the Inari Festival was held at our manufacturing sites in Osaka The Inari Festival takes place every year on the first Sunday of April to celebrate the company’s founding it was raining in the Kansai region the night before the event but the rain stopped in time for the event and so we were able to enjoy the festival in fine weather and with many cherry blossoms in full bloom at each site I attended the Inari Festival at Itami Works and prayed for the safety of our employees and also for the company’s prosperity In light of a serious accident that occurred last July we vowed once again to come together as a company and maintain safety as our top priority so that an accident like that never happens again Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. President's blog is operated by the Company. Please note the about this blog. going from Benny the Bengal mascot to leading AI-driven legal solutions for global companies a proud graduate of Idaho State University (ISU) is now the Director of AI and E-Discovery Solutions at Covington & Burling LLP a prestigious law firm with over 2,000 lawyers worldwide Todd earned his Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from ISU in 2008 and went on to complete his Doctor of Law degree from the University of Chicago Law School in 2013 Todd’s career combines both traditional legal expertise and a technical focus on artificial intelligence (AI) and software in the practice of law His role involves advising on AI-related legal matters and implementing AI solutions to enhance the efficiency of legal processes Todd says that ISU was his first choice for college he explored a variety of subjects including organic chemistry giving him a broad academic foundation.  Todd credits his ISU professors for inspiring him to think critically and outside the box—a skill that has been instrumental in his career and he encourages students to talk to their professors and find out if there are ways they can help them or work together “The professors are very accessible and they want to talk to you,” he says “There’s someone at ISU who wants to help you.” Todd fondly remembers his active involvement in student life from being a student ambassador to hosting his own radio show and even taking on the role of Benny the Bengal in 2005 He urges current students to immerse themselves in extracurricular activities and "aggressively pursue" their passions He says that college is a great place to try things out and gain confidence to become involved in new groups or try new things and be successful Todd built a successful web and graphic design business while working at the university’s help desk Though he initially thought his tech career was behind him he soon realized that AI and technology had an essential role in the legal field Todd sought to merge his passion for law with his expertise in technology Todd says he appreciates the diverse community at ISU that expanded his world-view He believes that interacting with different cultures made him more well-rounded and better equipped to work with clients from around the globe.  Todd continues to push the boundaries of AI in law sharing his expertise at conferences like the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA) and ensuring that the next generation of lawyers is prepared for the technological challenges of the future continuous learning has been key to his success As the Director of AI and E-Discovery Solutions at Covington & Burling Todd Takashi Itami advises global companies on the integration of machine learning in legal processes He has led efforts in high-stakes cases and large-scale investigations merging deep technical expertise with legal practice His work optimizes costs for clients through AI-driven solutions while also contributing to LegalTech software development and innovation Suparna Sinha is a PhD Student and Graduate Teaching Assistant at Idaho State University She is an international student from India and is currently in her fifth semester of study Her areas of interest include Postcolonial Eco-Feminist Literature and Dalit Literature She has presented in international conferences like the DEI in Education conference held at ISU Her hobbies include solving cryptic puzzles writing articles on positivity in her blog third from left) with members of the Operational Intelligence Section at Camp Ritchie David Akira Itami devoted his life to service to the United States is he forgotten in this country and honored in Japan His biography reveals the complex issues — then and now — that have governed his case Itami was one of approximately 6,000 Japanese Americans (Nisei) who served in the Military Intelligence Service of the U.S His work was especially valued because he was a Kibei Nisei — one of those Japanese Americans who spent several years of their childhood living in Japan a small coastal town in Kagoshima Prefecture he went on to study at the Daito Bunka Gakuin (Academy of Greater East Asian Culture) in Tokyo But because of his mother’s failing health Itami’s life now took a very different direction After taking a job at a salmon cannery in Alaska where he exercised his first leadership role by helping the Asian immigrant community negotiate their summer wages he returned to California and settled in Los Angeles It did not take him long to transition to a position of influence in the Japanese American community he taught Japanese language classes at the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple and took courses at Los Angeles City College he found employment on the editorial staff of the bilingual newspaper Kashu Mainichi Shinbun/The Japan-California Daily News Itami renounced his Japanese citizenship in 1935 He helped establish a Japanese American literary magazine worked on educational programming for the Kibei division of the JACL and in 1940 became editor of a news magazine written by and for Kibei interpreter Tomio Mori and a court reporter at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal It was his dream that the Kibei Nisei could provide a bridge between Japan and the United States But he alienated himself from leftist members of the Kibei Nisei community when he wrote that the United States had more to fear from Russia than Japan This alienation turned to open hostility in October 1940 when Itami used his authority as vp of JACL’s Kibei Division to expel some of its Communist members He continued to be the acknowledged head of this division even when the JACL leadership changed and its new and powerful anti-Axis Committee demanded that Kibei and Issei sever all contact with Japan Things escalated when Japan launched its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor more than 5,500 community leaders were rounded up and sent to detention centers Itami now had to tread a careful line at Kashu Mainichi since the JACL’s anti-Axis Committee was monitoring it and other Japanese American newspapers for “fascist tendencies.” He immediately dropped all favorable commentaries about Japan and appealed in the paper In a final editorial before publication of Kashu Mainichi was suspended Itami and his colleagues urged all Nisei to comply with EO 9066 in which he gave a major reason for supporting the resettlement: “We Nisei on the California coast certainly do not wish to be looked upon as potential saboteurs or fifth columnists Neither do we have any desire to be charged responsible if and when any single bomb is dropped here.” Two days after Kashu Mainichi suspended publication Itami was among 85 Los Angeles Japanese Americans to join an advance work party that helped prepare for the arrival of detainees at the Owens Valley Reception Center in Manzanar Thousands would enter the camp in the days that followed including Itami’s wife and 4-year-old daughter Itami served as executive secretary of the block leaders council and translated and transcribed the camp newspaper into Japanese He continued to believe that it was the duty of all loyal Nisei to accept their forced incarceration as part of their contribution to the American war effort praising Manzanar and saying that conditions there were “just about the best that we can expect under the circumstances.” He declared that the federal officials who served as camp administrators were “very courteous and considerate toward all of us” and that “under the snow-covered High Sierra mountains our life is just wonderful But Itami remained at the camp only seven months commander of the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage came to Manzanar to recruit Japanese language instructors He immediately hired Itami and two other Nisei as civilian instructors; the three men left Manzanar as the very first volunteers from relocation centers to be recruited by the U.S Itami’s departure was noted with disfavor by two opposing factions at the camp: hostile anti-Axis JACL members and a small The language program at Camp Savage was a daunting one Japanese linguists were needed to serve the Army translating and deciphering Japanese codes The MIS faced a unique situation in the war with Japan The branch history of the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section pointed out that the Japanese entrusted much more military information to written records than was usual for a country at war a plan was developed for the establishment of PACMIRS as a centralized translating agency Itami had made himself indispensable by starting to file and index Japanese reference material in Washington; at Ritchie he was assigned to the Operational Intelligence Section The official branch history of PACMIRS acknowledged Itami’s work by pointing out that “Sgt Itami’s research in the field of Japanese official publications was made the basis of several Special Projects ….” He was the only Nisei and the only noncommissioned officer to be mentioned by name in this official history Cramer congratulates Itami upon his receipt of the Legion of Merit in August 1946 when he received the Legion of Merit for having “assembled a reference library of more than 4,000 Japanese official orders indexed under some 25,000 subject headings.” Furthermore “exercising a keen knowledge of the Japanese language and military affairs Itami … extracted from his library much original data on Japanese high command orders army technical research institutes and recruiting and replacement systems.” When asked about the honor Itami’s wife replied: “I am so grateful he has proved himself We can’t trust you,’ it hurt him as if he had been called a traitor Itami was discharged from the Army on April 10 but he remained a War Department civilian employee he and three other Kibei from the Allied Power’s Translation and Interpretation Section were assigned to monitor the work of the Japanese interpreters at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal Itami was particularly adept at explaining subtle distinctions in language he stepped in not only to correct language misperceptions but also to silence the prosecutor when he interrupted the testimony of Japan’s former wartime leader Once the intensive labor of the trials was over A poster for the 2019 Japanese TV film based on Toyoko Yamasaki’s fictionalized account of David Akira Itami’s life Itami might have been forgotten as just another war casualty — until novelist Toyoko Yamasaki took an interest in his case and published his story in 1983 in the novel “Futatsu No Sokoku” (“Two Homelands”) (An abridged English translation appeared in 2008.) It was turned into a yearlong TV series in 1984 and a two-part TV film in 2019 Yamasaki portrayed her hero’s disillusionment with America’s conduct of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal and America’s continued anti-Japanese fervor as major reasons for his suicide who was 12 at the time of her father’s death as he did not belong to any group,” she said “Nisei did not trust Kibei because they were so different from themselves he was alienated from other Kibei because he was too intelligent to believe the propaganda of the Japanese military government at the time.” a memorial was erected at the site of his childhood home And the college he had attended as a young man named a large assembly hall in his honor successfully banned the 1984 film “Two Homelands” from being shown in the continental United States because they were deep into negotiations for redress and reparations for their forced internment during the war they had — and continue to have — little interest in celebrating a Kibei who proclaimed their voluntary internment an act of American patriotism despite his spectacular wartime achievements Beverley Driver Eddy is