Hard Gay
From BakakageWiki
Hard Gay is the shorter name for the character played by Japanese comedian Masaki Sumitani, the full name being Razor Ramon HG. Chances are if you lived in Japan during the year of 2005, you have seen Hard Gay on television at least once, if not almost everyday. His face was everywhere and on everything. Hard Gay was first introduced to the public at large when he made appearances on the Japanese show Bakushō Mondai no Bakuten, (Bakuten for short). Razor Ramon is also the name of an American pro-wrestler, but the two definitely should not be compared to each other, other than the fact that they are both wrestlers in a sense.
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Masaki Sumitani
Sumitani attended East Kakogawa High School, and after graduating attended Doshisha University where he majored in Commerce. Doshisha is known for its being a very pro-Western type of school, and it is most likely while studying there that Sumitani came into contact with the world of American pro-wrestling, as Sumitani himself had taken up wrestling as a hobby during his years at Doshisha. He had even joined the Doshisha Professional Wrestling Alliance (DWA) under the ring name of "GiveUp Sumitani". During his time in the DWA he won the heavy class Kyoto pro-wrestling championship that was co-hosted by the DWA and the Ritsumeikan Wrestling Alliance (RWA). The RWA being the wrestling league of nearby Ritsumeikan University.
During his wrestling years in college, Sumitani met the man who would become his partner in crime during the era of Hard Gay, Makoto Debuchi. Together they would form the comedy duo "Razor Ramon" in 1997. They won the Fukuwarai Award at the Imamiya Kids' Ebisu Manzai Contest, and even auditioned for a live performance at SABUKI, an Osaka comedy club run by the Yoshimoto Kogyo comedy troupe. Yoshimoto Kogyo is where many comedians in the Kansai area start their careers off.
After finishing his university education Sumitani got a job at a grocery store, (CO-OP KOBE), delivering groceries. However his will to become a professional comedian led him to quit his job after four months and join the Yoshimoto Kogyo with his partner Makoto Izubuchi. "Razor Ramon" made their first appearance on TV in 1999 and won the "Judges' Special Award" in the "ABC Comedy Grand-Prix" in 2000. The duo joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo-produced program Yoshimoto Shin-kigaeki, which was one of the most popular stage acts in Japan. They often played the roles of yakuza, salaryman, udon restaurant owner, construction worker, and many others.
There are rumors floating around that Sumitani is currently engaged to be married with former Miniskirt Police girl Suzuki Anna. While these are not confirmed yet, it has been said that Sumitani having a girlfriend will hurt his image as Hard Gay. The Hard Gay section below will have more information about Sumitani's current, and most popular character.
Relation to Hard Gay
Sumitani keeps his life and that of his television character's life as seperate as he possibly can. Whenever he is on a show and he needs to mention his real self, he always says "Sumitani-kun", or something of the sort, rather than just saying, "I". There have also been stories of him after shows running into fans as Sumitani, and the fans would all tell him that he had a good show, his hip thrusts were great tonight, etc. Yet Sumitani would stop them and say, "Tell that to Hard Gay". Being the nice person that he is, he would go back into his dressing room and come back out as HG for his fans.
Random Information
- Real Name: Sumitani Masaki (住谷正樹)
- Birthdate: December 18, 1975
- Birthplace: Harima, Hyogo Prefecture
- Bust: 106cm
- Waist: 89cm
- Hip: 107cm
- Height: 185cm
- Weight: 88kg
- Blood Type: B
- Zodiac: Sagittarius
- Shoe Size: 28cm
- Hobbies: Professional Wrestling, Woodworking, Drawing
- Current Residence: Osaka
Hard Gay
Razor Ramon HG was first introduced in 2002, and it was the character that would rocket Sumitani directly into the spotlight of Japan in 2005. Hard Gay dresses in a tight black leather outfit with the letters HG on the back of his top. His short black hot pants are the stuff of legends, and his sunglasses and black leather cap are almost a permanent fixture on his head. His outfit brings to mind the Village People, but gives off a much different kind of appeal.
HG is known to go about in various cities helping people out all the while trying to be as flamingly gay as possible, incorporating hip thrusts and shouting out various catchphrases. While he's running the Hard Gay gas station, he claims that his "gasoline" is provided by Freddy Mercury. The music that normally accompanies all of this hip thrusting is Ricky Martin's Livin' La Vida Loca.
The name Hard Gay itself is actually a pun on the word geinin (芸人) which means actor or performer. The "gei" part of geinin is how Japanese people pronounce/spell the English word gay. Hard Gay himself uses these types of puns occasionally during his pieces, one prominent example is during the Father's Day Episode he asks a kid to call home using his "Hard Gay-tai", meaning his "Hard Cellphone". The word for cellphone is keitai (携帯), and HG just voiced the 'k' sound turning it into a 'g' to make the pun.
Catchphrases
Hoo!
Everyone that has seen Razor Ramon HG in action has heard this catchphrase. If they haven't, then they either weren't paying any attention at all to our hero on the screen, or they're lying. This is his main catchphrase.
Origins
Hard Gay's main catchphrase comes from the American prowrestler Ric Flair, who can still be seen around from time to time. His energetic outbursts of "wooo!" are remembered by all who ever saw him on television, as he would always say it at any chance he could get. Similar to our hero, Razor Ramon HG.
Meaning
No particular meaning other than to add emphasis and color to whatever he says. Also used as an outburst of happiness.
Foo?
It shouldn't be romanized as foo. There are a lot of Hard Gay fans out there who all seem to agree that his main catchphrase should be romanized from Japanese as "foo", rather than "hoo" or "woo", or anything like that. However, there is a lot to be taken into account when romanizing this word rather than just looking at the katakana and deciding from there.
First, there's the origin of the word to be taken into consideration, which is listed above. Ric Flair did not shout out "fooo". Considering the name Razor Ramon is also from the world of American Prowrestlers, this all leads us to believe that what is being shouted out is closer to "woo" or "hoo", which is much closer to what Ric Flair shouts out.
The next point is that there is no proper Japanese sound for the "hooo" that we have, or the "wooo" that Ric Flair shouted out. It just doesn't exist. The closest they have is, directly romanized, fuuu. There is no exact huuu sound in Japanese, but that is as close as it gets because the difference between fuuu and huuu is extremely miniscule and ambiguous. If one were to try and say huuu, it can also sound like a fuuu sound. Which is the reason why it isn't wrong to romanize Hard Gay's catchphrase as "hooo".
That, and the fact that there is no real record of anyone running around shouting fooo in English, and hooo is much more relatable to other types of exclamations in English, leads the subtitles to read as "hooo" unless a joke demands otherwise. Remember, these subtitles are translations FROM Japanese, not Japanese.
Say! Say! Say!
Whether this has any true meaning is debatable. This 'sei' most likely comes from the Japanese word "urusai" which is commonly translated as "shut up" or "shut the fuck up" depending on the force behind the word. Colloquially "urusai" can be said "urusei", and after that people have been shortening the word to "ussei" and "ssei", which is most likely where HG got "sei" from. He has also stated that it does not literally mean the command form of "say", the English word, and that he pretty much says it whenever he's not happy about something.
Now, the reason for this "sei" being translated as "Say!" is due to a colloquial use of that word in English. "Say" in English of course means, "to say", or the command form of the word "say", meaning to speak and such. However colloquially it has been used to grab attention. For example, "Say man, could you..." or "Say dawg, say." This is very close to what HG is doing when he uses the word, so "Say" is thought to be a fairly accurate translation. It helps that the word sounds like what he is saying as well.
Come and Get Some!
Whenever Hard Gay wants to tell someone to come after him, he turns around, bends over some, slaps his ass, and shouts out, "Come and get some!" This can be seen as an invitation or a threat, whatever your preference is.
Okay!
The second most common of Hard Gay's catchphrases, this one is used almost as much as Hoo!, and the meaning is pretty much the same as the English. Nothing special here.
Appearances
Television Shows
Commercials
Radio
Random Facts
- Hard Gay's sunglasses are the same as those Elvis Presley is famous for wearing.
- Hard Gay once visted the USA in full costume. He enjoyed his stay in Las Vegas, NV.
- Masaki Sumitani is engaged to Anna Suzuki [Ex-member of the Miniskirt Police]
Merchandise
HG the Book available from YesAsia
Links
Hard Gay Subs
English Wikipedia Entry
Japanese Wikipedia Entry
Online Talent Resume
Thank You
Thanks goes out to the many editors of the English Wikipedia entry, where most of this information came from, and thanks goes out to the editors of the Japanese Wikipedia Entry, where a lot more of information is going to be added from.
