Masaki Sumitani

Razor Ramon Hard Gay (レイザーラモンＨＧ, Reizā Ramon HG, occasionally HG, Razor Ramon Sumitani or just Hard Gay) is the performing name of Masaki Sumitani (住谷正樹, Sumitani Masaki), a Japanese comedian, wrestler and tarento ("talent"). His act gained national attention and popularity when featured on the Bakushō Mondai no Bakuten! (Daibakuten) Saturday variety show on TBS Television in Japan, in 2005. He should not be confused with American professional wrestler Scott Hall, whose use of the "Razor Ramon" stage name predates Sumitani’s. Although WWE has trademarked the name "Razor Ramon", they have not responded against HG using the name Razor Ramon HG.

Due to the lack of an L phoneme in Japanese (R and L are equivalent in transliteration from English) and similarity between er and or in English, Hard Gay has a number of commonly used variants on official and fan sites. Even official Hard Gay merchandise has been known to use less common variants. The following have wide usage on the internet or appear on official merchandise and are listed in approximate order by popularity. Since Hard Gay is also commonly used for homosexual pornography, it is difficult to assess popularity of this name.

• Laser Ramon
• Harudo Gay
• Haado Gei
• Haado Gai

Hard Gay is neither homosexual nor particularly outrageous, but a heterosexual male comedian portraying a character. Television programs in which he has appeared have increasingly made reference to this, and he himself has significantly reduced his comic gay mannerisms in live appearances on variety and other types of programs.

Career

Masaki Sumitani (A.K.A. Heitor Shigeru) was born December 18, 1975 in Harima, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. After graduating from Higashi Kakogawa High School, he entered Doshisha University and majored in Commerce. While at college he picked up wrestling as a hobby, and soon joined the Doshisha Professional Wrestling Alliance (DWA). Under his performing name "GiveUp Sumitani," he won the heavy class Kyoto pro-wrestling championship co-hosted by DWA and the Ritsumeikan Wrestling Alliance (RWA) of nearby Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. Former IWGP Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi was also a participant of these events.

It was through wrestling in their college years, that Sumitani met Makoto Izubuchi, with whom he would later form the comedy duo Razor Ramon in 1997. During their college years, Razor Ramon won the Fukuwarai award in the Imamiya Kids’ Ebisu Manzai Contest, and gained experience on the stage through the audition live performance SABUKI at 2chome-gekijo, an Osaka comedy club opened by the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy troupe at which many comedians from the Kansai area start their career.

After completing his degree at the prestigious Doshisha University, Sumitani got a job at CO-OP KOBE, as a grocery delivery man. His desire to pursue a career as a professional comedian led him to quit his job after four months, when he joined Yoshimoto Kogyo with his partner Makoto Izubuchi. Razor Ramon made their TV debut in 1999, and won the Judges Special Award in the ABC Owarai (Comedy) Grand-Prix in 2000. Both Sumitani and Izubuchi joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo-produced program Yoshimoto Shin-kigeki, one of the most popular comedy stage acts in Japan, in 2001, often playing yakuza, salaryman, udon restaurant owners, construction workers, and others.

Sumitani continued his wrestling aspirations in late 2005, working in the comedically off-beat HUSTLE promotion and defeating Yinling the Erotic Terrorist in his debut match; he has since gone to team with Naoya Ogawa and Yoshihiro Tajiri in leading the HUSTLE Army against Generalissimo Takada’s Monster Army.

The most well-known character developed and portrayed by Sumitani is Hard Gay (ハードゲイ, Hādo Gei^?), introduced in 2002, as whom he finally rose to national prominence in 2005. While the official name is "Razor Ramon HG," he is most frequently known as "Hard Gay," or simply "HG." Dressing in a tight black leather gay fetish outfit, he goes around performing acts of charity (yonaoshi, “social improvement”) for unsuspecting bystanders while performing trademark pelvic thrusts and vocalisations, often accompanied by "Livin’ la Vida Loca" by Ricky Martin.

According to some accounts the name "Hard Gay" was the suggestion of Sumitani’s senior comedian in the Yoshimoto Kogyo group, Kendo Kobayashi, in reference to his hard dancing. The name has also been described as a pun on 芸, gei, which means "skill" or "art." However, to develop his character, Sumitani visited gay bars in Doyama-cho, Osaka’s biggest gay area, and his costume, which consists of hot pants, a small vest, and cap, all in black leather, along with aviator sunglasses, was purchased at a shop called VFTQ in Minami-Horie, Osaka, which specializes in gay fashion.

Hard Gay makes regular use of a number of catch phrases in his act; he usually makes his entrance in front of the camera shouting "Dōmō Hādogei dēsu" ("Hello, this is Hard Gay"), with arms thrust out and a spin afterwards. His self-introduction is then followed by his famous dance moves. He often shouts "Hoooooo" (フゥ～!) or "Foohhhh!" (フォー！), a running joke in his performances. He often stops people saying unfavorable things to him by shouting "Sei sei sei sei sei" with his palm in front of the person’s face. Whether this means anything is debatable, although Sumitani has commented that "sei sei" is something that comes out from his mouth when he is not happy, and that he does not mean "say" as in to speak something, although one might compare this action to the popular "talk to the hand" gesture. A possible interpretation might be that the origin lies in the word urusai (lit. "noisy," meaning "Be quiet!"), which is often pronounced urusē うるせー in Kansai dialect, shortened to sei. Another theory is the word sei written by kanji 静, meaning "quiet." Also, sei 性, means "sex" or "gender" in Japanese.

