[sumo] [Long] Asashoryu Yaocho Article from Shukan Gendai - Part 2

[Doreen Simmons]

Yup. The regular way to boost circulation is to find a target (easy, 
foreigners dominating sumo, right? and any decent Japanese like Kaio who 
admit they were fairly beaten, you blacken them too, right?) then catch 
yourself an unsuccessful makushita who's missed out on the bigtime; you 
take him out, fill him with booze, then press the button. The bile starts 
spilling out.

One of the insinuendos that most angers me is the suggestion that it's 
unreasonable for Kyokutenzan to be the Oshima-beya manager when Tenho takes 
over.  It's totally reasonable. They came in together in the very first 
group of Mongolian rikishi; Tenzan is the only one of the six who didn't 
try to run away; he  went with the master to the Mongolian embassy and 
talked Shuzan and Tenho into returning. They made the bigtime; he never 
has. But he has made himself a steady reputation as a decent man who is 
always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who asks -- and not only 
junior Mongolians. My sources tell me that he was there last week at the 
yokozuna's side, in case of need, when the Kyokai bigwigs grilled him.

But who am I to talk? At least I sent in my KTO column a couple of days ago 
-- unfortunately I have the worst deadline problem of anyone trying to 
write about sumo....1st of the month before, no less. Still and all, I've 
been writing for them an awful long time so perhaps the good folks at KTO 
will give me a little leeway.

Doreen gratefully taking a rest for a few hours.

>K-jo the cranky (and sleepy) murmured: Ok, I'm sure people are tired of 
>this topic, and tired of me being this new-to-the-scene upstart always 
>blowing loud, but this article really burns me up.  They did a great job 
>of taking little things and twisting them around, keeping just enough 
>truth so that it seems like they're breaking some serious story.  It's the 
>same thing that political organizations do.
>
>	But the article is so blatantly slanted it screams "the Mongolians 
>and other Gaijin have corrupted Sumo."  They include interviews with Kaio 
>and Zuma where both deny the allegations then say they are guilty because 
>they deny it.
 
Doreen Simmons
<jz8d-smmn at asahi-net.or.jp>