TRANSLATION OFFICIAL BLOG - May 3rd 2015

Dear my G-Lovers

My thoughts can be read
on the GACKT Blomaga,
so those who want to read all of them, check it out.

*This is an extract from the GACKT Blomaga.

(Updates thrice a month)
http://ch.nicovideo.jp/channel/gackt

“If you wonder~
Who you can trust in the end~”

Beep…
Yes, hello…

Oh~ what’s up?
It’s you.
It’s been awhile…

Eh?
“When can I meet you again?”
… you ask…

A question that came like a sudden bolt of lightning…
Let’s see…
I wonder when.
Since I’ve not been in Japan recently.

Eh?
“Are you making an album?”
… you ask…

Aren’t you sharp…
That’s right.
We’ve already entered the production stage.
The initiative for the LAST VISUALIVE,
and the album to go with that is being made.

It’ll probably become a huge tour…

Eh?
“So, right now, where are you?”
… you ask…

The airport.
Right now I’m heading back to Japan.
I’m free now.
Even though it’s the Golden Week,
this is far and few in between…

Even so,
I’m surprised with the great timing.

Eh?
“Will we meet this time?”
… you ask…

Not this time.
Because I won’t be in Japan much.
I won’t even stay for a day.

Hey, hey,
don’t get so angry.
Why are you getting so angry?

This time,
it’s just a transit.

Eh?
“If it’s a transit, where are you headed?”
… you ask…

I’m going to Vegas.
Las Vegas.
I was invited to.
It’s for the match between Pacqiao and Mayweather.

Eh?
“Those two whose names sound like food… who’re they…?”
… h-hey!!

You,
have no idea who Mayweather and Pacqiao are?
Are you serious?

Give me a break.
Mayweather, Floyd Mayweather!
And, the other one is Pacqiao,
Manny Pacqiao!

Mayweather is the undefeated champion.
It is say that he cannot be beaten.
Unparalleled speed,
superhuman reaction speed,
a fiercely high defence,
his opponents are at the mercy of his physical abilities.
He’s a fighter whose speciality is in counterattacks.

In his pro-fighting history, he had 47 fights with 47 wins.
Without losing a single fight,
he’s the first in history to have won 5 classes.
He’s a frightening man.
Furthermore he’s 38 years old this year.

On the other side is Pacqiao
who is the hero of Philippines.
He’s already won so many classes that I’m not clear anymore,
he’s strong.

Recently he also entered the world of politics
and there isn’t a single person in the Philippines who doesn’t know of him.
Even every kid would know of him.

He’s the hero of the Philippines.

Eh?
“Why’s he a hero…?”
… you ask……………….

Hm…
A good question.
Indeed
if you put it like that that’s true…
What made him the hero……………

Alright,
since its like that I’ll give you my answer.
Why is it that Manny Pacqiao
is called a hero.

Starting from my conclusion,
he is a star in the Philippines.
Of course,
there are times when he has been beaten as well.
However,
his popularity was unabated.
On the contrary,
even if he lost, his popularity just grew.

His determination to never give up until the end
touched the hearts of the Filipinos.

Firstly,
do you know that you can change your class?

The class is determined by your weight.
If you raise your weight you can get up one class.
Then, eventually become world champion.
If you know your equal opponents are not in that class
you raise your class again and aim for world champion.

This
is much more difficult that you would expect it to be.

To go up one class,
you have to increase the amount of muscle in your body and get bigger.
So,
talking about making your body bigger,
it doesn’t mean to make your arms or legs longer.

The difference in reach will appear more and more.
In the first place,
if you can completely adjust your height,
of course the length of you arms will change.

If you can change your arm length,
then that would become the top advice in boxing,
you understand that right?

Boxing,
is a sport that only uses the hands.

There’re no such things as
groundworks or throwing or kicking.

If your arms are just long,
against your opponent,
you would be having a great advantage.

Eh?
“So, what class has this Pacqiao person gotten to?”
… you ask…

Don’t be shocked when you hear this…

Pacqiao has
gone up 11 classes.
And,
he is the world champion for 6 of those classes.
This means his opponents are all famous fighters.
He doesn’t
simply aim to increase his class,
until now he has been winning
with an overwhelming difference in the world of giants of those classes.
Usually, such a feat would be unthinkable.

Of course,
there are guys who are against him
and think that it’s a problem with how he raises his class and fights.

In the end there’s a guy with small stature
who has been beating the world’s best in reality.

Isn’t that alone enough?

Regardless of the overwhelming difference in reach,
he jumps straight towards the opponent
and launches his attacks.

Putting it in words makes it sound easy but
to jump right into your opponent is in other words
“to get beat up”.

Despite knowing the risks of doing this,
and still jumping straight to your opponent is truly frightful.

If you think about it…
take my body size for example.
The more I increase my weight,
the bigger opponents i get to fight against,
and the more I decrease my weight,
the smaller the opponents I fight against become
and that becomes a bigger advantage for me right?
Do you get it?

That’s why,
the smaller you can get your body,
the smaller you’ll make it.

To reduce weight for a boxer is really tough.
At the end,
you can’t even drink a drop of water
to reduce the water content in your body and make your body smaller.