a retired professor at Dickenson College in Carlisle This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page The total number of international passengers was 101% compared to March 2019 with foreign and Japanese passengers recovering to 117% and 73% This marks the seventh consecutive month that the total passenger count exceeded pre-COVID-19 figures The movements of international cargo flights were 95% compared to March last year while the volume of international cargo handled increased to 111% Connect with ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East Want to stay up-to-date with ACI Asia-Pacific & Middle East latest news and insights If you are an official ACI Asia-Pacific member, please use Member Login to manage your subscription preference Copyright © 2025 Airports Council International (ACI) Asia-Pacific and Middle East We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you agree with it. Learn more Todd Itami said the to-do list includes AI training inside Covington "making it not as crazy or hard to use this stuff or think about." Covington & Burling has created a new AI-focused role—director of artificial intelligence and e-discovery solutions—hiring Todd Itami in the position Itami will lead Covington in its integration of AI and other technology tools at the firm The Recorder The Legal Intelligencer New York Law Journal The American Lawyer National Law Journal Brugh Lower of Gibbons has entered an appearance for industrial equipment supplier Devco Corporation in a pending trademark infringement lawsuit accusing the defendant of selling knock-off Graco products 18 in New Jersey District Court by Rivkin Radler on behalf of Graco Inc Read More Yalowitz of Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer have entered their appearances for Hanaco Venture Capital and its executives 24 in New York Southern District Court by Zell accuses the defendants of negligently and fraudulently managing the plaintiff's $1 million investment Read More Attorneys from A&O Shearman has stepped in as defense counsel for Toronto-Dominion Bank and other defendants in a pending securities class action 11 in New York Southern District Court by Bleichmar Fonti & Auld accuses the defendants of concealing the bank's 'pervasive' deficiencies in regards to its compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act and the quality of its anti-money laundering controls Read More a Pennsylvania company providing shared communications infrastructure Wolf of Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani to fend off a pending breach-of-contract lawsuit 25 in Michigan Eastern District Court by Hooper Hathaway PC on behalf of The Town Residences LLC accuses Crown Castle of failing to transfer approximately $30,000 in utility payments from T-Mobile in breach of a roof-top lease and assignment agreement Read More Schwartz of McCarter & English have stepped in as defense counsel to Electrolux Home Products Inc 26 in New York Eastern District Court by Poulos Lopiccolo PC and Nagel Rice LLP on behalf of David Stern alleges that the defendant's refrigerators’ drawers and shelving repeatedly break and fall apart within months after purchase Read More Browse More Resources Already have an account? Sign In KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Check out community events around New Mexico from May 2 to 8 Albuquerque New Mexico Albuquerque Notices 🔶 Celebrate Mother’s Day at the ABQ BioPark Zoo – The ABQ BioPark Zoo is celebrating all moms during its Mother’s Day at the Zoo on May 11 On December 20, 1997, film director Juzo Itami, once considered the successor to Akira Kurosawa the cause of death was obvious: he jumped from a rooftop (his office building is a much-discussed topic even to this day According to the New York Times a supposed suicide note was found in Itami’s office he angrily denied having an affair with a 26 year-old woman the shame the affair would’ve brought onto him was too much to handle and he was willing to prove his innocence by taking his own life All of this happened two days before Flash published an article detailing the affair; Itami was aware of it and actively preventing its existence the suicide narrative quickly came into question by Itami’s fans who claim the circumstances of his death stood in contrast to his films Quoting the New York Times: “In a society known for its gravity Itami’s films brought smiles and laughter to his audiences.” Another explanation was then proposed specifically by the hands of the Goto-Gumi Yakuza Itami previously had conflict with this group after the release of his 1992 film Minbo, an anti-yakuza satire. In an interview he detailed the beating he received from them a few days after the film’s release Considering he was allegedly working on another anti-yakuza film many have speculated that the Japanese gang was involved in his death new information came to light that suggested they did we attempt to get a better understanding of this event Image credit: The Criterion Collection Born on May 15, 1933, Juzo Itami was a talented and sensitive director who was afraid to create a film. Son of acclaimed pre-war director Mansaku Itami the shadow his father’s legacy cast on him always kept him from pursuing his passion as the Itami surname wasn’t something to be taken lightly an actor (with his legacy as such being often forgotten) his most popular film and favorite here at Japan Nakama and a sign of his immense talent as a director Juzo Itami wasn’t afraid of covering serious topics in a lighthearted way most likely a trait he inherited from his father was something he used when tackling heavy subjects such as death this eventually led to trouble with the Yakuza who didn’t enjoy Itami’s depiction of them in his film Minbo Itami was still pursuing his artistic freedom on this matter as it was rumored his next film was going to be about the Goto-Gumi Yakuza Image credit: CNN Amidst this chaos entered the Goto-Gumi, which, to put it simply, were the new kids on the block. Initially, they were a gang from the Shizuoka Prefecture but by 1991 they moved their operations to Tokyo public perception of the Yakuza was overall negative; a perfect time for a certain movie to come out and satirize them the Goto-Gumi were upset about Itami’s film and the way it represented them Was this motivated by honor or were they trying to prove themselves to the other gangs To this day, the attack on Juzo Itami is among the most notable moments from the Goto-Gumi; that and the time their founder negotiated with the FBI to have liver transplants in the UCLA Medical Center the attack made the yakuza look worse in the public eye Their attempt to silence Itami made their “struggle” harder if they were ever going to take care of Itami It would be something like faking his suicide Even though it was the Goto-Gumi who took action upon Itami they weren’t the only Yakuza gang to take issue with his film Minbo so it begs the question: what was Minbo about the staff is ultimately able to drive the yakuza out In an excellentarticle written by Aidan Djabarov he explains how this movie was one of the first realistic depictions of the Yakuza the Yakuza were usually portrayed as Robin-Hood like figures believing themselves to be modern-day samurais Cowards in the sense they wouldn’t even follow on their own threads one could argue that the Goto-Gumi got to Itami first is that the rumors of Itami’s next film explicitly mentioned the Goto-Gumi doubling down on the “coward” claim by working on a film about his aggressors Considering they were unable to silence him the first time is it that illogical they took things one step further Image credit: Amazon, via Audible sounds very similar to that of the show’s antagonist Jake allegedly spoke to an ex-member of the Goto-Gumi To quote from the article directly: “We set it up to stage his murder as a suicide We dragged him up to the rooftop and put a gun in his face We gave him a choice: jump and you might live or stay and we’ll blow your face off Jake Adelstein himself has clarified that he can’t prove that Juzo Itami was murdered When answering questions on the Japan Subculture Research Center he states the following: “Knowing something and proving it are different things.” one thing is certain: Juzo Itami’s death was a tragedy Even though he was 64 years old at the time of his passing In the fourteen years he worked as the creative lead It should also be noted that he released half of them while still working as an actor and a producer I could list numerous ways in which his legacy lives on I’ll limit myself to the Juzo Itami Award the Juzo Itami Award aims to honor his legacy by celebrating recognizing and financially compensating groundbreaking artists in fields that Itami was passionate about the award has been handled for film editing directing and acting; but there have also been winners for TV commercials This list is but a glimpse of Juzo Itami’s reach as he approached every subject with the same passion he did his film an artist’s artist; a talented man who has and will no-doubt continue to influence generations to come believed death itself was something to honor taking his own life to prove his innocence was more closely related to Seppuku or Harakiri than the one brought about by economic anxiousness like it’s playing on the western understanding of Japanese suicide despite the fact Itami himself didn’t align with it we hope that by laying the information available this way you’ve acquired a better understanding of the situation Do you believe the official suicide verdict The Duality of Power & Illusion in Kurosawa’s Kagemusha Filmmaking from Japan: The Golden Age of Japanese Cinema Top 10 Romantic Japanese TV Shows to Binge Watch 15 Japanese Prank Show Videos That’ll Bring You To Tears Unlock Japan Seamlessly with Jetpac eSIM!: Ditch Roaming Fees Luggage Storage Freedom in Japan with Bounce: Store Your Bags Learn Japanese Through TV & Movies  (Limited Time Offer): Fluent Japanese Jumpstart Your Japanese Learning Online: Your First Japademy Lesson Click This Link to Claim Your Discount and Begin Your Japanese Journey Today Build Your Japanese Film Collection: Cult Japanese Films - 5% Off DVDs & Blu-rays We are Japan Nakama—your online lifestyle and Japanese culture magazine Discover our guides for traveling to Japan read about the Japanese way of life as well as fun facts about Japan where you can find handpicked items that bring a touch of Japan into your home (“JAL”) and Kansai Airports  (“KAP”) will hold a special joint event “An up-close look at the special Expo livery aircraft,” on March 29 inviting elementary and junior high school students living in the ten neighboring cities of Osaka Itami Airport to commemorate and help build the momentum for the Expo 2025 Participants can take a close-up view at the airliners of ANA and JAL each featuring a special Expo livery* parked at aircraft stands not typically accessible to the public. ANA JAL and KAP will contribute to driving the momentum for the Expo 2025 and toward the realization of the Expo theme “Designing future society for our lives.”  *”EXPO2025 ANA JET” Boeing 737-800 (launched in December 2024) and “JAL MYAKUMYAKU JET” Embraer 190 (launched in November 2023) Kansai Airports is pleased to announce that split-flap board will be displayed at Osaka Airport Hotel  located in Osaka Itami Airport Terminal.  A split-flap display is a guide board that displays destination and flight information commonly known as a "Solari display" or "flip-flap display." With the introduction of the digitized board this information board is no longer in use at Osaka Itami Airport As a result of discussions within the group on how to reuse the information board this exhibition at a hotel in the airport has been realized The information board on display was in use at Osaka Itami Airport and it flaps and shows the airline logo in its original form.  It also has a special design to commemorate the opening of the Expo 2025 Osaka which combines elements of the past and the future as an initiative unique to an airport hotel the hotel welcomes visitors from Japan and overseas with room keys made from discarded aircraft windows and model airplanes at the front desk Kansai Airports Group will continue to create new airport experiences through initiatives that can be enjoyed by customers SHOW SUMMARY: In this episode of NXT Eight Years Back Kelly Wells and Tom Stoup cover NXT from April 19 Andrade’s partying angle in full swing DIRECT LINK:  VIP AUDIO LINK NOT VIP? NO PROBLEM… CLICK HERE FOR VIP SIGN UP INFO You must be logged in to post a comment Now with three payment method options… Pay Pal… Directly with your Credit or Debit Card… Or with Patreon. 