A SASUKE First! Japanese and American athletes go head-to-head on an two-hour NBC special!

A SASUKE First!
Japanese and American athletes go head-to-head on an two-hour NBC special!

2014.01.08

In the first-ever international team SASUKE competition NBC will air a two-hour special based on the TBS sports entertainment megahit program: "American Ninja Warrior: USA vs, Japan" on Monday, Jan. 13 (8-10 p.m. ET/PT).

The program will feature five top SASUKE athletes competing against 5 top competitors from the American version of SASUKE, American Ninja Warrior, earning points as they attempt to conquer each stage. Team Japan will be represented by Shingo Yamamoto, Ryo Matachi, Kazuma Asa, Hitoshi Kanno, and two-time SASUKE Grand Champion Yuji Urushihara. Team USA will include SASUKE veteran competitors Paul Kasemir, James McGrath, Travis Rosen and Brent Steffensen, as well as the top competitor from American Ninja Warrior Season 5, Brian Arnold. Contestants will tackle all four stages of the Las Vegas finals course in a new head-to-head format that pits members from each team against one another.

Former NFL pro-turned NFL Network analyst Akbar Gbaja Biamilia and ESPN's two-time Emmy winning sports broadcaster Jenn Brown will join Matt Iseman as co-hosts.

The original 4-stage SASUKE course created at Midoriyama Studio has been faithfully recreated in Las Vegas. The championship trophy and international bragging rights will go to the victors in this inaugural USA vs. Japan contest.

SASUKE content (including the US version, American Ninja Warrior, which scored impressive ratings in Season 5) has been sold in 157 countries and territories. Sales extend not only to countries in Asia, Europe, and North America, but also to the Middle East and Latin America. Facebook's Ninja Warrior fan page has attracted more than 840,000 Likes.

As production and sales of SASUKE content continues in various countries, the USA vs. Japan competition will be closely followed by the SASUKE ASEAN OPEN CUP 2014, to be held in February in Malaysia as part of the celebration of the 40th year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. SASUKE fever continues to heat up worldwide!

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A SASUKE First! Japanese and American athletes go head-to-head on an two-hour NBC special!