By the beginning of 2018 I had been to Japan a number of times, and Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW) had morphed from a curiosity that wasn’t really aimed at me into one of my favorite promotions.
Their big January 4th show that year opened with the quadruple debut of a wrestling subset of the idol group Up Up Girls, and included someone who would go on to be one of my absolute favorites in the promotion.
The original Up Up Girls lineup, Miu, Hikari, Raku, and Hinano, wrestled in identical gear outside of their signature color versions. They made a solid impression in a basic but fun debut match that hinted at a lot of potential for the group.
A year later the group would transition to new, more individualized gear and tweak their names. This is when Hikari became Hikari Noa, touches of her goth aesthetic were introduced into her outfit, and her unique personality and infectious charisma really started to show.
From the boisterous powerhouse Miu Watanabe, to the sleepy train otaku Raku, to the deathmatch loving Hikari Noa the Up Up Girls became more and more beloved by fans as they let themselves shine. As Pipipipi Pinano (the former Hinano) retired in April 2019, the Up Up Girls would continue as this trio until Shino Suzuki’s debut in 2023.
For me Hikari in particular was a breath of fresh air in wrestling. She took to it well, and evolved quickly in her early career consistently improving and finding her own style within the ring. She was engaging to watch, easy to cheer for, and eventually became one of TJPW’s most popular roster members.
I thoroughly enjoyed her matches, relishing in the opportunities I had to see her compete live against some of TJPW’s top stars. She was the ultimate underdog babyface to me, and I enthusiastically followed along with her progress and celebrated every victory.
In 2021 Hikari became the first Up Up Girl to win singles gold, defeating Yuki “Kamiyu” Kamifuku for the International Princess Championship. She held it from May until January with four successful defenses before losing it to former champion Maki Itoh.
“Deathmatch Daisuki” (“I love deathmatches”) Hikari Noa was true to herself in her wrestling goals, making it well known she intended to someday participate in the type of deathmatches that captured her imagination and attracted her to wrestling in the first place.
She was at the forefront of TJPW beginning to stretch beyond their norms. Her first ever hardcore match main evented TJPW’s first Inspiration show, a spin off concept for unique matches outside of TJPW’s core model. She put up a valiant fight against hardcore veteran Rina Yamashita in a great showing.
Hikari would get her ultimate wish in August 2021, participating in an Electric Current Deathmatch as part of an eight-person inter gender tag contest on a DDT show also featuring TJPW’s Maki Itoh on the other team. In 2023 she’d have a singles Fluorescent Lighttubes Deathmatch against Sawyer Wreck to headline Inspiration #6.
Deathmatches generally aren’t my thing, but I was thrilled that Hikari kept pushing her personal dreams and got to realize the ambitions that brought her into wrestling in the first place.
In September 2023 Hikari and her partner Nao Kakuta, collectively known as Free Wi-Fi, won the Princess Tag Team Championships.
The reign was unusually significant for Hikari, who had three other regular partners (Pinano, Sena Shiori, and Natsumi Maki) who either retired or left TJPW before the team could achieve championship success. For Nao, it was her first championship ever (and only, as she’ll be retiring this July).
Free Wi-Fi was an incredibly fun, skilled team and I was overjoyed to see them ascend to the top of TJPW’s tag division.
In late December 2023, shortly before Free Wi-Fi was set to defend the Princess Tag Team Championships at TJPW’s 1/4/2024 show, a press conference was held announcing they were vacating the titles.
Hikari was not at the press conference (her partner Nao Kakuta and TJPW founder Tetsuya Koda spoke). It was initially reported that she was out due to illness. In mid February TJPW and Up Up Girls management announced she was on indefinite hiatus “due to personal reasons.”
Finally in May it was announced that “after discussions with her about her future” Hikari had left TJPW and Up Up Girls (the general term Japanese companies use for someone leaving, whether retirement or otherwise, is “graduation”).
There would be no farewell appearance or show, and no social media statement from her. The company statement included a general apology from her about not being able to live up to waiting fans wishing for her to return. Hikari has not made any public appearances nor any social media posts since before the original press conference in December.
At this time no one is aware if she’ll ever return to wrestling or public life in general. I will not speculate nor discuss this beyond the above presentation of the public timeline, but of course it is a shame to see one of my favorite wrestlers ever leave the company under such abrupt, clouded circumstances. But whatever the case, I hope things are going well for her.
If this is the end of her wrestling career, it will have spanned over 350 matches across six years. While I’d love for her to return, I am deeply grateful for all the time and effort she spent entertaining fans regardless.
Hikari was always cheerful and appreciative when greeting fans, and I am blessed to have had to the opportunity to meet her a number of times. My thanks again for all the fun she added to wrestling.
I will miss her terribly, but more importantly whatever she does in the future I hope she’s happy and I wish her all the best.
Derailments of Thought 