60 second express sign up form •Wade Keller Podcasts & PWTorch Dailycasts with Ads and Plugs removed •Around 75 monthly VIP-exclusive podcasts (Phone Podcast App Compatible!) •Library of around 10,000 podcasts (circa 2004-today) & 100s of retro radio shows (circa 1990s) •Over 1,600 Newsletter Back Issues: Late 1980s thru today (PDF & Text Versions) •New Weekly PWTorch Newsletter w/exclusive articles (PDF & Text Versions) •An ad-free version of PWTorch website with added VIP-Member-Only articles each week –JUMP RIGHT TO EXPRESS SIGN-UP FORM –OR READ A DETAILED LIST OF VIP BENEFITS Become a PWTorch Patreon Supporter and get all of our free podcasts (WKPWPs & Dailycasts) with ads and plugs removed for just $4.99 a month. CLICK HERE PRIVACY POLICY CLICK HERE TO VISIT PROWRESTLING.NET Now with three payment method options… Pay Pal… Directly with your Credit or Debit Card… Or with Patreon… CLICK HERE FOR LIST OF ALL FREE PODCASTS Kansai Airports is delighted to announce an earthquake and tsunami drill at Osaka International Airport (ITAMI) on November 28 This drill is to raise the disaster awareness and improve the disaster response capability of airport employees by checking appropriate initial responses in the event of an earthquake in cooperation with related organizations based on Kansai Airports' Earthquake & Tsunami BCP under the scenario that a Nankai Trough mega-earthquake (with the seismic intensity of 6-lower) occurs during the daytime on a weekday.  Kansai Airports Group will continue to conduct various drills and exercises for safety and security of customers’ travel and their time at the airports The following report originally published 10 years ago this week here at PWTorch.com… [Q1] NXT starts with the Lucha Dragons on the ramp They are facing Jason Jordan and Tye Dillenger 1 – NXT Tag Team champions LUCHA DRAGONS (SIN CARA & KALISTO) vs JASON JORDAN & TYE DILLENGER – non-title match Jordan tags in and catches a springboard cross-body attempt Dillenger and Jordan continue to work on Kalisto Kalisto flips over Dillenger to tag in Sin Cara Some new moves from Sin Cara and new camera angles show them off Enziguiri stuns Dillenger on the turnbuckle followed by a sunset flip powerbomb for the win Good match but the Lucha Dragons just are not connecting with the audience other than their high-flying offense Post-match: The Vaudevillains come into the ring to ambush the Lucha Dragons Simon Gotch has his shirt cut and tied to resemble his one strap singlet Parker says he has a match with Baron Corbin coming up Dempsey peps Parker up to maim and humiliate Corbin Parker doesn’t care about anything other than winning the match Dempsey says it is about “the greater good” and Parker looks like he understands Video package letting us know that NXT is moving to Wednesday nights in two weeks Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady hit the ring to their usual big pop says “inspired by Sami Zayn and NXT R-Evolution in her own road to redemption…” pause for Blue Pants chants… they stretch out the introduction of Ole Blue Pants She’s even billed by the graphic as “Blue Pants.” They warn Carmella that Blue Pants has hooked up with Steve and found a Blue’s Clue Amore tries to encourage Carmella from the apron so she belts him and he drops ringside Blue Pants surprises Carmella with a small package for the win Blue Pants has gone from the impromptu nickname for a jobber into a regular character who just picked up a win the crowd mocks Carmella with Cassady’s Price is Right rendition Carmella blasts Amore and Cassady has to pry her off him Video package summarizing Hideo Itami and Finn Balor’s win over The Ascension at R-Evolution and billing them for later tonight Parker’s sign says “You may break my sign but you’ll never break my spirit.” Well The bell rings and the crowd starts counting He asks Dempsey if he’s going to stand there looking scared Big brawl and refs pour out the back to break it up Corbin is in the ring and Dempsey is on the ramp “Earlier today” Devin Taylor is with William Regal who announces that Sami Zayn will return next week He’s upset that Regal hasn’t returned his calls he wants to “re-charge” his career He talks up his “wins” over Triple H and John Cena Regal books Axel against Hideo Itami for next week Devin Taylor is in the ring to introduce Charlotte The crowd chants “Blue Pants.” She says “no one chants when the most genetically superior Diva in NXT history is talking So keep it quiet.” She says that NXT is her home and is revolutionizing women’s wrestling but reminds us that she’s beaten Banks twice already but they will give Charlotte a beat down anyways Natalya’s music hits and she struts out to the ring Here’s a Teddy Long Special I’d love to see booked and have a bit of “when we’re ready” to justify the retreat [ J.J.’s Reax: it felt like they were teasing Charlotte vacating the title to go to the main roster Video package from Tyler Breeze to us Uggos to remind us that NXT is going to make Wednesdays gorgeous in two weeks Vaudevillains re-match is booked for next week He says that Regal asked him to send a video to let folks know what’s going on and he will be back soon to tell us in person [Q3] “Three weeks ago” Renee Young interviews Kevin Owens He leaves when she suggests that he “stole” Zayn’s moment The Ascension are out to face Itami and Balor They had their main roster debut this week If WWE is smart they’ll keep them facing jobbers that’s how they got over on NXT and it is how they will get over on the main roster they can’t carry a full length match too well and their characters don’t lend themselves to long matches Little video of Itami and Balor from R-Evolution bringing a bit of character to them both THE ASCENSION (VIKTOR & KONNOR) – Tag Team match The Ascension rush the ring so the ref calls for the bell Itami and Balor get control and want the stereo dropkicks The ref gets control as Riley tries to say that Itami and Balor are “new” and “unproven,” which Young objects to Itami tags in a mauls Viktor in the corner with kicks Balor tags in and hits a slingshot foot stomp Balor just brutalizes Viktor in the corner Balor gets caught with an uppercut slingshotting into the ring and lands on the outside Konnor has Balor grounded out of the break The crowd tries to rally Balor as Viktor wears him down Balor struggles to escape a chinlock only to take an uppercut Double shoulder tackles from Viktor and Konnor [Q4] Viktor almost dares Itami to interfere in the match as he cuts off another rally by Balor Another new camera angle captures a great view in the corner Big crowd support for Itami and he hits a tornado DDT sending Viktor’s face into the ropes but Viktor lands an STO for two off the distraction They reset as Riley finally says that Itami and Balor are proving themselves Nasty kick from Itami ends the match as he bleeds from the mouth WINNERS: Hideo Itami & Finn Balor in 13:20 This was a great match from Balor and Itami It was exactly what was needed to reform Itami By letting him get the hot tag and win the match now he is no longer playing second banana to Balor and the crowd has a reason to cheer for him between Itami being re-established in a positive way the tease of Natalya and Charlotte teaming up and the progression of the Corbin-Dempsey feud RECOMMENDED NEXT: 5 YRS AGO – WWE SMACKDOWN TV Report (12-27-2019): Sami & Nakamura & Cesaro vs. New Day & Strowman, Corbin vs. Bryan vs. Miz, plus Carmella, Lacey, Sasha, Bayley, Mandy, Dana Brooke OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Trick Williams vs. Eddy Thorpe for the NXT Championship, Nathan Frazer and Axiom vs. Mark Coffey and Wolfgang for the NXT Tag Titles, Oba Femi vs. Axiom You must be logged in to post a comment but some prominent storylines have been lost to history burst onto the scene in 2012 and provided WWE fans with both a look into the future and a different-feeling product from everything else the company had been doing Up-and-coming stars mixed with Performance Center projects looking for a big break and the result has been one of the most consistent entertaining wrestling shows anywhere in the world The brand has helped develop a number of recognizable stars It's also been a vehicle for some of the best storylines of the past ten years including the wars between Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa and the transformation of Bayley into a legitimate force some angles and storylines are more memorable than others many of which require deeper dives into the history books many of those involve prominent wrestlers and personalities Juice Robinson and Sami Callihan are well-known for their exploits outside of WWE and they had a memorable segment that doubled as Callihan's on-screen NXT debut the man better known as Robinson stormed to the ring and staged a protest over not being booked on the recent TakeOver: Arrival a vignette aired advertising Solomon Crowe (Callihan) who was set to finally make his NXT TV debut after previous injury setbacks Crowe stormed the ring and destroyed Parker and he did well enough to genuinely fire up the Full Sail crowd we return to your regularly scheduled broadcast," and marched off These are two guys who have drawn a fair bit of money in their careers but the Crowe buildup and debut were both well done and provided a solid introduction to a new character WhatCulture is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab) ©Future Publishing Limited Quay House England and Wales company registration number 2008885 [Q1] Pre-credits video shows the results of the Alex Riley vs He’s getting real heat now mixed with his core fanbase Owens has a promo to start things off and he’s greeted with “Ole!” chants He reminds us of his victory over Alex Riley and that Sami Zayn made the save Instead he gets the deep bass of William Regal’s music Regal says that Owens will not use NXT to further his agenda or make demands Owens says “with all due respect” that he didn’t call out Zayn and says he doesn’t care what Regal has to say Zayn comes out to give Owens what he wants Regal stops him on the steps and says that they will not have a repeat of last week’s “circus.” He is forgetting that Zayn has a re-match clause and defeated Rhyno anyways Zayn smirks and brings up the last 12 years as why Owens needs to face Zayn because Owens’s past is nothing without Zayn Owens’s present is because of what he did to Zayn Zayn pulls an Owens and says he doesn’t fight without a prize verbally fighting through a huge chorus of “Oles!” instead of waiting it out Regal books the match with malice in his voice Multi-month build to this and a tremendous in-ring promo and there are still two more weeks to hype the match I liked Owens talking over the “Ole!” chants; it felt so much more natural that the WWE Pause for chants Greg Hamilton pumps the new road tour in mid-May and Carmella come out arguing about something She tells them she is a big girl and can handle herself Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy come out to put the moves on her then she yells at them for insulting her boys Alexa Bliss comes in and tells her that a princess should be nicer Carmella tells her to mind her business and smacks her [ J.J.’s Reax: Interesting change mixing Bliss into this [Q2] Zayn is signing the contract in Regal’s office Alex Riley comes in asking for a third match Regal says he is out of opportunities for Riley and says that if Zayn doesn’t survive to Takeover someone brought a hand-sewn “SAWFT” leopard print blanket to the arena 1 – NXT Tag champions WESLEY BLAKE & BUDDY MURPHY vs ENZO AMORE & COLIN CASSADY (w/Carmella) – non-title tag team match double tag and Cassady runs hot tag offense but the tag champs both dodge and chuck him from the ring and he press-slams Amore onto Murphy for the win WINNERS: Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady in 3:30 Typical Amore/Cassady match – not technically stunning saying that she didn’t have anything handed to her as she worked her tail off and she is here in NXT to be the best Backstage interview with Devin Taylor and Bayley What does Bayley think about facing Dana Brooke Bayley is freaking out because she can’t find her headbands and shirt Emma comes out wearing Bayley’s shirt and holding a fistful of headbands Is that a deliberate “Pumping Iron” reference since Dana Brooke is the point of discussion “Brooke Aksana” is on her way into the ring Brooke easily controls Bayley in the lock-up [Q2] Bayley is able to transition to an armbar but that doesn’t last long Brooke