Raw Japan
Slices of Japanese business, politics and life
from Left field:
Former Estonian bouncer adds Baltic spice to sumo
Baruto throws his weight around
After the nightclub fracas that toppled a Mongolian grand champion from grace who would have thought it would take a former bouncer from Estonia to help clean up the mess in the troubled world of sumo?
The soft-spoken giant Baruto gave the ancient Japanese sport a shot in the arm after sealing his promotion to the sport's second highest rank of "ozeki" with a 14-1 showing at the spring grand sumo tournament less than two months after "yokozuna" Asashoryu quit in disgrace amid a "booze rage" probe.
The 1.98-metre tall, 190-kilogram Baruto narrowly missed out on his first Emperor's Cup as yokozuna Hakuho went unbeaten to claim his 13th major title in Osaka. "I was happy about the 14 wins but the one defeat hurt more," said Baruto, who will formally become the second European after Kotooshu in 2005 to ascent to the ozeki rank.
Certainly sections of the Japanese media would report on the slightest breach of protocol, from his fist-pumping victory celebrations to his choice of flowery Hawaiian shirts, although picking a soapy punch-up with a rival while both soaked in a communal bathtub and forging a sick note to get out of a regional tournament did Asashoryu few favours either.
His flair, however, will be missed.
Sumo “porky” tab a low blow
Bad boy sumo grand champion Asashoryu has been called many things, but it’s unlikely whether being dubbed “porky” will cause the Mongolian star to lose much sleep.
When a former wrestler, now working as a television commentator, accused the “yokozuna” of being flabby, it marked a new low in the hounding of one of the greats of Japan’s ancient sport.
Asashoryu has character flaws, which have polarised opinion within the strict, cloistered sumo world with regular breaches of protocol such as telling Japanese journalists to “Drop dead!”
But there is an undercurrent of xenophobia detectable in the increasingly frequent tabloid attacks on the 28-year-old wrestler, who needed around-the-clock police protection after receiving a death threat earlier this year.
One criticism was that he “lacks the dignity” to hold sumo’s top rank, rattled off ad nauseam by Japan’s conservative media and even members of the sport’s inner sanctum. Nonsense!
He is fabulous at what he does, and if he growls at opponents from time to time, so what? Didn’t boxing’s Ali growl at Frazier more than a little, tennis’ John McEnroe shriek at umpires and basketball’s Michael Jordan bark at almost everyone he dunked on in the NBA?
Have to agree with most of Himmer-san’s blog.
Being a casual follower of sumo for past the 20 years, it is fairly consistent that the Japanese have a problem with successful foreign wrestlers, the problem is particularly acute at the moment because there are no Japanese wrestlers that seem able to compete.
Unfortunately, the riggers of Sumo life are something that young Japanese do not aspire to- consequently many wrestlers come from developing countries- and they bring new technique and enthusiasm. Sumo has been much more entertaining since the arrival of the Mongolian wrestlers. In fact it is more like it was when the Japanese great Chiyonofuji reigned with speed and technique.
But Japnese are a proud people and naturally find this all a difficult situation to come to grips with. But the constant argument of foreign wrestlers lacking dignity (“gei hin”) is insulting, particularly as Japanese enthusiastically embrace the bafoonish behavior of Japanese wrestler Takamizakri. If foreign wrestler behaved in such a manner, he would be on the next plane home.
Sumo’s problems run deep but foreign wrestlers such as Asashoryu are not one them.
Toyota’s long and winding F1 road
For not seeing a win since joining Formula One in 2002, Toyota‘s commitment to the sport is admirable, especially after Honda’s pullout in December left the team the last Japanese standing in the glamour sport.
Toyota have been one of F1′s biggest spenders, with an estimated annual budget of $300 million, previously exceeded only by Honda. But the question for the sport’s perennial underachievers remains just how much cash do they have left to burn?
Team principal Tadashi Yamashima told me on Monday that Toyota had been close to following Honda out of the sport, and the Cologne-based team’s budget has been slashed several times as the world’s No.1 car maker is set to suffer its first ever annual operating loss.
Honda blamed their own exit from F1 on the need to cut costs and Toyota’s survival in the sport was by no means clear-cut. A renewed sponsorship deal with Japanese electronics giant Panasonic was said to be a factor in their continued F1 presence.
“I had never seen such cost cuts in all my time at Toyota,” Yamashina said, adding that dozens of contract workers lost their jobs as the team was forced to streamline F1 operations.
Still, Toyota are upbeat about their chances in the new season that begins in Melbourne on March 29.
Japanese sumo wrestler fired over marijuana
A sumo wrestler was expelled from the ancient Japanese sport on Monday following his arrest for marijuana possession and just a day after U.S. Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps apologised over a photograph purportedly showing him smoking the drug.
The expulsion of Wakakirin, 25, comes after three Russian wrestlers met a similar fate last year over marijuana use, reflecting both Japan’s zero tolerance for the drug and the high standards of behaviour the Japan Sumo Association prides itself on demanding from its members.
Musashikawa, the chairman of the Japan Sumo Association, bowed deeply and apologised for the scandal at a televised news conference where he announced the decision to fire Wakakirin.
In contrast, U.S. officials said the news about Phelps was disappointing, but stressed that smoking marijuana out of competition was not an anti-doping matter at this point.
Wakakirin, whose real name is Shinichi Suzukawa, was arrested in possession of marijuana in the Tokyo nightlife district of Roppongi last week, police said. Daytime television chat shows said the 25-year-old was a hiphop fan and broadcast pictures of him wearing black clothing and heavy gold chains, in contrast with the traditional sumo get-up of cotton robes or silk loincloths.
Statistics indicate that marijuana use is relatively unusual in Japan compared with the United States and Britain. Individual cases of possession are frequently covered on national television news, especially when they involve someone in the public eye.
Sumo bad boy Asashoryu melts hearts
Mongolian sumo grand champion Asashoryu is the self-styled bad boy of Japan’s ancient sport, a man who once yanked a rival’s hair before picking a soapy bathtub fight with the same opponent and later being accused of smashing the same wrestler’s car mirror.
To many seasoned sumo observers, he lacks the dignity required to hold sumo’s elite rank of “yokozuna”. To others, he is simply eccentric.
The 28-year-old has polarised Japanese opinion to the extent that he made his latest comeback from injury at the New Year’s tournament in Tokyo amid tight security following a death threat posted again him on the Internet. He could have been forgiven for walking away, returning to Mongolia with his riches and never returning.
But in a twist even Hollywood scriptwriters would have struggled to conjure, Asashoryu returned with a bang to win his 23rd Emperor’s Cup at the weekend, silencing critics and exorcising his own demons after a turbulent 18 months.
His future had already been the subject of intense speculation after a series of injuries, illness and a bizarre ban for playing soccer while supposedly injured.
“Asashoryu has finally returned,” he blubbed after his first major title in almost a year in an Oscar-calibre speech only slightly dampened by the sight of his giant 150kg frame wrapped in the tradiional sumo loincloth. “I love Japan. I am Japan’s yokozuna.”
