At their spring tour event this past Saturday in Tokyo, Tokyo Joshi Pro made a noteworthy announcement at the start of the event: They have found someone to do the impossible-fill the shoes of departing ring announcer Sayuri Namba when she leaves the promotion next month. They introduced Rise Shirai as the new ring announcer-to-be, she will train over the next few weeks before taking over full-time once Namba departs next month, with her debut coming this Saturday. Also of note, Namba will reprise one of her prior roles as a ring card girl on 6/14 (what may be her farewell event) for a special rounds rules match between Kazuki Hirata & Hideki Sekine.
I certainly hope Shirai does well and will support her but let’s be honest, Namba is irreplaceable with all she has contributed to the growth of TJPW over the last 5+ years, much of that from just her natural personality & enthusiasm (and it doesn’t help she can speak decent English). She isn’t closing the door to an eventual return or maybe at least connecting when TJPW returns to North America (which next happens in July in Texas), so hopefully this won’t be goodbye and just a see you later.