sends Bayley to the mat and the crowd is demanding Blue Pants Drop toehold and Bayley helicopters on Brooke Brooke with a handstand to drive her foot into Bayley’s face Brooke telegraphs a body drop and Bayley fires up Nice suplex from Bayley and she heads to the second rope Bayley’s music hits and Emma hits the ramp Emma taunts Bayley letting Brooke sneak in with her fireman’s carry into a sit-out powerbomb finisher The more I see of Brooke the more I like it She has the presentation of Beth Phoenix (and a much better finisher!) and this kind of evil “I’m better than you” air As long as the in-ring continues to deliver and improve NXT has another stand-out woman wrestler on the roster Let’s see her face Sasha Banks or Charlotte and see what that match is like William Regal is shown in his office and he lets us know that the Zayn vs Also at Takeover is a #1 Contender Triple Threat match for the NXT Championship [ J.J.’s Reax: The NXT Championship scene is so packed with top talent right now The only one in the Top 5 right now who was not a huge independent/international star is Tyler Breeze For those who fear that WWE is going to just home-grow their own talent at the Performance Center Hideo Itami totally no-sells Adam Rose’s entrance Despite the crowd playing along with Rose’s entrance Rose rolls out of a wristlock and then rolls around the ring Itami looks at him like he’s an idiot then beats the rest of his brains out for good measure [Q3] Rose yanks Itami’s legs under the ropes then puts the boots to him Who booked Rose to get this much offense against Itami It should have been a Ryback 30-second squash Rose has had too many chances as it is to at least rise to R-Truth level and he hasn’t made the grade and the cameraman wants to know what’s going on Bayley thought she put her issue with Emma to bed last month Becky Lynch comes out to an enthusiastic reception Her entrance is back to its face presentation who is either a jobber or making her debut then Lynch comes back with repeated leg drops Dawson crawls to the corner and Lynch punishes her in the corner Lynch with an almost Paige-like offensive intensity but Lynch with an arm hold causing a tap-out Lynch has been on the bottom of the pile for so long she does not have an established finisher or moveset He says that he grooves on making people hurt [ J.J.’s Reax: If I were a former “known name” star I’d be looking at Rhyno’s resurrection in NXT and trying to find a way to Florida Alex Riley gets a reception from the women in the audience and Kevin Owens is at the announce table it resulted in Alex Riley putting himself back on the active duty list I think Byron Saxton needs to switch seats with Rich Brennan and get some distance from Owens Riley pushes Zayn into the corner with lots of anger Owens totally dumps on Riley as Riley puts on a wristlock Saxton points out that Zayn turned the tables on Owens earlier tonight Owens reminds us that Zayn had the shortest title reign in NXT history Owens is surprised that Riley could even get a two count on Zayn Owens says it must be because Zayn is slipping Owens dumps his headset and clobbers Zayn on the ramp Owens powerbombs Riley into the apron and laughs like a maniac Saxton calls for help and Riley is selling the powerbomb like Walmart on Christmas Eve FINAL THOUGHTS: Insanely good episode of NXT Goofball gimmicks have all been removed or turned into more mature presentations I’m very excited to see NXT live in Philly in a few weeks You must be logged in to post a comment Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker though many believe something more sinister was at play we are going to focus on the life and times of the revered auteur he worked a variety of jobs before beginning his acting career in 1960 He appeared in movies such as 55 Days at Peking and The Family Game though it’s during his later years as a groundbreaking filmmaker for which he is most well-known thanks to flicks like The Funeral The only surprise was that he waited until his 50s to direct his first movie He was born Yoshihiro Ikeuchi in Kyoto on May 15 and eventually took the stage name of his director and scriptwriter father Mansaku Itami (Yoshitoyo Ikeuchi) who was famed for the satirical way he portrayed Japan in many of his movies While many of those films have since been lost Itami would eventually go on to follow in his father’s footsteps but not until 1984 when he made his feature-length directorial debut with The Funeral He also inherited his dad’s anti-authoritarian attitude and was known to often question the rules at Matsuyama Higashi who would marry Itami’s sister and write about his brother-in-law in his 1995 book A Healing Family He also covered his death in the 2000 novel Itami was clearly gifted but lacked discipline and failed to graduate from Matsuyama Higashi He subsequently switched to a less reputable school before failing his entrance exam for the College of Engineering at Osaka University he managed to forge a successful career for himself working as commercial designer he began to study acting at Butai Geijutsu Gakuin in Tokyo ahead of joining Daiei Film studio After making his acting debut in Yoshio Inoue’s Mudcat of Ginza Itami went on to appear in over 40 films and dramas He worked with many of Japan’s most esteemed directors including Kon Ichikawa (Her Brother Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Sweet Home) and his close friend Shuji Terayama (Grass Labyrinth) whom Itami described as “a wild schizophrenic,” adding that “compared with him I am very commonsensical.”   it’s the character Kosuke in Yoshimitsu Morita’s 1983 slapstick comedy Family Game for which Itami is most remembered He excelled as the salaryman father who had little time for his family except for when he was barking orders at them The role earned Itami a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the Japan Academy Awards He missed out on that but did win in the same category at the Hochi Film Awards and the Yokohama Film Festival Itami released his first feature-length movie as a filmmaker touching and at times risqué drama looking at how people here cope with the strict ceremonial events after the death of a family member The daughter-in-law Chizuko was played by Itami’s wife Nobuko Miyamoto Her father had passed away a year earlier and the three-day ritual including Best Film and Best Director gongs “It’s hard to even quantify what’s great about this movie.”  Itami released eight more films before his death the most famous of which was A Taxing Woman a comedy about a tax investigator (Miyamoto) pursuing crafty millionaire tax evader Hideki Gondo (Yamazaki) Itami had another big success in 1992 with Minbo a satirical comedy about the yakuza attempting and failing to strong-arm a hotel The organized crime syndicate didn’t take kindly to how they were portrayed and got their revenge by attacking the popular director outside his home in Tokyo Three knife-wielding men slashed him across his face During an eight-day stay in the hospital, Itami penned a letter to the public. “Yakuza must not be allowed to deprive us of our freedom through violence and intimidation, and this is the message of my movie,” he wrote rumors emerged that Itami was planning to make a movie about the Goto-gumi a yakuza organization founded by Tadamasa Goto and its relationship with the Japanese Buddhist religious movement the film would have caused a lot of problems for Goto had it been made Adelstein believes Itami was subsequently murdered by a Goto-gumi member a source told him that the director was taken to the top of the building where he worked “You either jump or we’ll blow your brains out If you jump you might live.” He didn’t Itami was pronounced dead after leaping from the building’s eighth floor Flash magazine published an article about the filmmaker’s alleged affair with a 26-year-old woman Nobody in Itami’s family believed he would have killed himself over an affair The most powerful Japanese filmmaker of his generation left us too soon on that day in 1997 While he enjoyed a successful career as an actor it was Itami’s 13 years as a director and screenwriter that left the biggest impression on audiences Building a reputation as Japan’s enfant terrible And that’s why many of them are still held in high esteem today -Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy made their ring entrance as Rich Brennan Enzo said she is hot as hell and you can’t teach that She danced out and said she is the most fabulous Diva in NXT She said she will be dancing after she embarrasses Emma in front of the whole NXT Universe Cassidy did some mic work which the crowd responded to although he still looks like a deer in headlights and nervous whenever he talks (WK Reax: I’m not crazy about the cold open I’d rather have a preview about the big happenings scheduled for the show to set the table and build anticipation If the announcers aren’t going to be on camera matching their voices to the faces they should refer to each other by name more often to differentiate for viewers A three man booth with three somewhat similar sounding voices requires a little effort to differentiate.) Riley said that Emma wants it known that she believes with her experience that she can compete with the elite women in NXT such as Sasha Banks and Charlotte He added that he hates Emma’s music because it sticks in his head for hours Emma wrapped all four of Carmella’s limbs against the ropes in a tarantula style hold Carmella forced Emma to submit to a figure-four head scissors sleeper on the mat with some added torque (WK Reax: Emma’s casual nonchalant approach to executing some of the moves takes me out of the mach.) -The announcers hyped the two big tournament singles matches on the show – Adrian Neville vs -A commercial aired hyping “NXT Takeover: Rival,” a live two hour special event It included media quotes praising NXT as being awesome and like looking into a crystal ball at WWE’s future Neville came out first and played to the crowd Graves said Neville was at the top of the mountain and misses it greatly Graves said Corbin doesn’t understand why he isn’t in the NXT Title picture already even though he hasn’t been around that long Neville tumbled out of the ring after some early clothesline by Corbin knocked him silly but Corbin fought it off and lifted him for a vertical suplex but then twisted it into a more traditional bodyslam leading to a two count Neville came back with a springboard dropkick leading to Corbin taking one of his few bumps since arriving in NXT but Corbin caught him and dropped him chin-first over the guardrail Graves said raw power may be able to beat experience Neville went on the attack back in the ring including landing his Red Arrow for the win -They showed the tournament bracket showing Neville awaiting the winner of the TV main event -A backstage interview aired with Sami Zayn discussing his feud with Kevin Owens He said while Owens says his actions are just business and not personal getting him so worked up that he caused him to beg and plead for the non-title match to be made a title match in order for Owens to agree to actually partake He said what’s done is done and he’s going to beat the hell out of him basic tell-it-like-it-is promo reacting to what happened last week It was a good recap of the emotions Zayn says he went through as Owens manipulated him yet he’s accepting the result and ready for a fight It’s all it takes a lot of the time.) [c] -Brennan said Corbin and Dempsey will fight next week in a no-DQ match on NXT Takeover A minute into the match Sasha Banks walked to ringside to observe Bayley applied a half Boston crab mid-ring Lynch reached the bottom rope and then took a breather at ringside Banks threw Becky back into the ring where Bayley quickly gave her a belly-to-belly for the win but they’re on opposing side of next week’s Fatal Four-way match at Takeover -Banks and Lynch exchanged words afterward Charlotte then walked out and crossed her arms on the stage and looked at two or her opponents next week The announcers talked about how they were all once friends but there’s a combustible situation now -A backstage promo aired with Owens saying he made what he wanted to happen played out exactly as he imagined last week He said he wasn’t going to sign that contract unless it was for a title He said two months to the day of his arrival in NXT he is going to take the championship “Trust me” could be his signature tag line Owens just has a way about his delivery that will draw money in WWE when his day comes.) -Devin Taylor startled Tyler Breeze from behind as he was admiring