I thought it would be nice to memorialize the passing of an actual sports hero (HIGHLY revered in Japan) who managed not to almost cut the head off his ex-wife in a petty jealous rage:
Hawaii-born sumo champion Akebono Taro dies of heart failure at the age of 54 in Japan
Taro was one of the greats of sumo wrestling and the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the level of “yokozuna” — or grand champion — in Japan.
TOKYO — Hawaii-born Akebono Taro, one of the greats of sumo wrestling and a former grand champion, has died. He was 54. He was the first foreign-born wrestler to reach the level of “yokozuna” — or grand champion — in Japan.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/hawaii-born-sumo-champion-akebono-taro-dies-rcna147385
I was just reading about Akebono. Dude was huge: 6'8" and like 450 lbs.! Pretty cool story about overcoming the xenophobia in Japan for foreign sumo wrestlers.
I remember this guy. Cool story.
My wife and I watched sumo a few times while in Japan and would do it again in a New York minute. It’s almost like top-level drag racing: a lot of intensity and suspense building up to a few moments of intense excitement. But, like I said, we loved it.
We always got tickets that day–so up in the cheap seats as IIRC everything else was reserved. The lower-level wrestlers go earlier in the day, meaning lots of unused seats so we’d just grab some. As the place filled up, we’d take our seats in the upper row.
Part of the drill: watching the wrestlers arrive during the day.
We saw some lower-level guys on the train with us. The mid-level guys would arrive by cab. The top ones came via black car. There’d be a crowd of people outside waving, taking photos, etc. So of course we did the same.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
That sounds like an absolute blast. I've always been fascinated by how powerful and quick those guys are for the size.
