Yamato-Damashii Diaries – Day 2: Fukushima

Filed under: JapanIn the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his n…

Filed under:

In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis in Japan.

On day two, we visit an evacuation center on the edge of the Fukushima evacuation zone, assist a man who gave Inoue his start in Japan and we start to hear dire stories of things to come.



Yamato-Damashii Diaries – Day 3: The Town That Was Taro

Filed under: JapanIn the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his n…

Filed under:

In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis in Japan.

On day three, we stocked up on supplies despite financial issues, relive the nightmare of the tsunami and try to find the town that was Taro.

Yamato-Damashii Diaries – Day 1: Tokyo to Fukushima

Filed under: JapanIn the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his n…

Filed under:

In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been on a one-man charity mission, traveling to northeast Japan to directly help those in need.

For his next visit to the Tohoku region, MMA Fighting joined Inoue to document the journey and bring new light to the ongoing crisis in Japan.

On day one, we made our way from Tokyo to Fukushima through ongoing earthquakes, attempted to deal with massive funding issues and we met the man who introduced Enson Inoue to the Japanese underworld.

Enson Inoue Discusses Charity Work, Life in Evacuation Centers

Filed under: JapanIn the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Genki Sudo, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Ryo Chonan and many more members of the MMA community have rallied to raise money for those affected by the disasters, cr…

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In the wake of the March 11 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Genki Sudo, Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Ryo Chonan and many more members of the MMA community have rallied to raise money for those affected by the disasters, creating volunteer programs and even personally driving trucks full of supplies to northern Japan.

Former Shooto heavyweight champion and Pride veteran Enson Inoue has been among those who have traveled to northeast Japan to directly help earthquake and tsunami victims. MMA Fighting spoke with Inoue about his experiences during the earthquake, his charity work in the aftermath and the grim realities in the Tohoku region that you do not see on TV.

Enson Inoue’s 750-Mile Vision Quest is Off to a Rocky Start

(Enson Inoue, shown here during a rare outpouring of genuine emotion. PicProps: Tune-In Tokyo)
In case any of you missed the reports this morning that former Pride fighter, weed enthusiast and rumored Yakuza Enson Inoue has embarked on a 1,200-kilomete…


(Enson Inoue, shown here during a rare outpouring of genuine emotion. PicProps: Tune-In Tokyo)

In case any of you missed the reports this morning that former Pride fighter, weed enthusiast and rumored Yakuza Enson Inoue has embarked on a 1,200-kilometer spiritual journey on the Japanese island of Shikoku, here’s the Spark Notes version: Inoue is attempting to complete the island’s celebrated “88 Temples Pilgrimage,” in which travelers don white clothes and sedge hats in order to retrace the steps of a famous Buddhist monk said to have made the journey in the latter stages of the eighth century. Given that it’s now 2010, most people do it by bus, but that’s apparently not old-school enough for Inoue. He plans to walk the nearly 750 miles, even though he’s been warned that he might die from the heat.

Also, since no 21st-Century spiritual journey would be complete without continuous, near real-time commentary from the pilgrim himself, Inoue is going to be updating his blog the whole way. Anyway, it’s now day two of the walk and so far, things don’t seem to be going so well …

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