himself in his own phone filming a selfie He criticized her question asking how he feels about being knocked out of the NXT Title Tournament and what his plans are now “Cutting edge journalism from you,” he said mockingly He said it’s no big deal he lost one match He said his plans are to watch the rest of the tournament very closely He went back to admiring himself in his phone Adrian Neville joined them to comment on the other semi-finals Graves said Baylor is one of the most creative Superstars he has ever encountered He said he lives in his own world and is unusual They cut to a break at 2:00 with Balor in control (WK Reax: Just when I had pretty much locked down the pronunciation of Balor’s name Neville does commentary and sets me back months of clarity.) [c] Riley asked Neville what it’s like battling his best friend Neville said it’s more important that he is in the ring with the best in the world He said he wants to wrestle the best regardless of his friendship Balor applied an abdominal stretch mid-ring with a twist of the arm added for extra leverage Riley asked Neville what comes to mind – fame fortune – if he regains the NXT Title Neville said it’s about his life’s work leaving Riley a bit challenged to draw more material out of him Riley asked if the fame and fortune are pretty good then charged at him in the opposite corner seconds later and landed another chop Itami fired back with a dropkick after a dropdown He hit a clothesline and a running knee in the corner Then he drove him throat-first over the top rope and then landed a flying clothesline off the top rope for a two count Brennan kept interrupting the conversation between Neville and Riley when there were nearfalls Neville wouldn’t commit and say he’d rather fight Owens compared to Zayn even though he’s become friends with Zayn Balor bled from his mouth and went for an inverted DDT but Balor ducked and countered with a Pele kick The crowd chanted “This is awesome!” and “Marking out!” They stood mid-ring exchanging elbows Itami got the better of the exchange with a spinning backfist Balor came came right back with the Slingblade and then a running dropkick into the corner Itami rolled into perfect position for Balor’s top rope double stomp which led to the pin These guys were pretty much in first and second gear and maybe touched third year at the end for 30 seconds but you can’t help but watch just a bit frustrated that they’re not giving more It’s not out of laziness by any means but just trying to learn to work within the WWE Style parameters of picking your spots to turn it up to 10 This was solid for the place in time and context that it took place -The announcers commented on multiple highlight clips from the match extending his arms as the camera showed him and the underside of the scoreboard above the ring flashing his logo Balor looked over at him and they had a long-distance staredown Balor made his way toward him at the announce desk Brennan said they seemed to be sizing each other up Neville walked over to Balor and they had a closer staredown on the stage -A video package aired on the Owens-Zayn storyline Owens said he walked in with a plan that worked out perfectly Owens said he was as excited for Zayn’s title win as he was for his own debut at the last Takeover special but he came across as a conman who believes his own b.s he should have seen the whole thing coming Owens said he waited 17 years for the spotlight so he wasn’t going to get in the back of the line They showed a picture of Zayn and Owens together when they were much younger Owens said he travelled the world for ten years with him He said it was all to ultimately end up in NXT He said he felt it wasn’t going to happen for him and that’s where their careers went different directions Zayn said Owen ruined a moment and a friendship so I’m going to hurt him,” Zayn said he’s gonna win the NXT Title two months to the day upon arriving (WK Reax: Absolutely stellar video package Just so immersive in the backstory between these two No bells and whistles – just two guys with a real-life relationship that weaves perfectly into this moment in their careers The execution of a quick path to a title match by Owens makes him seem like a mastermind and he’s not trying to hide that he had a plan and executed it brilliantly FINAL THOUGHTS: Good final sell for the two hour special next week especially the two singles match main events I just can’t again stress enough how refreshing it is to watch a pro wrestling show that is not dominated by a heel faction or heel authority figures It’s so ironic that this is so heavily influenced by Triple H yet Triple H is part of The Authority which dominates so much of the top tier storylines in WWE the past 18 months RECOMMENDED NEXT: 5 YRS AGO – NXT TV Report (1-29-2020): Priest vs. Dijakovic, plus Balor, Purrazzo, Riddle, Dunne, Adam Cole, Dakota Kai, Chelsea Green OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s NXT Hit List: Bianca Belair and Naomi vs. Lash Legend and Jakara Jackson for the WWE Women’s Tag Titles, Trick Williams vs. Wes Lee, Fallon Henley vs. Shotzi for the NXT Women’s North American Title You must be logged in to post a comment Tom Philips introduced the show as they cut to the ring entrance stage with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady Enzo did his “…and you can’t teach that” ring entrance routine they’re more like the Geico insurance lizard Cassady said if they can’t save them 15 percent on insurance THE LUCHA DRAGONS (Sin Cara & Kalisto) Jason Albert on commentary noted that Enzo left Carmella backstage Philips said Enzo calls his beard “The How I Woke Up.” Corey Graves said he thinks it’s got mange (WK Reax: The biggest objection I have to NXT is that we hear the announcers before they identify themselves or before they’re shown on camera You always see the face of the voices and you always get a chance to match a name and voice with the faces of the announce team be it “American Idol” or “Monday Night Football.” I don’t get why they don’t go on camera to show the announcers briefly before the first match.) The Dragons had control in the early minutes Enzo took control on Cara until he hot-tagged Kalisto At 5:00 Cassady dragged Enzo to the corner and then tagged himself in He then tagged Enzo in and threw him into Kalisto for the win -An ad aired for NXT at the Arnold Sports Festival available next week on WWE Network featuring Sasha Banks vs who is shifting from announcing back to wrestling He said at the end: “I’m ready to show the world my talent That’s my number one objective.” His number one goal is to f’n “entertain.” He’s playing the role on television of a wrestler who enters the ring to try to win matches so he can rise up the ranks and win a title and be a champion and earn the most money But his character’s number one stated goal is to “entertain”?!? Will he move up the card to main events if he has the “most entertaining” matches but never wins Why is something so utterly stupid allowed to be said on the air It’s really revealing about the completely messed up narrative within WWE and how they approach the product that stuff like that and Dolph Ziggler’s utterly stupid comment last year at the Slammys makes it onto the air because it’s symptomatic of a very big problem with how WWE presents its product and the mindset of the wrestlers who are presenting their characters as “trying to entertain” rather than “win matches.” It completely undercuts the investment fans have in matches when instead of thinking what matters is who wins that what matters is how many “This is awesome!” chants wrestlers get or how many crowd pops they get he ought to juggle or do magic rather than go for a pin during his matches and therefore ends the “entertainment,” whereas if he chooses to juggle or do magic he will achieve his goal of “entertaining.”) He noted that Riley had returned to “in-ring action” because of Kevin Owens (WK Reax: When Owens says he told people he would do anything and face anyone to make life better for him and his family it works for his heel character because it’s his way of saying he will win at any cost and do whatever it takes to get ahead he says he’s fighting for his family but it almost comes across as if he’s using his family to feed his ego and cheat to get ahead When Roman Reigns talks about providing a great life for his family it doesn’t work for his babyface character like it does for Owens when he says it.) Late in the match Bliss executed an awful standing moonsault for a two count She followed up with a top rope turning splash that she’s named “The Sparkle Splash.” One time Bliss profiled for the hard camera while putting on a headlock -Backstage in the locker room a roving reporter asked Riley about his return to the ring He yelled that he felt like he was locked in a cage for two years watching everyone else eat while he was left hungry but never knew if he’d get another chance He said he was told over and over there was no room for him He said he was hoping and praying for one chance to fight for his life He said he heard Owens talk about his wife and kids He said the ring and the fans are his family and it’s time he joins then “It’s time to rage!” he said as he stood up (WK Reax: I’m not fan of wrestlers yelling at level 10 start to finish in interviews but it felt a little too “yelly.” At least in this case This was a little too “inside baseball” or “pipe bomb” for me The story here is that he was held back from doing what he wanted I’m not sure you want babyface cutting promos that makes the wrestling promotion out to be the bad guy for “locking wrestlers in cages without food,” or denying them a chance to wrestle if that’s what they want to do I’d rather the focus be on Owens and how Owens drove him from being “content” being an announcer behind a desk and now being driven to be a great wrestler again not some passive aggressive promo with code language saying he was locked out of doing what he wanted for two years by unnamed promoters It makes promoters either seem mean and uncaring or it makes him seem like a baby crying about not getting the breaks he wanted.) -A pre-taped interview aired with Tyler Breeze saying it didn’t have to come to this and it didn’t have to get ugly He said it’s time for Itami to find out that “the king of Cuteville is not just another pretty face.” light candles” and “May the Forest be with you.” His sign said Parker is taking over the Takeovers.” In the ring he said he wanted to talk to the fans about his world and how it isn’t fair but instead of being a whiny loser because he’s a drug abusing burnout he’s a loser because he’s a lefty who preaches about the environment “Sage.” Philips said Riley has to impress G.M William Regal to get the match he wants against Owens Albert said he’s concerned about ring rust The announcers talked about how Riley was putting everything at risk by quitting as an announcer to try to restart his career Although they didn’t explicitly say it Late in the match Riley landed a clothesline Owens walked onto the stage with a cocky smile on his face He said it’s a good thing Riley looks as good as he does because he’s the dumbest man in NXT He said if the horrible tattoo on his back isn’t enough to prove it He said he’s going to end his in-ring career too He said then he’ll put an end to the rise of Finn Balor “Trust me.” Then he dropped the mic and walked away (WK Reax: I like “Trust me” as a potential Kevin Owens signature phrase.) -Philips plugged the Arnold Sports Festival edition of NXT next week The announcers explained that Breeze wants to be the focus on NXT Breeze bailed out to ringside before locking up to stall Itami had enough and went after Breeze at ringside with a clothesline Graves talked wisely about how there’s only room for one person at the top and it’s all about winning to get there Itami made a comeback with two clotheslines and then swept Breeze to the mat Breeze slid to the ring apron and surprised Itami with a kick Itami X-blocked a swing by Breeze and then landed a discus clothesline for a near fall at 6:00 Breeze surprised Itami with his Supermodel Kick for a near fall Itami dropped Breeze over the top rope and then climbed to the top rope and gave him a running knee to the back of his head leading to a two count Itami went after Breeze with rapid-fire blows and a running knee in the corner but Breeze moved and then nailed his Beauty Shot finisher for the win (WK Reax: There’s still nothing about Itami that is standing out in NXT that is going to make up for his shortcomings on WWE’s usual checklist – size and promos FINAL THOUGHTS: