Maybe you remember that shiny cheerful Japanese man in the video about Dota 2 in Japan, broadcasted during one of the The International 2018 final days. Now Mara is loved by many people in Dota community, but we know very little about him and his life. So empire.gg contacted him and had a small talk about Dota 2, his dreams and oysters of course.

We’d also like to thank Victoria Moiseenko for a huge help with this interview.

— How did you learn about Dota 2?

— I grew up in countryside, so it is standard that no one has a PC at home. I’ve played PlayStation and Nintendo DS since my childhood. I learned about Dota 2 when I was about 24, I think. Me and my friend wanted to play Final Fantasy XIV, so I’ve bought a computer and it had Dota 2 open beta installed. So we’ve played Dota 2 every day and never tried FF XIV (laughs).

— What kind of development do you want for Dota 2 in your region?

— Actually, I think the situation is getting better past few years, but there’s is one thing. If my child asks me can he find a job in esports, would I sincerely support him? That’s what troubles me. I have no doubts about the future, but I would like to have this dream in Japan. Soon I will be 30, and all I want is to reproduce this energy in young generation. I would like Dota 2 to become more popular and I do it as well: I make tournaments, stream on Twitch, hoping that people will love Dota 2 as much as me. And there are many other people who make websites and chats. Maybe Dota 2 will start the fire someday? Let’s go Dota 2!

— How has Valve found you and what was their initial offerings?

— I’ve been organizing Mara Cup for about a year already, so I got mentioned on Reddit a few times. I think that’s how Valve found me. Moreover, SteelSeries contacted me and now they are giving away devices for my ENLIFE team. What Valve has offered me is a secret though!

— How is esports culture doing in Japan? What games are the most popular?

— I think I will say the same as in the second question. In general, only few people can earn money by gaming and making tournaments, and most people think that videogames are bad for your job and self-development. However, it’s obvious esports is growing in a positive way. They can make fun of videogames whenever they want, but I will always say that videogames are cool!

As for the most popular games, if we’re speaking about the audience, fighting games, LoL, PUBG and Fortnite are the most popular. By the way, Japanese play fighting games and CS:GO on a global level!





— Have you ever wanted to create your own Dota 2 team?

— Do you mean professional team that can compete at The International? Or non-professional team with me as a player? I want to become a manager, but I have no money for that and I don’t know English (laughs). If I ever want to do this, I will learn language first and maybe accept this challenge then. I want to create all-Japanese team, but it’s quite difficult because we have no other tournaments except Mara Cup, and the competitive system is not formed. Still, there’s no development if you don’t have worthy opponents. But there’s two things I would like to achieve: first is to compete at The International with Japanese roster and the second is to do it while I’m alive (laughs). In general, I’ve already played in a team, but we lost to mega creeps at 12th minute (laughs).

— After your appearance at The International 2018, your popularity among western fans is growing rapidly. Do you like this attention?

— When we shot those video with Slacks, I was waiting for release nervously. Did I become popular? I don’t know, but this fame is not only mine, but it is for all the people around who support me, and while I’m full with this energy, I would share it with all the Japanese scene. If someone loves Japan because of me, it’s amazing! I’m always happy when I got messages from foreigners on Twitter or Twitch. I like to communicate and I would like to be famous among the people I can talk to, so now I’m learning English.

— Tell us about your future plans. Maybe you want to make a tournament among western players?

— First of all, I’m going to make another Mara Cup in winter. I still haven’t started the preparations, but I will do it for sure and make lots of oysters again! PLEASE EAT AND GO FOR THE VICTORY! (laughs) Speaking about my coveted desire, I would like to make a bigger tournament not only for Japanese players. Japan Dota Minor or The Oyster Major, for example (laughs). I’m opened for offerings from abroad or from, Japanese companies. I will support everyone who wants to make a Dota tournament in Japan!

I think now I’m in situation where I can’t do something bigger alone. But I am ready to make as much Mara Cups as possible. It is so fun!





— Recently you’ve started streaming. Is it just a hobby or you’re going to make it your job?

— Actually I’ve been streaming for 2 years already. Recently I’m busy with ENLIFE — it is the team I’ve created to organize gaming events, so I don’t stream too often. As I told before I love communicating with people, so I like streaming. Honestly, I would do this everyday. Sometimes I stream just to speak with people or to sing songs. Come to my Twitch and let’s have fun!

— And what about your regular job?

— As everyone probably knows, I was born in a fisherman town and got raised as a fisherman and oyster catcher. It would be great if you read my blog, though it’s pretty long. I’m speaking about my childhood and video games here.

— Your sincere passion for the game cannot be forgotten. Is there something you want to tell to your fans?

— My power and my energy is all because people’s happiness and smiles. Video games are really cool! «Good luck!», «It was a cool event!», «Awesome stream!» — these simple things are inspiring me the most, so I hope you will support me further.

Video games are cool!

Dota 2 is cool!

Planet Earth is cool!