Ethan Zuckerman’s blog is more than just a few musings on
Africa, international development and hacking the media. In one of his most recent entries he actually touches
on sumo wrestling and it’s decreasing popularity in Japan’s changing times. Apparently he’s a pretty big fan of
the sport and even though It’s been a long time goal of mine to watch huge men wrestle in tiny diapers I have yet
to experience the action. One reason for so few Japanese fans is the lack of great Japanese sumo wrestlers.
Zuckerman explores this with some very well-explained background info on some of the latest and greatest big men
in the arena. In the end his question is if foreign-born heroes of the sport are making it less enjoyable for Japanese
fans or if globalization will make the sport better? Interesting question.
If you’re thinking about attending an event in the future you can check out the
Japan Sumo Association online for a schedule of
upcoming matches in Tokyo.