Just an okay edition of NXT and Riley’s comeback storyline isn’t enough to carry the show You must be logged in to post a comment Today's print edition Home Delivery The award ceremony for the Kura Master competition for sake and other Japanese alcoholic beverages for France for fiscal 2024 was held in Paris on Wednesday The Prix du President top prize in the sake category was given to "Shirayuki Daiginjo Itami Morohaku," made by Konishi Brewing from the city of Itami In the category of shōchū and awamori distilled spirits "Araroka Matsufuji," from Matsufuji in the town of Kin won the same highest award.googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1499653692894-0'); }); A total 1,223 of sake products and 197 shōchū and awamori products were put up for the competition and they were evaluated by about 120 jurors from France's restaurant industry A juror for sake praised Shirayuki Daiginjo Itami Morohaku saying that it has a complex flavor with many elements beautifully harmonized Konishi Brewing President Shinuemon Konishi expressed joy saying: "(The winning of the award) is a result of our sake brewing (since the establishment of the company)." Araroka Matsufuji received a juror comment that the reviewer's heart was moved expressed gratitude and attributed the prize winning to the dedication of its employees an award given to alcoholic beverages going very well with food was given to "Tengumai Yamahai Jikomi Junmaishu," a sake product from Shata Brewery in the city of Hakusan Referring to the powerful earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture on Jan said that post-disaster reconstruction would take more than a decade and that he wants people in Europe to visit the prefecture In a time of both misinformation and too much information quality journalism is more crucial than ever.By subscribing Your subscription plan doesn't allow commenting. To learn more see our FAQ Sponsored contents planned and edited by JT Media Enterprise Division Hyogo — Students at a junior high school in Itami wrote messages to the victims of the Great Hanshin Earthquake on candles that will be lit at a memorial service starting Thursday evening at a park in the city please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent The 6,434 candles — the same number as the victims of the Jan which is being hosted by a volunteer organization from Nishinomiya in the prefecture About 230 students wrote message such as “I will cherish my life without forgetting what happened 30 years ago” and “Rest in peace.” “I will not forget that some people are still suffering.” “I learned from a newspaper article that some people are still suffering today because they lost family in the disaster,” the student “I want to regularly keep earthquake preparedness in mind so that I can protect my family’s lives and my own life.” Our weekly ePaper presents the most noteworthy recent topics in an exciting © 2025 The Japan News - by The Yomiuri Shimbun Metrics details Nanographenes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most important classes of compounds with potential applications in nearly all areas of science and technology While the theoretically possible number of nanographene structures is extraordinary most of these molecules remain synthetically out of reach due to a lack of programmable and diversity-oriented synthetic methods and their potentially huge structure-property diversity has not been fully exploited growth-from-template synthesis of nanographenes enabled by iterative annulative π-extension (APEX) reactions from small PAH starting materials The developed dearomative annulative π-extension (DAPEX) reaction enables π-elongation at the less-reactive M-regions of PAHs and is successfully combined with complementary APEX reactions that occur at K- and bay-regions to access a variety of previously untapped nanographenes a Structural diversity of PAHs and nanographenes b Diversity-oriented synthesis of nanographenes by APEX-based growth-from-template method and green hexagons represent newly constructed hexagons created by K-APEX c DAPEX strategy toward achieving the formal M-region-selective APEX reaction Gray hexagons represent newly constructed hexagons created by the present M-APEX reaction n number of hexagons contained in a nanographene or a PAH structure N number of possible structures of nanographenes and PAHs While challenges exist in obtaining APEX regioselectivity among the structurally and electronically similar C–H bonds and PAH regions found in unfunctionalized aromatic templates this diversity-oriented strategy enables access to a range of previously untapped nanographene structures in an intuitive fashion thereby revolutionizing nanographene synthesis The diversity-oriented synthesis of nanographenes by combining K- M- and bay-APEX reactions is also demonstrated c Double M-APEX reaction of 1,1′-binaphthyl (1b) Treatment of 1b with 2.2 equiv of 4-tert-butyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (tBuTAD) under photoirradiation gave the corresponding bis-cycloadduct and treatment of this reaction mixture with bis-Grignard reagent 3a under the standard conditions successfully afforded the precursor 6ba Rearomatization of 6ba gave the corresponding M-region π-extended product 7ba a Dearomatization and annulative diarylation of benzo[g]chrysene (1p) b Dearomatization and annulative diarylation of dibenzo[f,s]picene (1q) c Evaluation of thermal stability of cycloaddducts 2p 2p′ and 2p″ at M06-2X/6-311++G(d,p)//M06-2X/6-31+G(d) level Reaction conditions for Step 1: 2g (1.0 equiv) Reaction conditions for Step 2: 4 (1.0 equiv) a Nanographene synthesis from phenanthrene 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane; (vi) Pd(MeCN)4(BF4)2 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane; (ix) Pd(MeCN)4(BF4)2 Gray hexagons represent newly constructed hexagons created by APEX reactions we have established a concept of DAPEX that involves the dearomative activation of polyaromatic templates and realized a formal APEX reaction at the less-reactive M-region of aromatic templates diversity-oriented synthesis of nanographenes has been achieved by combining the developed DAPEX and previous APEX reactions of PAHs As many properties of nanographenes are not easily predicted this powerful strategy capable of generating vast structural diversity in a programmable fashion will allow for an increased understanding of nanographene structure-property relationships This will in turn aid in the discovery of hitherto unknown functional molecules and new guiding principles for the future rational property-driven design of nanographenes The present study speaks well for the potential of regiodivergent PAH functionalization in the creation of nanographene libraries to confront the most significant challenges in materials science See Supplementary Information for detailed methods and characterization data To a glass tube containing a magnetic stirring bar were added MTAD (0.10 mmol 1.0 equiv) and polyaromatics 1 (0.20–1.0 mmol and then methyl acetate (20 mL) was added at ambient temperature The contents were sonicated to dissolve solids as much as possible and then cooled to 0 °C The resulting pink solution was stirred under irradiation with LED lights at 0 °C until the solution became colorless or brown (approx the mixture was transferred to a 50 mL two-necked round-bottomed flask and the volatile was removed in vacuo at 0 °C and THF (2.5 mL) was added to dissolve the residue (solution A) To another glass tube containing a magnetic stirring bar was added dppbz (0.01 mmol The tube was sealed with a septum and filled with N2 gas 1.9 M ZnCl2 solution in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (0.30 mmol 3.0 equiv) and THF solution of 3a (0.30 mmol 3.0 equiv) were added in this order at ambient temperature Another portion of 1.9 M ZnCl2 solution in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (0.30 mmol 3.0 equiv) was added and then white precipitation was formed This mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 30 min and then cooled to 0 °C 0.20 M Fe(acac)3 solution in THF (0.01 mmol and the resulting mixture was stirred for 5 min 1.5 equiv) and solution A were added to this tube and the mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 2 h 10 mL) and extracted with dichloromethane (3 × 30 mL) The combined organic layers were dried with Na2SO4 The crude product was purified by PTLC to yield diarylated product 4 To a screw-capped tube containing a magnetic stirring bar were added diarylated compound 4 (1.0 equiv) and p-chloranil (3.0 equiv) 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane was added to this tube to prepare a 0.1 M solution of 4 under air and the resulting mixture was stirred at 150 °C for 36 h the reaction mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and diluted with chloroform (approx hydrazine monohydrate (5.0 equiv) was added and the resulting mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 15 min to quench the remaining p-chloranil 10 mL) and extracted with chloroform (3 × 30 mL) The crude product was purified by flash column chromatography on silica gel to yield π-extended product 5 Organic semiconductors for solution-processable field-effect transistors (OFETs) Semiconducting π-conjugated systems in field-effect transistors: a material odyssey of organic electronics Nanocarbons for biology and medicine: sensing Interstellar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules Design of novel aromatics using the Loschmidt replacement on graphs Fusenes and benzenoids with perfect matchings Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (Wiley-VCH Graphenes as potential material for electronics Synthetic applications of oxidative aromatic coupling—from biphenols to nanographenes Solution and on-surface synthesis of structurally defined graphene nanoribbons as a new family of semiconductors Large polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: synthesis and discotic organization Low band gap polycyclic hydrocarbons: from closed-shell near infrared dyes and semiconductors to open-shell radicals Geodesic polyarenes by flash vacuum pyrolysis Target-oriented and diversity-oriented organic synthesis in drug discovery Annulative π‐extension (APEX): rapid access to fused arenes One-shot K-region-selective annulative π-extension for nanographene synthesis and functionalization Rapid access to nanographenes and fused heteroaromatics by palladium‐catalyzed annulative π‐extension reaction of unfunctionalized aromatics with diiodobiaryls Syntheses of coronene and 1:2-7:8-dibenzocoronene Carbon nanotubes from short hydrocarbon templates Energy analysis of the Diels–Alder cycloaddition/rearomatization growth strategy Lateral extension of π conjugation along the bay regions of bisanthene through a Diels–Alder cycloaddition reaction On-surface generation and imaging of arynes by atomic force microscopy Aromatic homologation by non‐chelate‐assisted RhIII-catalyzed C–H functionalization of arenes with alkynes o-Naphthoquinodimethanes and o-phenanthroquinodimethanes Dearomative dihydroxylation with arenophiles Nickel-catalyzed dearomative trans-1,2-carboamination Palladium‐catalyzed dearomative syn‐1,4‐carboamination with Grignard reagents Photochemical cycloaddition of N-methyltriazolinedione to naphthalene Diastereoselective carbometalation of oxa‐ and azabicyclic alkenes under iron catalysis Further studies of the thermal and photochemical Diels−Alder reactions of N-methyl-1,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (MeTAD) with naphthalene and some substituted naphthalenes Phenanthrene synthesis by iron-catalyzed [4+2] benzannulation between alkyne and biaryl or 2-alkenylphenyl Grignard reagent Highly efficient reagents for Br/Mg exchange Olefin-accelerated solid-state C–N cross-coupling reactions using mechanochemistry Download references This work was supported by the ERATO program from JST (JPMJER1302 to K.I.) Yazaki Memorial Foundation for Science and Technology (to H.I.) JSPS research fellowship for young scientists (18J23379 to W.M) Yasutomo Segawa for helping with the X-ray diffraction analysis and Dr Stepek for constructive comments on the manuscript Calculations were performed using the resources of the Research Center for Computational Science ITbM is supported by the World Premier International Research Center (WPI) Initiative Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) All authors contributed to conceiving the project All authors contributed to the preparation of the manuscript The authors declare no competing interests Peer review information Nature