Echo Fox’s Hajime “Tokido” Taniguchi is world renowned for his prowess in fighting games. Having won his very first championship at Evo 2002, he is still going strong in 2017, having won the Street Fighter V Evo championship this year as well.
However, what most people don’t know is that Tokido’s road down the path of champion — and professional esports altogether — started with approval from his father. In an interview with ESPN, Tokido and the elder Hisashi Taniguchi talked about his father agreeing to let him travel to Evo 2002 at 17 years old, if he would come back to cram for his college entrance exams. Fast-forward to 2009, and he again approached his father asking his opinion on the idea on becoming a professional gamer. Again, his father encouraged him to go for it.
Also, Tokido discusses how he doesn’t view himself as the best player, even offering an interesting hypothetical where if superior aliens came from a planet with fighting games, he would choose Daigo, and not himself, to fight for the fate of Earth’s FGC!
Source: ESPN