[sumo] More on young rikishi murder (my words, not theirs)

[Doreen Simmons]

On 2008/02/16, at 2:35, Scott M. Kahn wrote:

> This is no surprise to those of us who suspected from the beginning
> that hazing was the cause of Mr. Saito's death.
>
> Now that the facts are coming in, eg. "His right ear was torn off",
> I think there is ample evidence that hints at a cover-up attempt,
> at the least at the stable level.  It would be sad if this tragedy
> isn't investigated in full, Mr. Saito's family is due such respect.

I'm not sure where Scott's been for the past six months or so, but all 
this information came out within a very short time of the eruption of 
the scandal. It was absolutely clear, from the moment that the news 
came out that a cover-up had been attempted, and the family insisted on 
the body being delivered to them intact,  that a hazing was involved. 
The idea that more investigation is needed, when the police authorities 
have taken so many months to build an airtight case, doesn't add up. 
Only two new items of new information  have come out very recently (to 
those of us in Japan, at least) :  (1) the stablemaster hit the boy on 
the head with a beer bottle not once but about ten times; and (2) the 
three anideshi (older apprentices) have been finally named. Everything 
else has been in the public domain for months.

Doreen Simmons
  jz8d-smmn at asahi-net.or.jp