The Shield: When were you happiest?

Toshio Nishida: (laughs) In general, when I go back to Japan to be with my family and my friends, that’s probably the best time of the year.

TS: Who is your real-life hero?

TN: Terry Fang, he’s a professional wrestler, yeah, he’s probably my all-time hero. I’m a big wrestling fan, and he was very popular in Japan at the time. One time I wrote him a fan letter, and he wrote me back. That kind of inspired my to start studying English more and all that kind of stuff.

TS: If you weren’t a teacher, what would you be?

TN: Professional wrestler. I wanted to in Japan.

TS: What is your motto?

TN: Being happy, all the time, no matter what, you know.

TS: What is your most prized possession?

TN: My friends, probably. They help me a lot.

TS: If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

TN: To go back in time, that kind of power would be really nice, to have the opportunity to redo whatever I have done wrong.

TS: What are your favorite names?

TN: Names? (laughs) Like people?

TS: Like names, like what you call people names.

TN: Like John? (laughs) Well, probably Toshio, because it’s my name.

TS: Where is your happy place?

TN: Japan. Tokyo. Not really any specific place, just I have a lot of friends in Tokyo, and it’s always really a lot of fun to go travel there.

TS: What is your biggest pet peeve? Like something that annoys you?

TN: Hmm. Probably traffic, traffic in this town really annoys me.

TS: How did you get to where you are now?

TN: I studied English, then I studied how to teach Japanese, then I got this job. I studied in Japan, but I came for college here too–I studied in both Japan and here, in California and Kentucky, as an exchange student.