_japan/
6 comments
At the risk of disappointing you, I think it is rare that anyone, even martial arts fans, know about JKick. In my uninformed opinion, I have never heard of JKick before. I think that people who are not martial arts fans probably have no idea what JKick is, even if it is a big event.
Lived in Tokyo for 18 years, and this is the first I’ve heard of it.
What’s J-kick…? Even your description is vague. Is it just kickboxing, but in Japan?
Haven’t kept up much since I stopped training but K-1 looks like it got bought up and is still around and MMA on NYE is a staple even though the event changes name/organiser regularly.
I know of nasukawa tenshin and I think he’s pretty well known, but that’s about it for me
Ahh, that reminds me of my friends dad. He was a champion kickboxer back in the day. When I went over to their house he had all his trophies and a championship belt. I know he ended up going to Thailand for competitions. Retired now and makes konyaku. Lovely guy and family.