Arrest of a player, resignation of the representative director– “Breaking Down Sale” secretly planned by Mirai Asakura

Mirai Asakura, 31, president of the one-minute martial arts event “BreakingDown” (hereafter referred to as “Breaking Down”), is troubled by the deterioration of her brand image due to a string of troubles involving contestants.

On July 7, Ryosuke Iemura (27), a popular member of the “Shoyu Niki” (soy sauce niki) group and a regular on the “Hinadan” (the dais), was arrested by Kyoto police on suspicion of assault; in March, Satoru Kubota (27), the “legendary fighter of Aizu,” was arrested for domestic violence against a female partner; this is the second arrest this year of a BreakingDown contestant.

According to reports, Iemura allegedly punched a male university student (20) in the face and head in a parking lot in Kyoto City on May 8, and head-butted him, causing him to suffer a month-long total recovery.

The suspect persistently approached a woman he had picked up at a club, and the woman contacted the victim, a male university student. The man rushed to the scene and got into trouble with the Iemura suspect, who then unilaterally punched him.

Breaking Down Inc. quickly responded to the arrest by announcing on the same day that the suspect would be suspended indefinitely from the game. Yuji Mizoguchi (38), the company’s director of operations, apologized on his social networking service for the disturbance and said, “The final disposition of the case will be announced in the future,

The final punishment will be decided based on the results of the criminal action and the investigation by the advisory board,” he posted.

He posted, “The final disposition will be decided in light of the results of the criminal action and the investigation by the advisory board. In May, Breaking Down had just announced the establishment of an “anti-company advisory board” to strengthen compliance. In this context, on July 10, the company announced the resignation of Yugo Itagaki, 53, a.k.a. YUGO Itagaki, who had stepped down from this position in February this year when Asakura became the company’s president, and assumed the position of representative director of Breaking Down International (Overseas Division). According to the press release,

Mr. Itagaki has already left the company and will no longer be involved in the management or business of the company. There is no capital relationship between Mr. Itagaki and YUGO.

The reason for his resignation was not disclosed.

Mr. YUGO was supposed to be the representative director of the overseas business division after February, but since there is no actual business overseas, his position is completely off the books. In other words, the February transfer was based on the premise that he would be removed from the company. The reason is said to be that YUGO’s personal company, Ladyiobook, is facing multiple lawsuits due to financial troubles, and Asakura, concerned about this, initiated the changeover” (sports newspaper reporter).

Asakura, who created the mega-hit content Breaking Down, is not only a fighter but also an excellent businessman, and has introduced numerous influencers to the world among the contestants. However,

Breaking Down started with the simple concept of ‘deciding the strongest fighter for one minute,’ but with so many people and so much money raised, it had recently become a monster content that even Asakura could not control. At the same time, he felt that the content itself had reached its limits.

In fact, Asakura is considering selling Breaking Down and is concerned that the value of the content will drop, and YUGO’s resignation must have been a premonition of some sort of movement in his lawsuit. I think this is the result of their thinking that they have no choice but to nip any scandal that might damage their brand image in the bud as soon as possible.

The quick response to the lawsuit has even those in the know groaning, “Mr. Asakura’s business brain is as brilliant as ever,” but now, what is Asakura’s view?