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Satō Jun (佐藤 惇) is the President of the Japan Parkour Association, a Parkour Instructor for children and a SASUKE competitor who has competed 13 times. He is one of many speedsters, usually achieving top times on the First Stage. But while he is known for being incredibly consistent and fast, he is also known for his still ongoing streak of Cliffhanger fails.

Before SASUKE[]

During Satō Jun's Third Stage VTR's shown from SASUKE 35 to SASUKE 37, and also on his Japanese Wikipedia page, it was stated that Satō Jun began to suffer from depression during his time at a private integrated junior high school, and that he developed a sleeping disorder, which led to him no longer attending junior high school. This was due to the fact that he no longer had time to engage in physical activities after starting to attend junior high school, mainly due to the number of assignments he had to complete and his poor exam results. And this area of physical activities was an area in his life in which he could feel free and be "himself". But now that this area in his life was gone, he began to suffer from even greater mental pressure about his school life, and he felt as if he was "losing himself". In the autumn of the third year of his Junior High School time, this particular mental pressure became so much for Satō Jun that he thought of committing suicide twice by jumping off a high building. However, in the midst of this very difficult time of his life, Satō started to see a TV programme called "Jump London" and was impressed by the way the participants of this programme carried themselves. This was his own inspiration to start practicing parkour, and after a certain time Satō started to teach himself via using the internet. And after all, Satō Jun had overcome all of his past problems and became the talented and popular parkour athlete and instructor who he is today.

Trials Qualifications and Initial Appearances[]

Satō qualified for SASUKE 21 and SASUKE 23 via the SASUKE Trials.

He first qualified for SASUKE 21 by placing fifth in the SASUKE 21 Trials. In the official tournament, he failed First Stage's Log Grip and went the shortest of all the SASUKE Trial Qualifiers that day.

He once again competed in the trials for SASUKE 23 and took the #1 spot. His second go around went much better as he was one of four Trials qualifiers to clear First Stage that day with him finishing with 19.42 seconds remaining on the clock. However, in the Second Stage, all of SASUKE Trials Qualifiers would up going out on Salmon Ladder. In Satō's case, he missed the second rung and pulled the bar off of the ladder altogether. This performance earned him an invite to SASUKE 24, where he once again cleared First Stage. However, he hurt his arm on the framing following Log Grip and later failed Salmon Ladder again.

Satō was once again invited to SASUKE 25, drawing #18 from the lottery. In First Stage, he cleared most of the obstacles with ease, but on Circle Slider, he missed the ring with his left hand but hung on with his right to clear the obstacle. He became the first person to conquer the redesigned First Stage. In Second Stage, he defeated his nemesis (now Double Salmon Ladder) but was quickly defeated between the boards of the Unstable Bridge. After that competition, he went to college in the UK and after a 6-tournament absence, he returned for SASUKE 32.

Return to SASUKE[]

After a six-tournament, and also a six-year absence, Satō returned for SASUKE 32 and wore #76. While his whole run was digested, it was shown that he cleared First Stage with 15.17 seconds remaining, the third fastest time of that day. He then cleared Second Stage for the first time ever and after three consecutive Second Stage fails, with 10.49 seconds remaining. On his first attempt at Third Stage, he failed the first jump transition of Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. He made the jump and managed to reach the opposite ledge, however did not have a grip and fell. However, he came joint second in that tournament (Brent Steffensen failed in exactly the same way) only to Drew Drechsel. He made it the farthest out of any Japanese competitor.

SASUKE 33 saw Satō competing with his tied highest number to date, #97. He successfully lived up to high placing, clearing the First Stage for the second tournament in a row and also for fifth appearance in row, doing so with 32.06 seconds remaining on the clock, which was the fastest First Stage clear of the tournament. In the Second Stage, Satō proved that his Second Stage clear of the previous SASUKE tournament was no fluke, by clearing the Second Stage with 07.35 seconds remaining on the clock, the third fastest Second Stage clear of the tournament. In the Third Stage, Satō successfully navigated through Drum Hopper Kai once again, however, his attempt quickly came an end to as he failed the Flying Bar.

In SASUKE 34 he received #96 due to his previous two performances. In the First Stage, Satō Jun, despite wasting about 22 seconds in front of the Fish Bone, managed to clear the First Stage with 26.58 seconds remaining on the clock, which was the fourth fastest First Stage clear of the tournament and also the only time in his modern SASUKE era career, that his First Stage clear time was not in the top 3 of the best First Stage clear times. In the Third Stage, he took his revenge on the Flying Bar, but he was unable to overcome Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger again.

