Teruaki Murakami retired around 10 years before the events of Ashita no Joe. Nowadays he runs a Yakitori stand near Chinatown in Tokyo accompanied by his dog he named "Jose".

~!Before Joe, Murakami was the only Japanese boxer to have fought Jose Mendoza. Murakami had traveled to Mexico to train, and during that trip he had an unofficial underground bout against Mendoza. Mendoza at the time was only 16 years old and still just an amateur.!~

~!Murakami describes Jose as having been smaller than a flyweight, but punched harder than a bantamweight. Despite being at his physical peak, Murakami could barely land a punch and was knocked out before he even heard the bell to end the first round.!~

~!Murakami defended his national title twice after that crushing defeat, but unable to get over the loss to Mendoza he grew depressed and disillusioned with boxing and retired. Two years later after hearing Mendoza had become the bantamweight world champion, Murakami was so happy he drank all night. He opened his Yakitori stand soon after.!~

Murakami is an anime original character.

Yabuki Joe is left downhearted and hopeless after a certain tragic event. In attempt to put the past behind him, Joe leaves the gym behind and begins wandering. On his travels he comes across the likes of Wolf Kanagushi and Goromaki Gondo, men who unintentionally fan the dying embers inside him, leading him to putting his wanderings to an end. His return home puts Joe back on the path to boxing, but unknown to himself and his trainer, he now suffers deep-set issues holding him back from fighting. In attempt to quell those issues, Carlos Rivera, a world renowned boxer is invited from Venezuela to help Joe recover.


He was an actor and a voice actor that was active from the 1960's up until his death in 1995.