Translation from the Yahoo article
Antonio Inoki has passed away. The former pro-wrestler turned politician was 79 years old. He was from Yokohama City.
He was born in 1943, and his father died when he was 5. When he was 13, his family had moved to Brazil for him to work in a coffee plantation. After having won a few fighting tournaments in Brazil, he had caught the eye of Rikidozan, who scouted him into wrestling. On 30 September 1960, alongside Giant Baba, he stepped into the world of pro wrestling and they made their debuts. In 1962 he had changed his name to 'Antonio Inoki'.
After having left the wrestling industry for a short and while and then returning, he married his first wife in 1971and proceeded to form New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1972. He and Giant Baba double-handedly built the wrestling industry in Japan from that point forward, paving the way for both major domestic and international success.
In 1989, he turned into a politician and was successfully elected into Japan's House of Councillors. It was the first time that a wrestler had turned into a politician in Japan. Some of his legendary achievements include negotiating the release of 41 captive Japanese hostages in Iraq, and producing the most attended sporting event in history in North Korea to help bridge relations between North Korea and Japan.