In SASUKE 35 he wore #97 for the second time in his career. In the First Stage run, which was also his first First Stage run since SASUKE 25 that was fully shown in the broadcast, Satō Jun advanced through the first half of the stage nicely, despite having a close call on the dismount of third obstacle of the stage, the TIE Fighter, in which he almost got pushed off the side of the course by the obstacle and then took on the new obstacle of the stage, the Dragon Glider and cleared the obstacle, making a very low jump transition to the second bar. After that, Satō cleared the rest of First Stage, the Tackle and the Soritatsu Kabe, easily, doing so with 20.39 seconds remaining on the clock, which was the fastest First Stage clear of the tournament by far. In the Second Stage, Satō Jun advanced throughout the stage at a good pace and, despite struggling a little bit on the Wall Lifting, cleared the Second Stage with 18.97, which was the second fastest Second Stage clear of the tournament, and advanced to the Third Stage for the fourth tournament in a row. There, he got past the first two obstacles, the Flying Bar and the Sidewinder, despite landing very low on the first pole of the Sidewinder. After that, he took on the third obstacle of the stage, the newly introduced Planet Bridge and cleared it on his first try, despite struggling a little bit throughout his attempt. And following that, Satō took on his nemesis of the previous tournament, the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger. But as in SASUKE 34, Satō Jun failed the transition to the second ledge once again, with him failing to hold onto the second ledge.

In SASUKE 36 he got #96 and being a well-known speed demon at this stage, he showed that as he blazed through First Stage, clearing with over 23 seconds left. He had no trouble in Second Stage as well. In Third Stage, he finally beat the first jump of Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger only to fail the transition on the moving ledge.

In SASUKE 37, wearing #94, he once again blazed through the first two stages, but failed the second transition on the newly modified Cliffhanger Dimension; however, this did mean that he cleared First Stage for the ninth time consecutively (in terms of the tournaments he competed in), beating Takeda Toshihiro and Nagano Makoto's record of eight straight clears from SASUKE 11-18.

In SASUKE 38, once again wearing #94, he blazed through First Stage with over 30.66 seconds remaining on the clock. In the Second Stage, he had some trouble throughout the entire stage, mainly due to the Vertigo, that he sustained after he cleared the Rolling Log, but he still cleared with over three seconds left. During his preview video, it was shown that he practiced Cliffhanger by using two sets of bars, notably one higher than the other. This technique would be on display during his attempt of the now functioning Cliffhanger Dimension, as he was trying to time it so that he would be higher than the third ledge, unfortunately his plan ended sour as he couldn't hang on once he did the transition and would fail again in a familiar spot. However, this did mean that he cleared First Stage for the tenth time consecutively (in terms of the tournaments he competed in) and he also matched Takeda's record for seven consecutive Third Stage attempts.

Sato did not participate in SASUKE 39 due to an Achilles tendon injury in his right leg. He was present during taping however and cheered on his fellow competitors of the Morimoto Sedai.

Injury[]

In early April 2021, it was revealed on Satō's different social media accounts that he unfortunately suffered an Achilles tendon injury on his right leg that would lead him to undergo surgery. The surgery was deemed successful, and he was discharged from the hospital two days earlier than what was planned. During this period off, he was appointed as the new President of the Japan Parkour Association, revealed in this Instagram post.

Return from Injury[]

He returned to compete in SASUKE 40, wearing #3972. Once again, he cleared both the first and second stage with over 35 and 10 seconds respectively and he yet again failed on the Cliff Dimension, this time falling on the first transition, the first time he failed in that way since SASUKE 35. Nevertheless, this meant he had broken Takeda's record by getting to the Third Stage for the eighth time in succession. All three of his runs were digested for the first time since SASUKE 34.

In SASUKE 41, he would wear #76, and would clear the First Stage with just over 31 seconds remaining, in addition to performing various unconventional maneuvers during his run for no clear purpose other than entertainment. In the Second Stage, his surprising freestyle actions continued, including skipping the lower panel of the Spider Drop entirely; even so, he cleared with over 12 seconds remaining. Ultimately however, he would once again fail the Cliff Dimension, misjudging the second transition by dismounting too high between the ledges.

Takeshi's Castle (Reboot) Appearances[]

On the Takeshi's Castle reboot, Satō participated as a part of the SASUKE Team, which included many famous SASUKE competitors, most notably Yamamoto Shingo, Urushihara Yuuji and Morimoto Yūsuke.

Satō first appeared in the Episodes 3 and 4, in which the contestants tried to storm the castle of Watanabe Naomi. In his first appearance, Satō would perform extremely well, with him completing difficult challenges, for example Block Block (ブロックブロック), and reaching the penultimate challenge before Yabusame (流鏑馬), Harukanaru Jiyū E No Kabe (遥かなる自由への壁). However, Satō's performance came to an end, with him getting smeared with blue paint at the second to last wall.

