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April 15, 2025
 

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John Gunning
Takayasu during the one-day Annual Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on Feb 9, 2020
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Apr 9, 2025
Takayasu’s latest heartbreak makes sumo history
The former ozeki now has more second-place finishes without winning a championship than any other wrestler.
Onosato (left) receives the Emperor's Cup from Japan Sumo Association Chairman Hakkaku in Osaka on March 23.
SUMO
Apr 2, 2025
Sumo’s 'Big 12' are an eclectic group
Only a dozen rikishi now active have lifted the Emperor’s Cup on the final day of a tournament.
Onosato celebrates after winning the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka on Sunday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 25, 2025
Ozeki Onosato on doorstep of yokozuna promotion after latest title
The Nishonoseki stable star was the class of the field once again in Kansai.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw takes part in a sumo demonstration in Tokyo on Friday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 19, 2025
Japan’s twin obsessions meet as MLB visits sumo’s heartland
Sumo is often referred to as Japan’s national sport but it’s baseball that is the country’s one true obsession. This week, those two sports are intersecting in Tokyo.
Onosato (right) has eased to a 3-0 start in the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Mar 12, 2025
Sumo in March comes in like a lion
It’s been a rocky start to spring for sumo both in Japan and abroad.
Hoshoryu will make his debut at yokozuna during the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament, which begins in Osaka on Sunday.
SUMO
Mar 7, 2025
New yokozuna Hoshoryu and rising star Onosato enter Spring Basho as favorites
Hoshoryu already has a pair of titles to his name, and is coming off perhaps the most impressive eight-bout stretch of his career to date.
Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, on Jan. 26, the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Mar 5, 2025
Can sumo avoid becoming another soulless corporate sport?
Whether sumo also falls into the trap of creating greater separation between supporters and athletes remains to be seen.
Hoshoryu holds up the latest "banzuke" sumo ranking chart in Osaka on Tuesday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 26, 2025
Latest sumo ranking sheet has plenty to catch the eye
The release of every new "banzuke," or ranking list, signals the imminent arrival of the next official tournament — and the latest has some striking changes.
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 19, 2025
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
The ceremonies are complete, the celebrations are done, and now it’s time for Hoshoryu to get down to the daily task of leading Japan’s national sport.
Shishi (left) wrestles Tokihayate at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center on Nov. 10.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Feb 12, 2025
Could Ukraine be the next nation to produce a yokozuna?
The amateur powerhouse is starting to make its presence felt in professional sumo.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (left) describes a detail of a mawashi presented as a gift to French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace in 1999.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 5, 2025
No Paris Syndrome for Japan’s national sport
Despite an up and down history, sumo and France remain amorous.
Hoshoryu (front, second from left) celebrates after being promoted to yokozuna on Wednesday in Tokyo.
SUMO
Jan 29, 2025
Sumo’s newest yokozuna is all smiles — but major challenges await
For all the feel-good energy that has surrounded Hoshoryu the past few days, the Mongolian will need to take his sumo to another level if he is to last in the rank.
Hoshoryu dispatches Oho in a playoff to clinch the Emperor's Cup on the final day of the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament on Sunday in Tokyo.
SUMO / Basho reports
Jan 26, 2025
Hoshoryu overcomes rank-and-file wrestlers to put yokozuna promotion in sight
Despite the best efforts of Kinbozan and Oho, it was ozeki Hoshoryu that eventually emerged victorious in the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament.
Yokozuna Terunofuji enters the ring at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo earlier this month during what would be his final tournament.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 22, 2025
Terunofuji’s career was unique — and great
Most yokozuna are evaluated based on wins and Emperor's Cup titles. But Terunofuji's great career wasn't quantifiable by numbers alone.
Hoshoryu (right) defeats Kirishima on Sunday. Hoshoryu has the look of a contender in the early days of the year's first tournament.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 15, 2025
Wide-open field has the New Year Basho looking like anyone's tourney
There has still been enough shakiness among the top-rankers to preclude ruling out any kind of outcome in the year's first tournament.
Kotozakura is in position to fight his way to a promotion to yokozuna going into the New Year Basho.
SUMO
Jan 10, 2025
Stage set for action-packed New Year Basho with yokozuna promotion battle
Few years in recent sumo history have begun with a landscape of possibilities as wide as 2025.
Terunofuji performs during a ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Jan 8, 2025
Questions linger over Terunofuji's health ahead of year's first tournament
During the Yokozuna Deliberation Council's practice session on Monday, Terunofuji’s latent power, but also his physical decline, were on full display.
Chugo Saito at Isenoumi stable on Friday. Saito has joined his older brother, Seigo, at the stable.
SUMO / Inside Sumo
Dec 31, 2024
Sumo’s brotherhood gets latest inductee
Wakaikari’s younger sibling Chugo Saito is the first-ever high schooler to get a special dispensation.
A full house at Dolphins Arena takes in a bout featuring Takarafuji during the Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament in July.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Dec 25, 2024
New Nagoya arena won't ease sumo's ticket crunch
A shiny new arena in Nagoya will seat 17,000 but capacity won't be nearly that high for sumo, meaning there's no relief on the horizon for ticket-hungry fans.
National team great Michael Leitch participates in the Japan Rugby League One season-opening news conference on Dec. 9.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Dec 20, 2024
Japan Rugby League One plays leading role through tough days in Japanese rugby
At the JRLO’s official 2024-25 season kickoff press conference in Tokyo on Dec. 9, the mood could only be described as festive and upbeat.
A new tour of Tokyo’s most underground attraction
When you stare into the abyss at the bottom of the No. 3 shaft of the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, the abyss stares back.
China halts critical rare earth exports as trade war intensifies
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, in China's Jiangsu province, in October 2010.
'Chikan' incidents rise as Japan grapples with mental health and cultural challenges
Overcrowded trains and a lack of legal consequences for groping in Japan have led to a rise in "chikan," or groping, which has been linked to a mental condition and compounded by cultural stigmas.
Japan doesn’t plan to use U.S. Treasurys as tariff talk leverage
Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Itsunori Onodera speaks at LDP headquarters in Tokyo last October.
Osaka Expo throws open its doors as mega-event kicks off
People visit the Osaka Expo on the first day it opened to the public, in the city of Osaka on Sunday.
Japan’s population shrinks for the 14th consecutive year
Japan’s population has been falling year on year since 2011 after peaking in 2008.
A new tour of Tokyo’s most underground attraction
When you stare into the abyss at the bottom of the No. 3 shaft of the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, the abyss stares back.
Two-thirds of fourth to sixth graders in Japan use social media, survey finds
The survey showed that more children are starting to use social media at an earlier age.
Osaka Expo-bound? Take your pick of the city’s new luxury hotels.
The Four Seasons Hotel Osaka opened in 2024, just one of many new luxury accommodations the city boasts ahead of the 2025 World Expo.
Heaven from hells: The sulfuric pleasure of Unzen Onsen
While Unzen Onsen's "hells" can be visually striking, locals describe them and their effects as "a source of emotional healing."

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)
BOARDING & INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL DAY 2025 (Sunday, April 20)

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