(Big Japan) Kazuki Hashimoto interview - September 2018

Puroresu Weekly 

"You have finally taken the BJW Junior Championship? This is your first singles one?"
Kazuki says that he has been the six person Yokohama Shopping Street Champion, but this belt felt like a "faraway presence". He says that he still can't quite believe he has finally gotten a singles belt.

Roughly translated, the interviewer tells him that he should rejoice, because he's made a big achievement, but the former champion (Shinobu) had told him that his challenge was unworthy, and he should take to heart what he was told, and he didn't think he could take the battle for the Junior Championship. He is asked his thoughts on Shinobu who had been champion for over a year since July 2017?
Kazuki replies that "to be honest, when I had the championship fight I was thinking that Yoshino Tatsuhiko and I are people who were moved to do something about SOS or Shinobu, while some people did nothing." It seems he wanted to create somewhere where he would fit in, so it was worth fighting for that. He says that when fighting Shinobu and Senga, they had no sense of justice or beliefs, and he wasn't allowed to progress. Kazuki says that if you bring those things to the match, then it makes you strong. Some people would think that he hates it, while others think that he is grateful for it. He says that either way, it costs nothing, and the audience feels it. 

The interviewer asks him about his new fighting style, which he appears to have done after a transformation.
"What do you mean by that? During the period from the end of the first championship league to taking the belt, was a time when to be honest, I lost track of wrestling. It was dreadful. I began to wonder whether I wanted to be a professional wrestler, and it was painful when I thought of the answer. I had challenged Shinobu, and I had lost, and it was becoming more obvious. That's why I changed...I changed my way of thinking, and I feel like I can enjoy it now".
Q: So it felt great to take the belt?
Kazuki says that even before that he felt it, especially the moment when something changed when he gave the elbow to Shinobu in the pre-matches. He thought that he would go with intuition, rather than confusing things by thinking too deeply about them. He says that when he looks back on the past and how he fought, he thinks "this is not me", he feels that he was confined only to the juniors and doing junior division things. He felt trapped, and it was a troubling period for him.
The interviewer tries to bring him back round to the fact that he has taken the belt.
Kazuki seems fixated that he feels he cannot do anything foolish, and has strong feelings on the subject. He says he is being honest, and he won't hesitate. He says he is doing this for the Big Japan Juniors. He says that he overthinks things, but in a way it has been fun to be so thoughtful as it takes his mind off things.

Getting back to the belt, they discuss death-matches, and it is pointed out that the junior belt, is not a death-match belt, even if you are a hardcore wrestler you cannot defend it in that way. (It doesn't translate well, but I think he says that he would like to, after all, he is the one who is the "site manager" for them, who is responsible for everything from setting them up in the ring and taking the safety measures during the match).

Next year it will be his tenth anniversary in wrestling.
His parents were not initially pleased with his chosen career, and told him that they would only agree to it if he left after five years if he hadn't got a belt during that time, at that point nothing would bloom into anything of any significance, and he would have to search for a different job. Fortunately, this was not the case, and nothing became unclear. He was able to keep in sync with the other juniors, and he was inspired by Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Shunsuke Sayama. There is only gratitude towards them, and for the other seniors, and those who "like waterfalls" are from other places. All have affected him.

"I wonder if it is my gratitude to them to make the juniors better, or even make Big Japan better. It is my ten year anniversary, but I don't want to get caught up in numbers, I want to look to the future of the company."
Q: Are you now in a position to change the junior division in Big Japan, or have you not started yet?
"I think it started with taking the belt. I think that this started with Strong-J. I want to do more and more title matches with sweat and blood. I have many thoughts and many feelings".