It?s questionable whether there is a country in the world where boxing megastar Manny Pacquiao can go completely unnoticed in public.
Japan is certainly not one of them.
Pacquiao made his first trip to Japan in over a year last week, but his schedule was filled with obligation after obligation, and he was a prime target for photographers and TV cameras.
The 37-year-old came to Tokyo in August 2015 to help promote his native Philippines? bid to host basketball?s FIBA 2019 World Cup at the FIBA Central Board meeting. The Philippines wound up losing the bid to China.
On Thursday evening, Pacquiao, who beat Jessie Vargas in a decision to retain his WBO welterweight belt in Las Vegas on Nov. 5, was invited to visit the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Nagata-cho for a get-together with the Japanese ruling party?s boxing promotion association, which was founded earlier this year.
Pacquiao is a senator in the Philippines and has tried to develop the relationship between his country and Japan through boxing and his own fame. But last week?s meeting was more of an opportunity for the participants, including politicians and party employees, to take commemorative photos and ask Pacquiao to sign autographs, rather than talk about how to promote the sport or even discuss the politics of the two nations.
?The relationship between the Philippines and Japan is getting stronger and closer,? Pacquiao said at the beginning of the meeting.
Pacquiao also offered to help develop young Japanese boxers as they work toward the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
?I can help and share my talent and knowledge about boxing to the young athletes here that are interested in boxing,? said the star, who has a 59-6-2 record as a pro.
And now Pacquiao has a Japanese base from which to dispense his advice. He?s opened his own gym ? Manny Pacquiao Gym Tokyo Japan ? in Tokyo?s Harajuku district, the first gym named after him outside the Philippines.
One day after the meeting at the LDP, Pacquiao visited the brand-new gym to help promote it.
In good news for Japanese boxing fans, Pacquiao said that he plans to open more gyms in Japan and come to the country more often.
Pacquiao is an inspiration for many of Japan?s top fighters, and at the media ceremony on Friday, he answered questions from elite boxers affiliated with Ohashi Gym, one of the most competitive in Japan.
IBF light flyweight champion Akira Yaegashi, for instance, asked Pacquiao, who has been a world champion in eight different classes, how he managed to adjust his body as he went up to heavier divisions.
?To become an eight-division champion is not easy, it?s hard,? Pacquiao responded. ?What I did was to just keep eating and training hard. I ate more meat for the muscles and good protein. Before, I ate three times a day, but when I was moving up, I ate five times a day.?
Pacquiao even demonstrated how to throw a straight, putting on a pair of gloves to show 23-year-old phenom Naoya Inoue, the WBO super flyweight champion.
The Pacquiao gym will also operate as a fitness center. Pacquiao expects a variety of people, whether they are boxers or not, to work out at the gym.
?Boxing is a good exercise,? Pacquiao said with a smile. ?You can lose weight and it?s also good for your stamina.?
To wrap up his trip, Pacquiao attended another news conference at the Foreign Correspondent?s Club of Japan on Saturday morning as a guest speaker.
?I?m glad to be back after my last visit to the Land of the Rising Sun,? Pacquiao said in his opening speech. ?With the Manny Pacquiao boxing gym, we are looking forward to having a much closer relationship with Japan.?
Pacquiao stressed that Filipinos and Japanese are built similarly and that boxing is ?tailor-made for medium guys like us (the Filipinos and Japanese).?
?You see?? Pacquiao told the audience. ?I was able to conquer eight different divisions in boxing.?
Pacquiao said that in terms of standard of living and technology, Japan is more advanced than his country. ?Who knows?? he said. ?The next Manny Pacquiao could be from Japan.
?It?s not that difficult to produce a Japanese version of Manny Pacquiao.?
Pacquiao is an entertainer in and out of the ring as he dedicates himself to his country as a politician of the PDP-Laban party (he was previously a congressman and was elected as a senator this year). Clearly, he always has work on his hands.
Pacquiao claims fighting is his passion, something he ?enjoys? doing. But when this sporting celebrity, who drew huge attention around the world for his fight against Floyd Mayweather Jr. in May 2015, was asked if wants to get away from the spotlight and have more free time, Pacquiao responded: ?Sometimes I want to be alone with my family, but it?s very hard to do that, especially in the Philippines, but sometimes we go to places where people don?t recognize me.?