After his first appearance, Satō would then re-appear in the Episodes 7 and 8, in which the contestants tried to storm the main castle of Count Takeshi himself. In this particular appearance however, Satō would struggle more, mainly due to almost all of the challenges being supersized iterations of the regular challenges, with him first failing right at the end of the stones, a challenge that consists the combination of Ryujin Ike and Gibraltar Kaikyo known as Super Ryujin Ike Gibraltar Kaikyo (SUPER竜神池ジブラルタル海峡). However, due to winning one of the repechage challenges, Satō was allowed to continue. Following that, Satō was digested at the next main challenge, Super Senjo Ni Kakeruhashi (SUPER戦場に架ける橋), with him unfortunately failing this challenge as well due to the immense difficulty. Despite this failure, however, Satō advanced to the next repechage challenge, Doronko De Pon (ドロンコデポン), in which he was one of the 30 contestants, who found a atari (success) capsule, and then moved on to the penultimate challenge that consists the combination of Strong Arm and Migi Kara Hidari Kara known as Super Strong Arm Migi Kara Hidari Kara (SUPERストロークアーム右から左から). There, Satō first fought through the first part, but unfortunately fell at the second part. However, due to the fact that he came close, Satō was granted the Kantosho (敢闘賞) translated as the Fighting Spirit Award and moved on to Super Yabusame (SUPER流鏑馬). There, Satō was the last of the three contestants. With the hopes of the other eliminated contestants now lying on his shoulders, Satō Jun began his attempt albeit just as the other two contestants, would fail to hit through the target of Count Takeshi's cart, with him only getting three close shots, which meant that he was eliminated.

Trivia[]

  • Satō holds the record for most consecutive Third Stage appearances, at nine, beating previous record holder Takeda Toshihiro. Ironically, both of them never reached the Final Stage.
  • Satō also holds the record for the most consecutive First Stage clears, at 12, from SASUKE 23-25, then SASUKE 32-38 and most recently SASUKE 40-41 (he didn't compete in the tournaments in between, due to school in his first absence, and due to injury in his second).
  • Known as a speed demon, he has had the fastest clear time on at least one stage he's cleared between SASUKE 33 and 38.
    • His fastest time on the First Stage achieved in SASUKE 33, 35, 37 (excluding Jessie Graff's time) and 38.
    • His fastest time on the Second Stage achieved in SASUKE 34 and 36.
    • Because of this, in his career, he has only cleared a stage with less than 10 seconds thrice: SASUKE 25's First Stage (7.21 seconds left), SASUKE 33's Second Stage (7.35 seconds left), and SASUKE 38's Second Stage (a career low with 3.65 seconds left).
  • Sato owns the record for most consecutive fails on any Cliffhanger variant at seven, from SASUKE 34 to 38, and SASUKE 40 to 41.
  • Satō holds the record for the highest number of fails on any Cliffhanger variant at eight. Satō failed the Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger four times and Cliffhanger Dimension four times.
  • He and Nagasaki Shunsuke are the only Shin-Sedai who has never failed Soritatsu Kabe.
  • He and Morimoto Yūsuke are the only two persons to be featured in two groups created by TBS, as they were considered a member of Shin-Sedai and Morimoto Sedai.
  • Since his hiatus return, every one of his Second Stage runs has been digested or mid-cut, except for SASUKE 35 and SASUKE 38.
  • During his SASUKE 36's Third Stage run, his foot accidentally shoved the towel that landed on Flying Bar's cradle. While it didn't cost him much, it was one of few funny instances done by competitors on the course that was caught on camera.
  • From SASUKE 32 to 34, at least one of Sato's clears in either of the first two stages, despite being impressive with fastest times, were digested. This would be the same for his Third Stage attempts, as in the case of 32 and 34, both of which would also complete a triple digest. This was allegedly due to the producers' assumption that parkour, Sato's main profession outside of SASUKE, was dangerous and a bad influence on younger audience. This gradually began to change when Sato had his own VTR showing him teaching his profession safely to kids. Interestingly enough however, Sato would get triple digested again in SASUKE 40, this despite it being his return from injury and himself having been recently appointed as the president of the Japan Parkour Association.
  • He and Hioki Masashi are the only two competitors to have failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger and Cliffhanger Dimension four times or more. They have been able to clear the first transition at least once, but not the second.
  • He has never failed by timing out. All of his fails thus far have seen him falling to the water.
  • He and Okuyama Yoshiyuki are the only competitors to have a 100% First and Second Stage clear rate in one era, Sato doing so from SASUKE 32 to 38, and Okuyama from SASUKE 25 to 27.
  • In a recent two-part interview, Jun mentions the Dragon Glider, Fish Bone, Flying Bar, Salmon Ladder, and Cliffhanger as the top five obstacles he dislikes attempting in SASUKE.

Results[]

SASUKE # Result Notes
21 44 Failed Log Grip (First Stage) Digest.
23 50 Failed Salmon Ladder (Second Stage) Digest. First Level. Bar came off the rungs.
24 78 Failed Salmon Ladder (Second Stage) Third Level.
25 18 Failed Unstable Bridge (Second Stage) Failed the transition to the second board.
32 76 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) First Transition.
33 97 Failed Flying Bar (Third Stage)
34 96 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) First Transition.
35 97 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) First Transition.
36 96 Failed Ultra Crazy Cliffhanger (Third Stage) Second Transition.
37 94 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension (Third Stage) Second Transition.
38 94 Failed Cliffhanger Dimension (Third Stage) Second Transition.
40 3972 Failed Cliff Dimension (Third Stage) First Transition.
41 76 Failed Cliff Dimension (Third Stage) Second Transition.

External Links[]

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