"When I think about pro fighting gamer, for Japan, I can only think of Umehara-san now.
If you give him some years, I can see Tokido-san becoming a pro fighting gamer, too, though."
Kubo spoke the truth. The truth that some people don't see.
As of now, there's no pro fighting gamer in Japan except Daigo Umehara. The word "pro" comes from "professional." Being a fighting gamer is his job. It's his only job, not a side job. Whether he participates a tournament or not, what he does all (such as product promotion, books, talk show, etc) has to do with the fact that he's a famous and successful fighting gamer. Umehara can maintain the pace of his activities and publicity as you can see in the huge list we have above.
Other players either have other job as main or part-time job.
There're pro gamers who live only by playing game, but not many in fighting game genre; and especially in Japan where prize money is rare and player sponsorship is an alien concept. (MadCatz was the first to approach a Japanese player, then Hori USA made Hori Japan do it) We'll be surprised if more than 3 Japanese players are being paid salary. The Japanese do not see asking for donation as an option so you'll not see the players doing that like some of American players.
It's hard to call it a real job when what you do doesn't guarantee an opportunity to work, let alone fixed income.
Our definition of "pro" may vary. But for us (and probably Kubo), being a pro means committing to what you do and make it viable. That's what Umehara's doing and he leaves a huge gap for other players.
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