NJPW donates 3 million yen to Shinjiro Otani’s medical fund

Through a campaign on the NJPW STRONG SPIRITS game, New Japan raised 3 million yen to go to the Shinjiro Otani medical fund

Photo Courtesy: New Japan Pro-Wrestling

A donation from NJPW to Shinjiro Otani. 

It is coming up on a full year since Shinjiro Otani suffered his cervical spinal cord injury that paralyzed him from the neck down. Otani is continuing his recovery and his respiratory dysfunction has improved

Before today’s NJPW Road to The New Beginning show at Korakuen Hall, Hiroshi Tanahashi, on behalf of NJPW, presented a 3 million yen donation to the Otani medical fund. Yoshiya Okita, Pro Wrestling ZERO1’s Sales Manager was present to accept the donation. 

From December 7th, 2022 to January 11th of this year, NJPW held a ‘charity scouting’ event on their STRONG SPIRITS mobile game. Tanahashi and Okita said the following words about Shinjiro: 

Tanahashi: Otani was a very kind senior who always cared for me, saying, ‘Tana-kun, Tana-kun,’ even though many of his seniors were strict. It is truly amazing that he has been sending out positive messages even on his sickbed. I wish him a speedy recovery.

Okita: Thank you very much. Shinjiro Otani is still paralyzed from the neck down and is unable to move. But even in such a situation, he is sending out positive messages on SNS. It will be a long battle, but we ask for your continued support.

Tanahashi was in tag action at the 1/24 show and teamed with Hiroyoshi Tenzan to face KENTA and El Phantasmo. 

About Andrew Thompson 8246 Articles
A Washington D.C. native and graduate of Norfolk State University, Andrew Thompson has been covering wrestling since 2017.