Communications thanks Wesley Chalifoux and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-24261-y Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: a shareable link is not currently available for this article Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science Expected for tonight is the re-match of Lucha Dragons against the Vaudevillains for the NXT Tag Team titles and the return of NXT champion Sami Zayn It was pretty neat to see Edge wearing a Zayn shirt on Raw and Corey Graves are the announcers with JoJo in the ring Zayn leaves the ring to pose on the barricade and then stroll through the crowd Someone’s going to lose ring time if this goes on much longer Zayn gets a “you deserve it” from the crowd He wants to talk about what the championship means it means that he can do it his way and doesn’t have to do what anyone else wants him to be He says that the title is “ours” and he knows that it is cheesy He thanks the audience for being such a big part of his success “You hurt me but you didn’t end me.” Zayn says he is ready to defend the championship anytime but he’s wanted to talk to Zayn for a few weeks they tore each other apart and Zayn proved to be better Zayn says that he is pretty sure Neville gets a re-match He says that neither one of them have been 100 percent William Regal’s music cuts him off for a rare appearance Regal cuts off the “Regal” chant and puts the focus back on Zayn and Neville [ J.J.’s Reax: Fantastic work all around but I would have liked to see a bit more build than that It’s amazing how the Takeover schedule allows stories to breathe they are a few weeks removed from Takeover and having the promos that Raw would be done with by the second hour of the post-PPV show black and white video in the locker room of The Vaudevillains Basic pre-title match promo from Aiden English Hideo Itami comes out to a good reaction for a match against Curtis Axel [Q2] It will be interesting to see how this match ends but Itami strikes back with a running kick Axel ties Itami in the ropes then lands forearms to the back of the head but telegraphs a back drop and eats a knee for a two count Axel continues to wear Itami down with plodding offense Axel mocks Itami which causes the crowd to rally behind Itami to no effect Jumping clothesline drops Axel to swing the match then a big kick to Axel’s head for the win Axel’s pacing was like watching paint dry You can’t wrestle a 1980s WWF match at NXT and expect it to pass muster Byron Saxton talks to Natalya and asks if he can talk to Tyson Kidd Saxton congratulates her for being on Total Divas Kidd wants to know when was the last time she checked on his cats; they argue over whose cats they are Kidd says he’s looking past Finn Balor next week to the NXT Championship He vows to become the face of the ASPCA as well as NXT [ J.J.’s Reax: This controlling husband/mildly crazed Tyson Kidd routine doesn’t work for me Video package on Baron Corbin’s rise They are finally facing each other next week NXT is packing next week to draw viewers to the new Wednesday time slot Alexa Bliss makes her return after about a month of absence It seems that the last time she faced Banks she got her nose broken but Banks reverses a head scissors into a backbreaker for two Bliss turns a powerslam into a small package Bliss takes the double knees through the corner ropes Bliss did much better than I’ve seen in the past as neither lady held back in their offense and a number of counters and reversals made them look like credible ring threats Neville at Takeover to hype their re-match next week Tyler Breeze comes out to hysterical shrieks from women Nice to see him back and I think the time off was good for him to feel fresh again Breeze mocks the crowd support for Gable as he stomps him in the corner Gable escapes but walks right into a boot to the middle and it was nice to re-introduce Breeze to the audience and re-establish him as a heel and undo his babyface drift They have trained at many of the same places Kidd will need more than nine lives to survive Finn Balor [ J.J.’s Reax: Balor just works for me Neither The Vaudevillains nor the Lucha Dragons get much of an entrance on their way in 4 – NXT tag champs LUCHA DRAGONS (SIN CARA & KALISTO) vs THE VAUDEVILLAINS (AIDEN ENGLISH & SIMON GOTCH) – NXT Tag Team Championship match Kalisto and Gotch start and Kalisto’s early offense lets him isolate Gotcha Gotch takes Sin Cara to the corner to take in English stereo dives plant the Vaudevillains on the ramp [Q4] Kalisto has English in a post-break armbar Gotch grabs English to block a springboard armdrag but Sin Cara is able to tag Kalisto’s foot as he spins by then Sin Cara picks up English for the one-arm powerbomb Kalisto hits a spinning top rope forearm at the same time but the lack of crowd investment for either team brought the excitement level down dramatically The crowd popped for the Vaudevillains’s mannerisms and the Lucha Dragons’s offense but didn’t seem to actually care for either team RECOMMENDED NEXT: 30 YRS AGO – Keller’s WWE Raw Report (12/26/1994): Undertaker vs. Brooklyn Brawler, Tatanka vs. British Bulldog, King’s Court with Diesel, plus Godwinn debut, Bret Hart promo, more OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: NXT New Year’s Evil, last week’s NXT TV poll results and grade, Darby Allin, CW Anderson, Alisha Edwards, Jack Gallagher, Chavo Guerrero Sr., Gary Albright You must be logged in to post a comment now get ready for Ramen Westerns–and food porn Juzo Itami’s Tampopo is by far the most bizarre film Ginny and I have watched This Japanese Western is about a ramen dream team that learns about the ins and outs of the art of ramen We classify this film as a Western because the main character is a wandering but resourceful masculine character (with a cowboy hat) that helps a damsel in distress while sharing some romance only to leave her after he ‘saves’ her and she no longer needs his help But what makes this film so special is its extraordinary vignettes These vignettes randomly branch out of the main plot to often a different time and location with seemingly unrelated characters and plots these vignettes display interesting ideas such as food in the context of social relations cultural ‘sound,’ satire of contemporary Japan Join us as we discuss the many interpretations of mind-boggling scenes that will leave you delighted Click here to listen to the podcast Categories:Uncategorized and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" Metrics details Technologies for the creation of topological carbon nanostructures have greatly advanced synthetic organic chemistry and materials science Although simple molecular nanocarbons with a belt topology have been constructed analogous carbon nanobelts with a twist—more specifically Möbius carbon nanobelts (MCNBs)—have not yet been synthesized owing to their high intrinsic strain Calculations of strain energies suggest that large MCNBs are synthetically accessible Designing a macrocyclic precursor with an odd number of repeat units led to a successful synthetic route via Z-selective Wittig reactions and nickel-mediated intramolecular homocoupling reactions NMR spectroscopy and theoretical calculations reveal that the twist moiety of the Möbius band moves quickly around the MCNB molecule in solution The topological chirality that originates from the Möbius structure was confirmed experimentally using chiral HPLC separation and circular dichroism spectroscopy MCNB and their respective synthetic strategies The important feature of this method is that a CNB can be generated when the number of repeat units is even whereas an MCNB can be obtained when the number is odd This is a simple but powerful method for the synthesis of a complex Möbius topology from highly symmetric precursors Hypothetical homodesmotic reactions to estimate the strain increase during the final C–C-bond-formation steps for (n,n)MCNB (a) and (n,n)CNB (b) the bromine atoms are replaced with hydrogen atoms for clarity Plot of the heat of formation for the equations in a and b as a function of the size of the CNBs and MCNBs the B3LYP level of theory and 6-31G(d) basis sets were used Source data Macrocyclization of 10d and Ni-mediated homocoupling to afford (BuO)20(25,25)MCNB (1) Unsuccessful attempt to synthesize (15,15)MCNB from cyclic precursor 12 Source data Source data Absorption (solid line) and fluorescence (dashed line) of a dichloromethane solution of 1 Insets: photographs of a dichloromethane solution of 1 with (right) or without (left) ultraviolet light irradiation (254 nm) CD spectra of dichloromethane solutions of 1 separated using chiral column chromatography (CHIRALPAK-IE) with tentative structural assignments (M or P); butoxy groups are omitted for clarity a topological molecular nanocarbon with a twist on armchair CNBs The strategy of using a variant of the previously used CNB precursor cyclo(dibromoparaphenylene-Z-ethenylene) with an odd number of units led to the discovery of a rational synthetic route to such MCNBs DFT calculations of the intrinsic strain energies suggested that the synthesis of MCNBs with large sizes would be most promising The synthesis was carried out via Z-selective Wittig and intramolecular homocoupling reactions with nickel complexes to yield decabutoxylated (25,25)MCNB (1) over 14 steps NMR spectroscopy and DFTB-MD calculations revealed that the Möbius twist structure moved quickly around the molecule in solution Photophysical measurements revealed that the synthesized MCNB exhibited a greenish-blue fluorescence with a symmetry-allowed S0 → S1 transition caused by the lowered symmetry chiral HPLC separation and CD spectroscopy revealed that the chirality originates from the Möbius topology The combination of strain calculations with a rational synthetic strategy can be expected to create a variety of topological molecular nanocarbons which will promote the progress of materials science in this area For the synthesis of (BuO)20(25,25)MCNB (1) to a 50 ml flask filled with argon gas were added Ni(cod)2 (130 mg 4,4‘-methoxycarbonyl-2,2′-bipyridyl (129 mg After the mixture was stirred at 70 °C for 1 h 0.0157 mmol) was added and the resulting mixture was stirred at 70 °C for 20 min The mixture was cooled to 0 °C and aqueous NH4Cl (12 ml) was added The organic layer was extracted with chloroform dried over Na2SO4 and then evaporated in vacuo The crude product was purified by column chromatography (chloroform) and preparative thin-layer chromatography (hexane:chloroform:ethanol 15:85:0.5) to afford (BuO)20(25,25)MCNB (1) (12.7 mg Source data are provided with this paper. The experimental data and the characterization data for all of the compounds prepared in the course of these studies are provided in the Supplementary Information Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films Structurally uniform and atomically precise carbon nanostructures Topologically unique molecular nanocarbons Synthesis of pp′-diphenylenedimonosulphide Design and synthesis of carbon nanotube segments and [18]cycloparaphenylene: carbon nanohoop structures Selective synthesis of [12]cycloparaphenylene Synthesis of [8]cycloparaphenylene from a square-shaped tetranuclear platinum complex Synthesis and properties of all-benzene carbon nanocages: a junction unit of branched carbon nanotubes Synthesis and physical properties of a ball-like three-dimensional π-conjugated molecule All-benzene carbon nanocages: size-selective synthesis Synthesis of a strained spherical carbon nanocage by regioselective alkyne cyclotrimerization Topological molecular nanocarbons: all-benzene catenane and trefoil knot Synthesis and structure of [9]cycloparaphenylene catenane: an all-benzene catenane consisting of small rings Synthetic strategies of carbon nanobelts and related belt-shaped polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons Plant cyclotides: a unique family of cyclic and knotted proteins that defines the cyclic cystine knot structural motif Total synthesis of the first molecular Moebius strip Synthesis of a Möbius aromatic hydrocarbon Expanded porphyrin with a split personality: a Hückel–Möbius aromaticity switch Unambiguous identification of Möbius aromaticity for meso-aryl-substituted [28]hexaphyrins(1.1.1.1.1.1) Möbius aromaticity and antiaromaticity in expanded porphyrins Design and synthesis of the first triply twisted Möbius annulene Cyclic tris-[5]helicenes with single and triple twisted Möbius topologies and Möbius aromaticity An isolable catenane consisting of two Möbius conjugated nanohoops Kinetic control in the synthesis of a Möbius tris((ethynyl)[5]helicene) macrocycle