What’s tough
is during times when you don’t drink for up to a week.
There are even times when you suck on a stone in your mouth
just to get the feel of saliva in your mouth.

That’s why
a boxer’s blood
when checked, will develop impossibilities
and often will be found to be thick.

Well,
this is not limited to boxers,
and fighters for Judo or other sports
will also have the same conditions.

Even in the many boxing sports,
the separation between each class is very fine.

To the point of unbelievability.

Minimum 47.6kg and below
Lightweight 47.6~48.9kg
Flyweight 48.9~50.8kg
Super Flyweight 50.8~52.1kg
Bantamweight 52.1~53.5kg
Super Bantamweight 53.5~55.3kg
Featherweight 55.3~57.1kg
Super Featherweight 57.1~58.9kg
Lightweight 58.9~61.2kg
Super Lightweight 61.2~63.5kg
Welterweight 63.5~66.6kg
Super Welterweight 66.6~69.8kg
Middleweight 69.8~72.5kg
Super Middleweight 72.5~76.3kg
Cruiserweight 79.3~90.7kg
Heavyweight 90.7kg~

Did you know that
there are all these classes?

When I was a kid,
I was involved in boxing as well
and when I watched the matches

“This guy’s technique
isn’t half bad…
This is bad… The depression timing…”

and stuff like that,
eventually gave me a pro’s vision.

Right now
I’m practicing Taekwondo right?
So,
out of all the combat sports so far,
Karate
is similar to boxing.

In that too the similarity to boxing
is that you can specialise in hand techniques
and the skill involved is tremendous.

Normally,
you get the idea that using your legs will help you beat your opponent right?

But,
the really strong ones
can within the gap that is created when their opponent executes a kick
beat that opponent.

This shows the high level of skill
and depth of it that is needed in boxing.

Well,
of course,
you can say the same for other combat sports too.

For example,
for normal karate doesn’t involve weapons.
Well, depending on the dojo
there are those that include practices with weapons.

In karate,
it tends to hold the meaning of
“mastering a combat sport which uses nothing but your bare hands”.

In the beginning,
it has its roots in a martial art
from China’s Tang Dynasty,
and was called “Tou-tei Ti”.

In those days,
weapons were always used.
However,
in the 1500s, the Ryukyu Kingdom established a ban on weapons,
so it became illegal to possess weapons.

Then,
it started the path of creating a martial art
which doesn’t use weapons.

Those are the roots of the modern day Karate.
Deep huh?

So, returning to the topic.
Anyway,
comparing someone with a weapon
and someone without a weapon,
you’ll get the overwhelming feeling
that the person with a weapon has a great advantage right?

But,
as a master of the combat sport
you’ll immediately start thinking of how to defeat an opponent with a weapon
and without giving him a chance to fight,
you will try to defeat him.
This too,
can only be said after many years of research an achievements pursued by predecessors .

Combat sports,
is continuously built on and progressing
based on the predecessors’ pursuits in research and achievements.

Of course,
a common question that surfaces amongst martial arts lovers is,
which combat sport,
or which martial art is the strongest?
There are those who seriously discuss such questions but…

Well, if it’s me, I’d say
that its a ridiculous question akin to discussing something like
which is the strongest in a game of rock, paper, scissors.

In the game
you only have those 3 types but,
in martial arts or combat sports, there are a great number.

In a game of rock, paper, scissors with so many components, which is strongest?
… that is what that question is like to me.

Sumo is strong!!!
Judo is stronger!!!
No, karate is strongest!!!!!
Jujitsu is the world’s strongest!!!!!

And stuff like that, when i see this
and the guys who seriously debate it,
it looks funny to me.

Well, those guys have their own theories so,
I guess we can just leave them alone though.

Each competition,
and in each combat sport,
there are predetermined sets of different rules.

In those different sets of rules,
philosophies are born
from the mastering of the martial art.

This is one from boxing.
In the set ring space,
risk your life and fight with only your fists.
You can’t help but feel the romanticism in it right?

Blog-3Mag15-21

My friend is close to Pacqiao,
and in June they have arranged to meet up
and in addition there was the want to watch this match live,
so the timing was right and I got invited.

From around the world,
there are many people who came to Vegas because they wanted to watch this match.
And also because many celebs will be gathered here today,
Vegas may have quite a lot of trouble…

The price of a ringside ticket
is estimated to be above 10,000,000 yen.

With just that,
you can tell that this match is really something.
This century has barely just begun but
it’s already being called the fight of the century.

In reality,
the fight between Pacqiao and Mayweather,
to the boxing fans,
is as good as a dream card.

Such an event will never happen again.
That’s why, the world is being shaken by it.

I look forward to it.
Really.

I thought of
going to watch some kind of show
in this spare time I’ve gotten…

Once again, this,
is probably be a stimulus that I should be happy for right?

And,
above all, the number 1 reason that this guys is a hero,
is because when he has a boxing match,
all the conflicts within the Philippines will definitely ceasefire!

Isn’t that an amazing thing?
Just because of one person’s boxing match, all the conflict and war stops.
Is there any other boxer who can accomplish something like that?

It’s really wonderful.