Janai Kai‘s journey to Japan brought along some amazing memories, but she’s aiming to make some more.
Earlier this year, Janai Kai received the opportunity to fulfill her dream of traveling to Japan. Tying together her love of wrestling and travel, “The Kick Demon” competed in a pair of matches for Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW). On February 11, Kai teamed with Hikari Noa to defeat Rika Tatsumi and Yuki Aino at Korakuen Hall. A week later, though, Kai was met with an even bigger task — challenging for the International Princess Championship. As such, Kai stepped up to face Miu Watanabe for the title.
Despite her eventual loss to Watanabe, Janai Kai admitted that she learned a lot from the trip. Speaking with WrestleZone’s own Ella Jay, Kai reflected on her experience in Japan.
“So, I’ve been still trying to, to think back, to really think about what exactly did I learn? I do feel like I’ve grown personally, and I just don’t know how to explain it because it’s an overall experience that I just really wish that everyone can go through,” Janai said. “And it’s just something around the around the lines where it’s like, you’re by yourself in another country because that’s basically what I was going through. I’m by myself in another country. Okay, now I’m really taking in how it is to be kind of like a professional wrestler in a sense, where now I’m at another level.”
“I was able to have guidance from other people that were over there too. I was able to meet up with some people and really learn from them how it is wrestling in Japan. And so, I learned a lot from them when it comes to that and just how to continue to go back over there, because I do want to go back to Japan and continue to wrestle there. So, I was asking a lot of questions around that. But also, just observing how they do work over there and how things go down, it definitely is different when it comes to organization because they’re really on point with certain things when it comes to taking care of the wrestlers and how the whole itinerary is for the whole day.”
“The way that I experienced it, the show was early in the day, and it wasn’t at night like how it usually is over here in the [United] States where the show is later at night. Some in the morning, but like typically it’s later on at 7 or 8 p.m. when the shows happen. But over there, you’re doing a show like at 12 p.m. or even like 3, I would say is the latest. And then once you’re done with the show, you have like the rest of the day to do whatever. That’s also something that I’ve realized.”
Kai stated that her journey to Japan definitely lived up to her expectations, but she wants to do and see even more. Of the scenes she did have time to absorb, Kai recalls particularly enjoying Japan’s fashion hubs.
“So, I was very much into Japanese fashion, so I really wanted to go to the hotspots like Harajuku or Shibuya. I wanted to see all of that, which I did. It was great because I saw a lot of the Japanese fashion brands there too. And it was just so cool because I was like, ‘Man!’ I used to buy Japanese magazines and it was like literally studying these fashion brands. I was a fashion student too, so that’s part of the reason why I was very much into it. And so that was like the main thing that I loved seeing.”
Watch our full interview with Janai Kai below:
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