using alkyne metathesis Synthesis of belt- and Möbius-shaped cycloparaphenylenes by rhodium-catalyzed alkyne cyclotrimerization Sulphur-embedded hydrocarbon belts: synthesis structure and redox chemistry of cyclothianthrenes Topology in chemistry: designing Möbius molecules MNDO treatment of the Hückel and Möbius types of cyclacenes Synthesis and size-dependent properties of [12] Spin current in the Möbius cyclacene belts Download references the Funding Program for KAKENHI from MEXT (JP1905463 to K.I.; JP19H02701 and JP19K22183 to Y.S.) a grant-in-aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas from the JSPS (‘π-Figuration’ JP17H05149 to Y.S and ‘Coordination Asymmetry’ JP19H04570 to Y.H.) Daiko Foundation (to Y.S.) and Asahi Glass Foundation (to Y.S.) acknowledges the Special Inter-University Researcher program in the Institute for Molecular Science Calculations were partially performed using the Research Center for Computational Science(21-IMS-C177) The Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules is supported by the World Premier International Research Center Initiative Department of Structural Molecular Science SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies) Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD) conceived the project and prepared the manuscript with feedback from the other authors performed the synthetic experiments and photophysical measurements Nature Synthesis thanks Jun Zhu and the other reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work in collaboration with the Nature Synthesis team Cartesian coordinates of the optimized structures by using DFT calculations (xyz format) Plot of the heat of formation as a function of the size of the MCNB Cartesian coordinates of the snapshots of the DFTB-MD simulation of (25,25)MCNB and 1H NMR spectra of 1 at 25 °C and 140 °C Reprints and permissions Download citation DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-022-00075-8 Chemical Research in Chinese Universities (2024) Jessica is a staff writer at Entertainment Weekly Metrics details The optoelectronic nature of two-dimensional sheets of sp2-hydridized carbons (for example graphenes and nanographenes) can be dramatically altered and tuned by altering the degree of π-extension Among various approaches to synthesize nanographenes with atom-by-atom precision one-shot annulative π-extension (APEX) reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons hold significant potential not only to achieve a ‘growth from template’ synthesis of nanographenes but also to fine-tune the properties of nanographenes Here we describe one-shot APEX reactions that occur at the K-region (convex armchair edge) of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by the Pd(CH3CN)4(SbF6)2/o-chloranil catalytic system with silicon-bridged aromatics as π-extending agents Density functional theory calculations suggest that the complete K-region selectivity stems from the olefinic (decreased aromatic) character of the K-region The protocol is applicable to multiple APEX and sequential APEX reactions to construct various nanographene structures in a rapid and programmable manner one-shot annulative π-extension (APEX) reactions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) hold significant potential not only to achieve a ‘growth from template’ synthesis of nanographenes (a) The well-established two-step synthesis of nanographenes through π-component-assembling reaction and stitching (graphenization) region-selective APEX as alternative synthesis and functionalization of nanographenes through ‘growth from template’ bay-region-selective APEX by Diels–Alder reaction K-region-selective APEX by double C–H activation (this work) This protocol is applicable to multiple APEX and sequential APEX reactions to construct various nanographene structures in a rapid and programmable manner (a) The established reaction conditions (b) Deviation from standard conditions (effect of reaction parameters) in the reaction of 1b and 2a Reaction conditions: polycyclic aromatic compounds 1 (0.2 mmol) Our preferred solvent is 1,2-dichloroethane fluorobenzene and trifluoromethylbenzene can also be used for the present APEX reactions dichloro- and diboryl-substituted dibenzosiloles underwent the APEX reaction smoothly The tolerance of the reaction for these bonds makes it attractive for further π-extension and functionalization using well-established cross-coupling chemistry methylene-bridged phenanthrene 1c reacted with 2a to afford benzoindenochrysene 3ca which can potentially lead to soluble nanographenes by facile substitution at the methylene moiety Ease of post-functionalization is particularly advantageous for controlled surface alignment of nanographenes for device applications Energies are relative to that of o-chloranil-bound cationic phenylpalladium species was found to be most favourable both kinetically and thermodynamically the basis of K-region selectivity in our new APEX reaction has been supported by computational theory Detailed computational studies of Pd/o-chloranil-catalysed C–H activation we predict the most olefinic (least aromatic) K-region π-bond to be the first APEX reaction site in future functionalizations of related π-extended PAHs and nanographenes It should also be mentioned that we observed the first sign of the possibility of employing APEX in an oligomerization/polymerization manifold when we detected oligomers by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis in the first 2:1 APEX reaction shown in Fig. 4d Although we have not yet investigated this possible mode of reaction extensively we envisage that the present APEX reaction could be applied to even larger molecules through judicious choice of solubilizing substituents on the substrates the present result bodes well for the potential application of our APEX methodology to the bottom-up synthesis of graphene nanoribbons with controlled edge structures The present APEX methodology is complementary to the state-of-the-art two-step nanographene synthetic methods thereby finding significant use in the ‘growth from template’ nanographene synthesis and in the late-stage fine-tuning of nanographene properties our APEX technology is not limited to the synthesis and functionalization of π-extended PAHs and nanographenes One of the most significant features of the present APEX reaction is that unfunctionalized PAHs can be directly used for π-component assembly and π-extension without any pre-functionalization various π-conjugated molecules made by many research groups (for many different purposes) will be suitable substrates for our APEX reaction furnishing even more exciting classes of π-conjugated systems the development of new APEX reactions for other PAH regions and acquisition of the first structure–property relationships for various nanographene structures are now ongoing in our laboratory 2.0 equiv) and a stirring bar were placed in a screw cap test tube The tube was sealed with a perforated plastic cap and air was removed though a needle under reduced pressure 1,2-dichloroethane (2 ml) was added and the needle was removed to seal up the test tube The tube was fixed in an aluminum heating block and the mixture was stirred at 80 °C the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and then passed through a short pad of silica gel (eluent: CH2Cl2) After the organic solvents were removed under reduced pressure the residue was purified by silica-gel chromatography (eluent: hexane) to afford 3,14-di-tert-butyldibenzo[g,p]chrysene (3aa) in 88% yield (77.0 mg) as a white powder From conception to realization: an historical account of graphene and some perspectives for its future From nanographene and graphene nanoribbons to graphene sheets: chemical synthesis Evolution of graphene molecules: structural and functional complexity as driving forces behind nanoscience Big is beautiful – “aromaticity” revisited from the viewpoint of macromolecular and supramolecular benzene chemistry Synthesis of structurally well-defined and liquid-phase-processable graphene nanoribbons Structurally defined graphene nanoribbons with high lateral extension Geodesic polyarenes with exposed concave surfaces Atomically precise bottom-up fabrication of graphene nanoribbons Surface-assisted cyclodehydrogenation provides a synthetic route towards easily processable and chemically tailored nanographenes Large-scale solution synthesis of narrow graphene nanoribbons Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Wiley-VCH (1997) Controlled synthesis of single-chirality carbon nanotubes Initiation of carbon nanotube growth by well-defined carbon nanorings Diels–Alder reactivity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon bay regions: implications for metal-free growth of single-chirality carbon nanotubes One-step conversion of aromatic hydrocarbon bay regions into new unsubstituted benzene rings metal-free growth of single-chirality carbon nanotubes Gas-phase Diels–Alder cycloaddition of benzyne to an aromatic hydrocarbon bay region Groundwork for the selective solvent-free growth of armchair carbon nanotubes Facile synthesis and lateral π-expansion of bisanthenes From perylene to a 22-ring aromatic hydrocarbon in one-pot Syntheses of coronene and 1: 2-7: 8-dibenzocoronene Scalable synthesis of quaterrylene: solution-phase 1H NMR spectroscopy of its oxidative dication Direct arylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons through palladium catalysis Pd(OAc)2/o-chloranil/M(OTf)n: a catalyst for the direct C–H arylation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with boryl- Palladium-catalyzed C–H activation taken to the limit Flattening an aromatic bowl by total arylation Palladium-catalyzed direct phenylation of perylene: structural and optical properties of 3,4,9-triphenylperylene and 3,4,9,10-tetraphenylperylene One-shot indole-to-carbazole π-extension by Pd-Cu-Ag trimetallic system A grossly warped nanographene and the consequences of multiple odd-membered-ring defects Palladium-catalyzed direct C–H bond arylation of simple arenes with aryltrimethylsilanes C–H arylation reaction: atom efficient and greener syntheses of π-conjugated small molecules and macromolecules for organic electronic materials Synthesis of extended π-systems through C–H activation C–H bond functionalization: emerging synthetic tools for natural products and pharmaceuticals C–H bond activation enables the rapid construction and late-stage diversification of functional molecules Regioselektive dimetallierung von aromaten Bequemer zugang zu 2,2′-disubstituierten biphenylderivaten Oxidation of o-quinone adducts of transition metal complexes Periodic trends in charge distribution for transition metal complexes containing catecholate and semiquinone ligands Metal-mediated spin coupling in the bis(3,5-di-tert-butyl-1,2-semiquinone) complexes of palladium(II) and platinum(II) M(DBSQ)2 (M=Pd Rhodium-catalyzed synthesis of silafluorene derivatives via cleavage of silicon−hydrogen and carbon−hydrogen bonds Unified Theory of Exchange and Correlation Beyond the Local Density Approximation/Electronic Structure of Solids & Eschrig H.) 11–20 (Akademie Verlag 1991) Methods of Electronic Structure Theory/Modern Theoretical Chemistry Ab initio effective core potentials for molecular calculations Potentials for the transition metal atoms Sc to Hg Improved second-order Møller–Plesset perturbation theory by separate scaling of parallel- and antiparallel-spin pair correlation energies Preparation and characterization of a bis(pentaammineosmium(II)) pyrene complex Silicon-bridge effects on photophysical properties of silafluorenes Download references This work was supported by the ERATO programme from JST (K.I.) the Funding Program for Next Generation World-Leading Researchers from JSPS (220GR049 to K.I.) and KAKENHI from MEXT (26810057 to H.I.) thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) for fellowships We thank Dr Yasutomo Segawa (Nagoya University) Crudden (Queen’s University) and Dr Ayako Miyazaki (Nagoya University) for fruitful discussion and critical comments Dr Keiko Kuwata (Nagoya University) is acknowledged for assistance in mass spectroscopy Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (WPI-ITbM) and Graduate School of Science The authors declare no competing financial interests Supplementary Methods and Supplementary References (PDF 11239 kb) Download citation 2017 (Monday Night Raw); made one-off appearance at WrestleMania 31 Qualified for inaugural Andre the Giant Memorial battle royal at WrestleMania 31 (defeated Finn Balor in tournament final)Other Accolades