Japanese cruiser Soya name was taken from the northernmost cape of Hokkaidō, Soya Misaki. After being placed into Japanese service as a 3rd class cruiser, "Soya" was used primarily for training duties. From 14 March 1909 to 7 August 1909, it made a long distance navigational and officer cadet training cruise to Hawaii and North America. It repeated this training cruise every year until 1913. During World War I Russia and Japan became allies and "Soya" (along with several other vessels) was transferred back to Russia at Vladivostok on 5 April 1916, and its original name of "Varyag" restored. Japanese cruiser Soya "Varyag"
Manabu Soya Yuji Okabayashi on March 21, 2011. In late 2011 to early 2012 Manabu Soya and All Japan veteran Takao Omori formed the team "GET WILD". On March 20, 2012, Soya and Omori defeated Dark Cuervo and Dark Ozz to win the World Tag Team Championship. After losing the title to Joe Doering and Seiya Sanada on May 20, Soya and Omori regained the title on June 17. They vacated the title on October 30, in time for the 2012 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. They then won Block A defeating the team of Turmeric Storm (Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto).