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November 22, 2024
 

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Mark Buckton

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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
Jan 26, 2011
Hakuho on top again
Prediction correct from the pre-basho Sumo Scribblings in that Hakuho did indeed win the yusho. He did so yet again with a day to spare as his challengers gradually fell away during the second week. Maegashira and future sanyaku man Okinoumi (11-4) were the best of the chasing bunch, before being beaten...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 8, 2011
Hakuho the benchmark for Hatsu Basho
2011 is now upon us. The first tournament of the year — the Hatsu Basho — begins on Jan. 9 running for 15 days before the Emperor's Cup winner is decided on the 23rd.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Dec 29, 2010
Fan friendly sumo — a step in the right direction for the NSK
As 2010 draws to a close, the world of sumo is changing, little by little. Step by step.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Dec 4, 2010
A chance missed post Kyushu, 2010
Had any self-respecting sumo writer or fan been asked to predict the final score of ozeki Kaio prior to the Kyushu Basho, few would have predicted anything more than an 8-7 or perhaps 9-6 kachikoshi winning record.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 12, 2010
Ones to watch in Fukuoka, in the spotlight and in the shadows
Come Sunday, two rikishi participating in sumo's makunouchi division at the Kyushu Basho down in Fukuoka will attract much of the media spotlight, and interest from fans.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Oct 28, 2010
A decade of trouble draws to a close
The world of sumo has been through a rough few years, but as the first decade of the 21st century draws to a close, few serious fans would doubt that the future is looking brighter. Surely there is a silver lining in the dark clouds that have hovered above the sport since mid-2007.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 28, 2010
Nagoya's mixed bag of high fliers and ranking issues yet to come
Prior to the basho, it looked like Nagoya Basho 2010, would be remembered for just one thing: the gambling and the suspensions surrounding it. As the basho that saw a handful of top and second division rikishi suspended (and thus ending with 0-0-15 records), sumo at first appeared to be on a downward...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jul 7, 2010
Nagoya Basho 2010 — a tournament that will live in infamy
For two months sumo has been rocked to its core by evidence of illegal gambling on baseball games, involvement with the Japanese underworld, and more recently claims by the man on the street that those in positions of power within the sumo association did precious little to stop this.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jun 19, 2010
Why can't sumo ever seem to get a break?
Sumo is once again under attack in the domestic media — this time on the back of twin allegations. First of all, there's the one involving seniors in the sport, known as oyakata, rubbing shoulders with the Japanese underworld and supplying choice tickets to their contacts at times. The other scandal...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 25, 2010
Natsu Batsu signals changing times
Few sports fans in Japan will be unaware that yokozuna Hakuho recently walked away from the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan having claimed his 14th career Emperor's Cup with his 6th perfect 15-0 finish. 
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
May 5, 2010
Is ozeki Baruto the man to watch?
As is often the case when a sekiwake is promoted to ozeki, talk centers on him going just that little bit further in his career and making it all the way to yokozuna.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Apr 20, 2010
Sumo association between a rock and a place
Sumo has been around in organized form for over 250 years. As a sport in which the rankings and most of the promotion/demotion rules and regulations have remained unchanged, sumo has just turned 100.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 30, 2010
And then there were three (foreign ozeki, that is)
Depending on the exact timing decided upon by the Sumo Association, sometime this week, sekiwake Baruto of Onoe Beya will receive an official visit from members of the association to advise him of his promotion to the sport's second rank — that of ozeki.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Mar 3, 2010
Are surprises in store at Haru Basho?
With all eyes on the shenanigans surrounding Asashoryu in recent weeks, Hakuho’s elaborate wedding celebrations in various locations around the country, and a new nationality rule in sumo that essentially limits a stable to one foreign-born rikishi at a time (even if the rikishi does later change his...
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Feb 16, 2010
Where were the Japanese voices when the overseas fans declared Asa innocent?
In the last issue of Sumo Scribblings following the Hatsu Basho, mention was made of Asashoryu's self-destructive mindset in relation to the then recent allegations that he had up and punched somebody following a night on the beer in a plush neighborhood of Tokyo.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 26, 2010
Late-night frolics mar Asa's 25th yusho
Asashoryu Akinori, to call him by his full Japanese name, remains as divisive as ever in the world of Japanese sumo.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Jan 6, 2010
Hatsu 2010 — time to rise and shine for Koto, Kise and Go
With holiday decorations now back in the box and vacations ending for most people, the 700 men active in sumo are once again warming up the muscles, stretching the limbs and preparing for combat.
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Dec 23, 2009
One step at a time — sumo needs to change
As 2009 draws to a close, the sport of sumo can look back on a year largely free from scandal. Pleasing perhaps for many of the conservative elements in and around the sport, but 2010, could well prove the year in which relative young bloods in the ruling stablemaster elite take steps towards advancing...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Dec 1, 2009
Hakuho notches another, while Kaio once again raises eyebrows
With the presentation of the Emperor's Cup to yokozuna Hakuho on Sunday evening Nov. 29, the first decade of sumo in the 21st century came to a thundering close. Hakuho (15-0) had just dispatched fellow yokozuna Asashoryu with a wonderful uwatenage throwing technique to claim his 12th top-flight trophy...
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Nov 10, 2009
Will two of sumo's top dogs retire at Kyushu 2009?
Kyushu 2009 will, if for nothing else, be remembered as the tournament in which the old warhorse ozeki Kaio breaks former sekiwake Takamiyama's long-standing record of 97 basho in the sport's top flight. For Kaio — Kyushu will be number 98.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Russia fired experimental ballistic missile at Ukraine, Putin says
Ukrainian firefighters work on a spot following an airstrike in Dnipro on Thursday.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
The slow-burn success of ‘A Samurai in Time’
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda’s surprise hit “A Samurai in Time.”
Around a quarter of Japan married couples in their 20s met through dating apps
A survey released by an organization promoting “Good Couples Day” shows that 24% of couples in their 20s met their marriage partner through a dating app.
'Tokyo Swindlers': Get deep into the minds of real estate con artists
In Ko Shinjo's "Tokyo Swindlers," a group of con artists manipulates real estate giants into falsified deals within the highly competitive, quick market.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.

Podcast

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

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?
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