Bear attacks are something I’m used to hearing about on local news living in northern California (I’m 2-3 hours from the Lake Tahoe area, but they have also been unusually higher now in parts of Japan recently. Unfortunately the latest such attack hit the wrestling community hard as Puroresu Today reports referee Katsumi Sasazaki, who worked with ZERO1 and Rossy Ogawa’s Marigold promotion, has been killed by a bear. He was 60. It sounds like the incident happened yesterday while he was working at a hot spring inn in Kitakami City in Iwate Prefecture. His body was found today and the bear responsible was killed. The news of his death was shared by Ogawa, who also mourned the sudden death as he recently worked in Marigold.
I join the Japanese wrestling community in mourning this unexpected and tragic loss. We pray for peace for Sasazaki’s soul.