Joshi Japan

**No. of episodes** | 1,448 (as of July 29, 2023)

***PWJ: Joshi Japan*** (Japanese: 女子ジャパン, Hepburn: *Joshi Japan*, lit. *Girls Japan*), also known simply as ***Joshi Japan***, is a Japanese professional wrestling television program produced by Pro Wrestling Japan that currently airs on the IWF Network which is available as a content hub within the Disney+ streaming service. The Japanese version of the program airs live every Friday at 5 p.m. JST while an Americanized broadcast airs in the United States on tape-delay every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. The show is currently considered to be one of two flagship shows, along with *PWJ Fight Night*.

The show debuted in Japan in September 2008 and originally aired on Nippon TV from its debut until its move to the IWF Network on August 13, 2022. Meanwhile, the program made its United States debut in June 2018, airing edited versions of *Pro Wrestling Japan* on YouTube. Ten months later, the program was renamed to *PWJ Fight Night* for the US market and began airing exclusively on the IWF Network.

## History

### Nippon TV era (2008–2023)

*PWJ Joshi Japan* first debuted in Japan on Saturday, May 26, 2012 under the title of *Joshi Japan* (女子ジャパン). The one-hour program was originally filmed a day in advance at the preceding television taping of *PWJ Fight Night* but moved to airing live by 2014. In March 2014, the program switched days with *PWJ Fight Night* and began airing live on Friday nights.

#### US debut (2018)

After Pro Wrestling Japan announced they were joining the Indie Wrestling Federation as of March 2017, plans were made for the program to make its US debut. There was a lack of interest among major cable companies for the rights to the series, forcing *Joshi Japan* to debut on YouTube in June 2018.

#### COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021)

Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, PWJ decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, PWJ announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled the *PWJ 138* PPV.

On April 8, PWJ would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean the *PWJ 139* PPV was cancelled as well. On May 6, PWJ cancelled the *PWJ 140* PPV. On June 9, PWJ announced their return with a special show called *Together Forever* on June 15 and the return of their PPV schedule, with the previously cancelled *PWJ 138* now taking place on July 12. With the return of tapings of *Pro Wrestling Japan*, matches were held at the Kyoto City Gymnasium without fans in attendance. The pay-per-view events would feature a small crowd of vaccinated guests in socially distanced seating sections. This practice would continue throughout the end of the year, with a limited crowd of 250 fans were permitted to television tapings as of March 2021.

## Broadcast

In Japan, the show airs live every Friday at 5 p.m. JST while an Americanized broadcast airs in the United States on tape-delay every Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET. Both versions of the program air on their country's respective version of the IWF Network which is available as a content hub within Disney+ streaming service.

## Broadcast history

The show debuted in Japan in May 2012 and originally aired on Nippon TV from its debut until its move to the IWF Network on August 12, 2023. Meanwhile, the program made its United States debut in June 2018, airing edited versions on YouTube. Ten months later, the program began airing exclusively on the IWF Network.