Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist Abe Uta Plans Marriage With Popular Hair Stylist

In front of her boyfriend, the heroine of the judo world flashed a smile that she never shows on the tatami mats.

Around noon on December 4, 2023, a luxury car pulled up in front of an apartment building in a quiet residential area. Soon after, a petite woman emerged from the condominium. She is Abe Uta, 23, who won the gold medal in the women’s 52kg judo event at the Tokyo Olympics.

 

“Abe is a leader of the Japanese judo world. It was the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 that made her famous. She and her brother Hifumi (26) became the first siblings in history to win the championship on the same day, and were awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon. She is also known as “the cutest judoka in Japan” for her innocent smile and has over 300,000 followers on Instagram. She is a star of the judo world, both in name and reality,” said an official of the All Japan Judo Federation.

Abe participated in the “Grand Slam Tokyo” on December 3, 2023. In the final, she won by ippon with a kouchigari (a small gari), and again her siblings won the tournament together. The day after the accomplishment, Poetry went to morning training as usual. When she returned home before noon, she got into the passenger seat of a luxury car that had come to pick her up.

 

The car carrying Abe headed for a neighborhood doughnut store. Thinking that perhaps his brother was driving and they were celebrating his accomplishment, it was not Kazumi who got out of the driver’s seat, but a wild man resembling Takayuki Yamada.

After purchasing doughnuts, the two drove on to the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway, where they stopped at a parking area and entered a souvenir store after about two hours. As they picked up the items in the store, Abe smiled happily. The two of them were snuggled up to each other, and their closeness was evident. They got into the car again and disappeared in the direction of Ibaraki.

Who is this person with whom she goes on a date while she is recovering from the fatigue of the competitions and practice sessions?

“He is Mr. A, a top stylist working at a famous hair salon in Tokyo and has been featured on TV. He is a charismatic and popular hair stylist who has many celebrity clients, and his appointments are always filled. He is eight years older than Abe, and we hear that they have been dating for about a year and a half. The kicker is his older brother, Kazumi. In fact, Mr. A is Mr. Kazumi’s hair stylist. Since Mr. A’s hometown is in Ibaraki Prefecture, they may have gone to his parents together on the 4th to report their victory.”

 

This was not the only date that FRIDAY witnessed the two on. For example, one week after the drive date. After finishing his daily jogging in the early morning, Abe changed from her practice clothes into a beige down coat and came out of her apartment with Mr. A.

They got on their bicycles and went on a cycling date. They rode around looking for a restaurant for lunch, with Mr. A guiding the way, peeking into “Royal Host” and “Freshness Burger” and so on. For a gold medalist, she is surprisingly a folksy girl. After an hour or so, they came out to a casual café famous for its pancakes, and Abe seemed to have enjoyed their private time together, his face overflowing with an aura of happiness.

On another occasion, Mr. A came out of the apartment after Abe left for an early morning practice. They have already given each other a duplicate key, and their relationship seems to be going well.

“They are already living together on the premise of marriage. The relationship between the two is said to be good, with Abe’s mother sometimes visiting the apartment and the three of them sometimes going out together with Abe’s mother driving. Mr. A is thinking of getting married to Abe after the Paris Olympics, and despite his popularity, he has told people around him that he wants to quit his job as a hairdresser and support Abe as a househusband after the wedding. That’s how serious he is about her.”

 

In front of Mr. A, Abe showed a completely different face from the fighting spirit she shows in competitions. The genius judoka was just a 20-something, just like any other woman her age, in front of her boyfriend.

When we later sent a letter of inquiry to Park24 Corporation, to which Abe belongs, regarding the fact of their relationship, we received the following response.

“We leave private matters to the individual concerned. Therefore, we will refrain from responding to your inquiry.”

We also contacted the hair salon where Mr. A works for an interview, but received no response.

Abe has already won an unofficial invitation to the Paris Olympics for both of her siblings. Next year, we may be able to hear two pieces of good news: the accomplishment of winning back-to-back Olympic titles and her marriage with Mr. A.

From the January 5 and 12, 2023 issues of FRIDAY