author

 
Menu
Search
 
December 22, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Mark Buckton

Meta

Mark Buckton
Mark Buckton has covered sumo for The Japan Times Online since 2006 and has long worked with broadcast media such as the BBC and CNN when things go awry in the sport. He has contributed to six books on Japanese culture, and is a columnist at entertainment magazine Eye-Ai.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Sep 11, 2016
Kisenosato set to profit from Hakuho's absence at Autumn Basho
Early on Thursday, it was announced that yokozuna Hakuho had decided to skip the upcoming Autumn Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo due to injury.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 27, 2016
Won't be long before Kisenosato wins coveted title
When he won his eighth Emperor's Cup on Sunday afternoon, in the eyes of many, yokozuna Harumafuji also guaranteed that ozeki Kisenosato would forever remain in the sport's second rank, never to win the coveted Emperor's Cup.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Jul 6, 2016
Tokyo is squandering resources on its 2020 Olympic English drive
Misguided training program appears to be aimed at turning city workers into unlicensed tour guides.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 1, 2016
YouTube poses unique challenges for Japan Sumo Association
Every few days, year-round, I receive emails from foreign visitors to Japan asking just how to gain access to morning training sessions at one of the sport's (current) 44 stables.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jun 8, 2016
Views from Tokyo students: How will you decide how to vote in next month's election?
Hosei University students about the issues that could determine how they vote in July's House of Councilors election, the first in which Japanese 18- and 19-year-olds will be able to cast ballots.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 26, 2016
Consistent Kisenosato needs title to secure promotion to yokozuna
Few involved in the world of sumo, as fans or as part of the inner workings of the sport would or could ever claim that Kisenosato has been anything other than the most consistent ozeki in recent memory.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
May 4, 2016
Views from Tokyo: How do you feel about getting naked with the locals at baths and hot springs?
Foreign residents and visitors on the streets of Tokyo seem fairly relaxed about getting their kit off at the onsen or public baths.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Apr 28, 2016
May tournament has history of delivering memorable results
There is something uplifting, even magical at times about the Natsu Basho each May.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 29, 2016
Hakuho's best days are behind him
The time has come for yokozuna Hakuho to look in the mirror, recognize the person looking back at him as head and shoulders above all others the greatest sumo wrestler that has ever lived, but to then accept that it is now time to retire, to call it a day.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Mar 2, 2016
How does the Tokyo Marathon compare to other races you've run?
Some of the 37,000 runners at Sunday's Tokyo Marathon offer their views on how the race sizes up against the global competition.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 25, 2016
Kotoshogiku faces uphill battle to maintain winning form
Every four years just before the Olympic Games begin, the Japanese broadcast, online and print media announce with the confidence bordering on arrogance just how many gold medals the nation's athletes are "expected" to win. The figure is always given as the "minimum expected."
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Feb 17, 2016
Views from Tokyo and Chiba: Have you made any memorable gaffes while learning another language?
Japanese and foreign nationals share their favorite embarrassing missteps on the long journey to second-language fluency.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 27, 2016
Fortune smiled on Kotoshogiku during surprise run to Emperor's Cup
If, on Jan. 10, the first day of the 2016 Hatsu Basho, the 11,000 sell-out crowd at the Ryogoku Kokugikan had been asked who they thought would be standing atop the dohyo two weeks later to collect the Emperor’s Cup, few, if any, would have pointed to ozeki Kotoshogiku.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Jan 13, 2016
Views from Taipei: Should Taiwan declare full independence in the event of a DPP win?
People in the Taiwanese capital speak their minds about whether the island should consider declaring full independence from China in the event of a victory by the Beijing-wary opposition in upcoming elections.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices
Jan 6, 2016
Views from Saitama students: What are your post-graduation hopes and dreams?
Sakurako Misaka, 19Ideally, I want to be rich when I graduate from university, and I would also like to live in London.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Dec 29, 2015
After Hakuho exceeded all expectations, can Mitakeumi or Homarenishiki become the next superstar?
When former ozeki Tochiazuma was presented with the Emperor's Cup on Jan. 22, 2006, few in the sport could have predicted that Tochiazuma's third and final championship victory would be the last to be awarded to a Japan-born rikishi for the next decade.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 2, 2015
Views from Tokyo: Would you like to retire in Japan?
How do people out and about in Tokyo feel about living out their twilight years on this archipelago?
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 25, 2015
Kitanoumi’s death overshadows Harumafuji’s triumph
On Sunday, when yokozuna Harumafuji was presented with the Emperor's Cup for the seventh time, the world of sumo was still reeling from the news that Sumo Association Chairman Kitanoumi had died 48 hours earlier from complications related to rectal cancer aged only 62.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Oct 27, 2015
Kakuryu needs titles to elevate place in sumo's pecking order
If for nothing else, the upcoming Kyushu Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka's Kokusai Center may well be remembered as the tourney in which Mongolian yokozuna Kakuryu was finally able to call himself the "best of the best" — at least for one basho.
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Oct 14, 2015
Views from Tokyo: Have you felt Japan shifting to the right recently under Abe?
With the media reporting breathlessly that Japan is lurching to the right under the Shinzo Abe government, have people out and about in Tokyo sensed a rightward tilt?
Nippon Steel alleges undue White House influence on doomed deal review
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the economy at the Brookings Institution in Washington on Dec. 10.
Record 78% of people in Japan feel anxious, government survey finds
The public opinion survey on people's lives, conducted by the Cabinet Office, found that 28.1% of respondents think that their standard of living is at a lower-middle level among the general public — the highest percentage to give that response in 35 years.
Police raided suspect's home to arrest him after fatal Kitakyushu stabbing
Broken window glass is seen at Masanori Hirabaru's house in Kitakyushu's Kokuraminami Ward.
Taiwan lawmakers brawl over bills that would 'damage democracy'
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party and opposition party Kuomintang brawl in parliament in Taipei on Friday.
Mother hopes for reunion with daughter ensnared by Tokyo host clubs
The Kabukicho district in Tokyo, where the daughter of a woman in her 60s fell deeply into the host club culture.
Casual workouts, cool living, ‘complete’ food: Japan’s health trends of 2024
In 2024, efficiency trumped effort among Japan's fitness-focused aspirants.
The mighty Mekong River's growing plastic problem
A group of elephant keepers in Chiang Saen, Thailand, remove plastic waste from the Ruak River, a tributary of the Mekong River, as a pair of Asian elephants bathe behind them.
Japanese officials inspect Yokota Air Base over PFAS concerns
The Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo in September 2019. An inspection of the base by Japanese government officials on Friday came amid public pressure to investigate suspected links between the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam by the U.S. base and contamination of soil and groundwater in western Tokyo.
Crime numbers rise in Japan for second straight year
A police officer stands in front of the residence of a man alleged to have stabbed two junior high school students in Kitakyushu.
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Yasuyuki Yoshida stirs a brew in a fermentation tank at his brewery in Hakusan.
The quake that shook Noto's sake brewing tradition
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world
mission sustainability vol.12 : Kose Corp.Kose takes pride in creating beauty in the world

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER