James Okada (ジェームス 岡田) is an action actor born in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.
He first tried his hand at SASUKE in SASUKE 6, where he went out on the Jump Hang. Despite this early exit, in SASUKE 7, he was given a very high number, #95. He performed much better this time out, managing to reach the top of the Jump Hang's cargo net and managing to clear the First Stage, albeit with only 0.21 seconds remaining following a struggle on the Rope Climb. In the Second Stage, his run was digested, but it was shown that he began the Wall Lifting with under 10 seconds left and only barely managed to clear with 0.1 seconds remaining by crawling to the finish line. In the Third Stage, he failed the first obstacle there, the Propeller Untei, becoming the first -- and only -- person to do so. He returned again in SASUKE 8 but was retired by the Rolling Maruta and retired from SASUKE competition thereafter.
Trivia[]
- Unlike Kane Kosugi and Shane Kosugi who uses Katakana for their family name, Okada uses Kanji.
- Okada is only one of four people who could reach the top support of the Jump Hang, as he achieved that feat in SASUKE 7.
- The other three who achieved that feat are Hatakeda Yoshiaki, Kane Kosugi, and Paul Anthony Terek.
- From SASUKE 8 onwards, a buzzer opens the gate of the Second Stage, which was likely introduced after SASUKE 7 where James Okada passed through the gate with just 0.1 seconds left but there was some ambiguity as to whether he had actually made it in under the time limit.
- Okada is the only competitor to fail at the Propeller Untei.
- Okada also competing in Celebrity Sportsman No. 1.
- During his Sportsman appearance, a malfunction occurred in the final heat of Iron Squat event, the fourth set of tires (80kg) dropped for him and Shōei, but got stuck for Nakayama Kinnikun. Because of this, the event was considered as "No Contest" and was thrown out.
- He is, along with Akiyama Kazuhiko, one of the two competitors to clear both the First and Second Stage with the slowest time in a tournament, with Okada doing this in SASUKE 7.
Results[]
| SASUKE | # | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 19 | Failed Jump Hang (First Stage) | |
| 7 | 95 | Failed Propeller Untei (Third Stage) | |
| 8 | 80 | Failed Rolling Maruta (First Stage) | Digest. |