The Crazy Japan Times--Pithy Epigraph Goes Here--Appy Polly Loggies
In the last CJT, your humble editor mistakenly stated that Shunsuke Nakamura was going to Genk, Gackt etc. In fact, Nakamura is going to Some Team in Italy (Reggina?). Suzuki, the striker who scored Japan’s first goal in the World Cup, is the player actually going to Belgium.
Also: It Doesn’t Get Much Worse Than This
The once impressive sport of Sumo just suffered its worst basho since your humble editor has been a fan. Yokozuna Taka- nohana, who has sat out the last six or seven tournaments missed this one also. Curiously, no one is screaming for his retire- ment yet. On the other hand, when Hawaiian Akebono sat out two basho, everyone screamed for him to retire. He then sat out two more tournaments, and came back to win two championships before finally retiring.
This tournament actually set a record with 16 upper division wrestlers either failing to show up or pulling out half way through the tournament, citing injuries, etc. The result was just over 50-60% attendance for the Nagoya basho, which is usually packed as Nagoya only gets a tournament once a year. It is time for the sumo Powers What Are to sit down and figure out how to save their sport. They could start by eliminating the regional tournaments held between official basho. They do little more than injure and fatigue the wrestlers and saturate the market. Sumo used to happen only six times a year. Now it happens 12 or more times a year and it’s not only hurting the players, it’s hurting the audience. By the way, Chiyotaikai won the basho. Hawaiian Musashimaru did well until he was out of the running for the championship, and then lost three straight with little effort and finished 10-5. DL
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