Masaki Sumitani

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Razor Ramon Hard Gay (レイザーラモンＨＧ Reizā Ramon HG?, occasionally HG, Razor Ramon Sumitani or just Hard Gay) is the performing name of Masaki Sumitani (住谷正樹 Sumitani Masaki?), a Japanese comedian, wrestler and tarento ("talent"). His act gained national attention and popularity when featured on the Bakushō Mondai no Bakuten! (Daibakuten) Saturday variety show on TBS Television in Japan, in 2005.

Hard Gay is not homosexual, but a heterosexual male comedian portraying a character. Television programs in which he has appeared have increasingly made reference to this, and he himself has significantly reduced his comic gay mannerisms in live appearances on variety and other types of programs.

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[edit] Early life

Masaki Sumitani (A.K.A. Heitor Shigeru) was born December 18, 1975 in Harima, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from Higashi Kakogawa High School, he entered Doshisha University and majored in Commerce.

[edit] Professional wrestling career

While at college he picked up wrestling as a hobby and soon joined the Doshisha Professional Wrestling Alliance (DWA). Under his performing name "GiveUp Sumitani," he won the heavy class Kyoto pro-wrestling championship co-hosted by DWA and the Ritsumeikan Wrestling Alliance (RWA) of nearby Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Former IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi was also a participant of these events.

Sumitani continued his wrestling aspirations in late 2005, working in the comedically off-beat HUSTLE promotion and defeating Yinling the Erotic Terrorist in his debut match; he has since gone to team with Naoya Ogawa and Yoshihiro Tajiri in leading the HUSTLE Army against Generalissimo Takada’s Monster Army.

In early 2006, he started working with Razor Ramon manzai partner Makoto Izubuchi again, with Izubuchi taking the name Razor Ramon RG ("RG" meaning "Real Gay"). He was brought in on the gimmick after it gained immense popularity. Izubuchi’s character was not nearly as well received as Sumitani’s, but is still an active wrestler in HUSTLE, recently teaming up with The Great Muta. Sumitani's character is that of an underdog face that has a never say die attitude and uses his quickness to defeat his opponents which are larger than him. Daily Sports in Japan reported that Razor Ramon HG retired from pro wrestling after Hustle Mania, which took place November 23, 2006 at Yokohama Arena with Sumitani being defeated by The Esperanza. However, as with most retirements in wrestling, Sumitani returned to action, wrestling at Hustle 21 on March 18 and Hustle 22 on April 21.[1]

[edit] Comedy

It was through wrestling in their college years, that Sumitani met Makoto Izubuchi, with whom he would later form the comedy duo Razor Ramon in 1997. During their college years, Razor Ramon won the Fukuwarai award in the Imamiya Kids’ Ebisu Manzai Contest and gained experience on the stage through the audition live performance SABUKI at 2chome-gekijo, an Osaka comedy club opened by the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy troupe at which many comedians from the Kansai area start their career.

After completing his degree at the prestigious Doshisha University, Sumitani got a job at CO-OP KOBE, as a grocery delivery man. His desire to pursue a career as a professional comedian led him to quit his job after four months, when he joined Yoshimoto Kogyo with his partner Makoto Izubuchi. Razor Ramon made their TV debut in 1999 and won the Judges Special Award in the ABC Owarai (Comedy) Grand-Prix in 2000. Both Sumitani and Izubuchi joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo-produced program Yoshimoto Shin-kigeki, one of the most popular comedy stage acts in Japan, in 2001, often playing yakuza, salaryman, udon restaurant owners, construction workers, and others.

[edit] Hard Gay

The most well-known character developed and portrayed by Sumitani is Hard Gay (ハードゲイ Hādo Gei?), introduced in 2002, as whom he finally rose to national prominence in 2005. The term "Hādo Gei" is a Japanese reference to American gay subculture in similar fashion to, say, "punk". In Japan, gender subculture with distinct dress style are in fact trans-gender or drag, which in Japan is referred to as "Gei ゲイ". In turn, the term "hard gay" became the reference to more masculine oriented "drag" seen to be prevalent in America. The comedy, which is not obvious to Westerner, is derived from the fact that Hard Gay is foreign and therefore, can get away from most outrageous behaviour or comment. The fact that Hard gay does not portray any japanese gay subculture also explain why the sketch was allowed to be aired in Japanese TV, which has its own code of political correctness. A parallel can be drawn from British comedy character, Ali G, a British Jew pretending to be an American black gangsta, with outrageously politically incorrect views and comments.

While the official name is "Razor Ramon HG," he is most frequently known as "Hard Gay," or simply "HG." Dressing in a tight black PVC gay fetish outfit, he goes around performing acts of charity (yonaoshi, “social improvement”) for unsuspecting bystanders while performing trademark pelvic thrusts and vocalizations, often accompanied by "Livin’ la Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin.

A picture of Hard Gay without his glasses or hat, rarely seen during broadcasts.

According to some accounts the name "Hard Gay" was the suggestion of Sumitani’s senior comedian in the Yoshimoto Kogyo group, Kendo Kobayashi, in reference to his hard dancing. The name has also been described as a pun on 芸, gei, which means "skill" or "art." However, to develop his character, Sumitani visited gay bars in Doyama-cho, Osaka’s biggest gay area, and his costume, which consists of hot pants, a small vest, and cap, all in black PVC, along with aviator sunglasses, was purchased at a shop called VFTQ in Minami-Horie, Osaka, which specializes in gay fashion. Hard Gay makes regular use of a number of catch phrases in his act; he usually makes his entrance in front of the camera shouting "Dōmō Hādogei dēsu" ("Hello, this is Hard Gay"), with arms thrust out and a spin afterwards. His self-introduction is then followed by his famous dance moves. He often shouts "Hoooooo" (フゥ～!) or "Foohhhh!" (フォー！), a running joke in his performances. He often stops people saying unfavorable things to him by shouting "Sei sei sei sei sei" with his palm in front of the person’s face. Whether this means anything is debatable, although Sumitani has commented that "sei sei" is something that comes out from his mouth when he is not happy, and that he does not mean "say" as in to speak something, although one might compare this action to the popular "talk to the hand" gesture. A possible interpretation might be that the origin lies in the word urusai (lit. "noisy," meaning "Be quiet!"), which is often pronounced urusē うるせー in Kansai dialect, shortened to sei. Another theory is the word sei written by kanji 静, meaning "quiet." Also, sei 性, means "sex" or "gender" in Japanese.

Sumitani’s supposed homosexuality was exposed as a gimmick when he was caught in the midst of a date, with Japanese actress and swimsuit model Anna Suzuki whom he has since married. He has been criticised for his stereotypical depiction of gay men and for building a career on parodying a social minority with bizarre and extreme antics. A spokesperson for the Hokkaido Sexual Minority Association Sapporo Meeting, a support group for gay, lesbian and transgender people, has said: "Hard Gay’s acceptance by the Japanese public shows me that there is a strong tendency here to see homosexuality as something to be laughed at. That is sad." Openly lesbian Osaka Prefectural Assembly woman Kanako Otsuji has been quoted as saying:

[The way the media treats sexual minorities] makes me angry. This morning I saw [comedian] Razor Ramon for the first time. I never watch TV. I’d only heard about him. He’s not homosexual. He just uses gayness for his act, to make people laugh. I’m afraid that people will get the idea that gay people are all like that, yelling and pumping their hips.[1]

He then announced that he would start to reappear on television as Masaki Sumitani instead of the famous Razor Ramon HG. His first reappearance as Masaki Sumitani was April 18, 2008 on jidaigeki, HAKANA.[2]

[edit] Other media

Razor Ramon HG made a small cameo in the May 2006 chapter of Gantz (chapter 233), shown on a television in Kurono Kei’s apartment. He also made a small cameo in episode 12 of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu aka The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, at 2:29, with Akihiro Miwa.

Sumitani released his first single entitled "Young Man" on 8 February 2006, which is a Japanese rendition of the Village People’s song "YMCA."

He has also appeared in several television programs. HG (as himself) portrayed a gym teacher in the high school episode of the batsu game series from the Japanese variety show Gaki no Tsukai. He also did a cameo on the set of Hana Yori Dango. Razor Ramon was a contestant on Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course, even making it to the final. He was featured on The Soup’s "Souper Fantastic Ultra Wish Time." He was featured on Lost in Tokyo, a Dutch and Flemish game show. He has also appeared in multiple episodes of Jonathan Ross' Japanorama on the BBC.

Hard Gay, dressed differently, makes a cameo as a construction worker in the game Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. After he fixes one of the bridges for Tingle, he proceeds to do his trademark pelvic thrusts while a smooth jazz style song plays in the background.[3]

[edit] Personal life

The registration of his marriage to Anna Suzuki was announced on August 10, 2006. Suzuki has stated she will end her modeling career after her commitments are finished and concentrate on starting a family. The two officially became married on November 27, 2006, only four days after his retirement. On March 1, 2008, it was announced that their first baby was to be born on July 30, 2008.

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • PWI ranked him # 129 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2006.[4]
  • Tokyo Sports Awards

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/japan/misc/hustle.html
  2. ^ "HG「初産フォー！」で“祝福”妻・杏奈さんが妊娠5カ月" (in Japanese). 2008-03-01. http://www.sanspo.com/geino/top/gt200803/gt2008030108.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-01. 
  3. ^ "Tingle RPG: Gay as in Happy". YouTube/kobunheat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5Ol0URmtqw. Retrieved on 2006-09-06. 
  4. ^ http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/pwi/pwi50006.htm

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masaki_Sumitani"
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