In early 2006, he started working with Razor Ramon manzai partner Makoto Izubuchi again, with Izubuchi taking the name Razor Ramon RG ("RG" meaning "Real Gay"). He was brought in on the gimmick after it gained immense popularity. Izubuchi’s character wasn’t nearly as well received as Sumitani’s, but is still an active wrestler in HUSTLE, recently teaming up with The Great Muta. Sumitani's character is that of an underdog face that has a never say die attitude and uses his quickness to defeat his opponents... nearly all of which are larger than him.

The registration of his marriage to Anna Suzuki was announced on Thursday 10 August 2006. Suzuki has stated she will end her modelling career after her commitments are finished and concentrate on starting a family. The two officially became married on November 27, 2006, only four days after his retirement.

On March 1, 2008, it was announced that their first baby is to be born on July 30, 2008. He also announced that he will start to reappear on television as Masaki Sumitani instead of the famous Razor Ramon HG. First reappearance as Masaki Sumitani will be on April 18, 2008 on jidaigeki, HAKANA.^[1]

Retirement

Daily Sports in Japan reported that Razor Ramon HG has retired from pro wrestling after Hustle Mania, which took place November 23, 2006 at Yokohama Arena with Sumitani being defeated by The Esperanza. However, as with most retirements in wrestling, Sumitani returned to action, wrestling at Hustle 21 on March 18 and Hustle 22 on April 21

Criticism

Sumitani’s supposed homosexuality was exposed as a gimmick when he was caught in the midst of a date, with Japanese actress and swimsuit model Anna Suzuki whom he has since married. He has been criticised for his stereotypical depiction of gay men and for building a career on parodying a social minority with bizarre and extreme antics.

A spokesperson for the Hokkaido Sexual Minority Association Sapporo Meeting, a support group for gay, lesbian and transgender people, has said: "Hard Gay’s acceptance by the Japanese public shows me that there is a strong tendency here to see homosexuality as something to be laughed at. That is sad."

Openly lesbian Osaka Prefectural Assembly woman Kanako Otsuji has been quoted as saying:

[The way the media treats sexual minorities] makes me angry. This morning I saw [comedian] Razor Ramon for the first time. I never watch TV. I’d only heard about him. He’s not homosexual. He just uses gayness for his act, to make people laugh. I’m afraid that people will get the idea that gay people are all like that, yelling and pumping their hips.

Championships and accomplishments

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him # 129 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the PWI 500 in 2006.

• Tokyo Sports Awards

Japanese wrestling’s Rookie of the Year (2006).

In popular culture

Manga

• In the Shoujo manga Gakuen Alice Vol. 15 strict and uptight character Jiino sensei is forced into the HG cosplay and is quietly mortified. Other characters are astounded and scream, "No way! HG!"
• Razor Ramon HG made a small cameo in the May 2006 chapter of Gantz (chapter 233), shown on a television in Kurono Kei’s apartment.

  Anime

• In the anime Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, the main character tells his love interest Dokuro in the final episode, “I’ll become gay for you, Dokuro! Hard Gay!”
• In episode 30 of the anime Gintama, the character Terakado Tsu admitted to have had a crush on Hard Gay.
• In episode 12 of Lucky Star, Hard Gay is heard (but not seen) at 17:37 and 35 milliseconds presenting a New Year's Show on television.
• He also made a small cameo in episode 12 of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu aka The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, at 2:29, with Akihiro Miwa.
• Pani Poni Dash! made a few references to Hard Gay.
• In the Original English-language manga Aoi House, Hard Gay was referenced by Uri House during a cosplay battle with Aoi House, in which they ripped off their clothes to reveal Hard Gay-inspired outfits (while yelling "Hard Gay!") and started to dance to the English version of YMCA, which Sanae says "Oops, this isn't the Japanese version!", referencing Hard Gay's Japanese version of the song. [3]
• In an episode of Magikano Ayumi thought that Haruo was gay imagining him hanging from Hard Gay's neck.

  Music

• Sumitani released his first single entitled "Young Man" on 8 February 2006, which is a Japanese rendition of the Village People’s song "YMCA."

  Sports

• Mixed martial artist Kazushi Sakuraba dressed up as Hard Gay as part of his ring entrance at the PRIDE Shockwave 2005 event.
• Was mentioned on ESPN.com as part of a "Page 2" pop-quiz.

  Television

• Some of the characters in the Japanese drama series 1 Litre of Tears imitate Hard Gay’s signature pose and exclamations in episode 6.
• In the culture festival episode of Nobuta wo Produce (Japanese drama series) someone dresses up as Hard Gay. He is thrusting at Nobuta’s step-father.
• HG (as himself) portrayed a gym teacher in the high school episode of the batsu game series from the Japanese variety show Gaki no Tsukai.
• He is seen on a magazine cover in episode 7 of the live-action Hana Yori Dango, at about 13:10, when Makino and Hanazawa meet in a bookstore. He also did a cameo on the set of Hana Yori Dango, remember when Makino's father was given his job back by his boss? the person who served the boss with tea was HG.
• Razor Ramon was a contestant on Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course, even making it to the final.
• He was featured on The Soup’s "Souper Fantastic Ultra Wish Time."
• He featured on "Lost in Tokyo" a Dutch and Flemish game show.
• He has appeared in multiple episodes of Jonathan Ross' Japanorama on the BBC.

  Video Games

• Hard Gay, dressed differently, makes a cameo as a construction worker in the game Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. After he fixes one of the bridges for Tingle, he proceeds to do his trademark pelvic thrusts while a smooth jazz style song plays in the background.^[3]
• In the fighting game Capcom Fighting Jam, there is unused data on the disc of a full-sized Hard Gay sprite. It is in the data as a Midnight Bliss sprite, but it is unknown why the sprite is even on the data to begin with.
• The official Japanese servers of PangYa has Hard Gay as a popular figure, with items associated with him being incorporated into the game.