Hana Kimura - RIP

I'm utterly shocked and dismayed. With great sadness, it was announced today that popular joshi wrestler Hana Kimura has died. It seems very likely that she took her own life, as determined by some distressing photos and tweets she posted in the past 24 hours. She was 22 years old.

Kimura was the daughter of Kyoko Kimura, a popular joshi wrestler in own right. She officially entered pro wrestling at 18 years old and soon was labeled as a natural for the business and a very charismatic performer. She worked her way up to the midcard in various joshi promotions but was often too popular to just stay there. Kimura eventually found a home in Stardom, the top joshi promotion, joining the dastardly group Oedo Tai. In 2019, during the promotion's near annual faction shakeup, she earned the right to lead her own group, later dubbed Tokyo Cyber Squad. Her last match was on March 24 against Stardom's ace Mayu Iwatani as part of the Cinderella Tournament.

Kimura found international fame beyond the wrestling ring by appearing in the recent season of the popular Netflix reality show Terrace House. Unfortunately, this exposure proved to be unwise, as her aggressive attitude and athletic appearance led to extensive hate mail and trolling. Netflix and Fuji TV announced they are postponing all future episodes until further notice given the news today.

This has been an absolutely god awful week for pro wrestling. It was already going to be bad with the release of the Owen Hart episode of Dark Side of the Ring, but it was made worst by the tragic death of Shad Gaspard, the passing of writer Larry Csonka, the sudden retirement of Arisa Hoshiki, and the numerous injuries at the recent AEW live taping. But this really has hurt me to the core. Like many joshi fans, I fell in love with Hana Kimura when she first started and was eager to see her career continue to flourish once the pandemic subsided. Alas, it was not meant to be.

She will sorely be missed.

Thoughts On The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 Turned Celebration

In a better timeline, I would right now be nervously standing in line to enter the Rotterdam Ahoy convention centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Alas, as practically everybody likes to remind you on the internet, we reside in the darkest timeline.

I was very looking forward to making 2020 an amazing year in my life. I eagerly wanted to cross something off my bucket list for quite some time, namely traveling abroad. I could even tried to hit two birds with one stone, since I had added "attend Eurovision" to the list since falling in love with the song contest back in 2017. Luck was on my side when I was able to score an arena floor ticket for the first semi-final of this year's Eurovision during the second wave of tickets. I then set my mind to making the dream even more of a reality, first by finally getting a passport and then locking down flights and hotel arrangements, possibly even through a travel agency. I was also going crazy on what to do for this website and how to properly post my thoughts while basking in the glow of the contest and my vacation. Unfortunately, reality didn't want to cooperate. I got a nasty flu in February that took me out for more than a week and severely hurt my enthusiasm. And then less than a month later, the COVID-19 pandemic proceeded to force the cancellation of Eurovision.

I imagined a lot about what I was going to do during the first semi-final. I would break out of my hard shell and chatted to the other contest goers. Since I'm American, maybe I could help them out in cheering for their homeland. I would have tried to dance amid the tightness of the arena floor to The Roop and Little Big. Hell, maybe I would even do VAL's little routine as well. I would have felt the power of The Mamas and clapped along. I would have been moved to tears or had goosebumps after listening to Ulrikke, Roxen and Damir Kedžo. Those dreams and thoughts now sadly will never happen.

Since the cancellation, my Eurovision love took a hit. Not an enormous hit, as I still listen to songs and partook in #EurovisionAgain, but significant enough to hurt me. Thankfully, the global fan community, the bloggers, the podcasters, and even the EBU and this year's selected representatives have gone above and beyond in their attempts to lift up a world stricken with fear, anxiety, and death. Instead of a contest, this year we will be celebrating the Eurovision Song Celebration. A bit corny but considering that I along with millions of people spent months rooting for artists after many national finals and song drops, it's a deserving choice.

Instead of attending the first semi-final today, I will be watching the first part of the Eurovision Song Celebration on YouTube. Artists who were set to compete in the first semi-final will be performing in the intended running order determined by the show's producers. Special guests are also set to appear.

Before I go, I would like to share my brief opinions on this year's entries.

First up, here's my top ten favorite songs from this year's Eurovision in alphabetical order:

Bulgaria

Croatia

Czech Republic

Germany

Iceland

Latvia

Lithuania

Norway
Russia

Sweden

Sadly, I didn't get my non-fan father to participate this year and give out his fav five. He was too busy being stuck as a winter bird under lockdown for the past two months. So to supplement this exclusion, here are some ancillary awards:

Biggest Guilty Pleasure

Ireland

Biggest "Don't Believe The Hype"

Serbia

Biggest On The Fence

Belgium

Biggest Save From Certain Non-Qualification

Czech Republic

Most Likely To End Up Second Or Third Despite Fan Hype

Lithuania and Iceland

Most Likely To Win The Contest

Norway

Most Likely To Win The Barbara Dex Award

Australia, Latvia, or San Marino