Word: sumo
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Rumors about sumo fixing have been around almost as long as the sport. Four years ago, a tabloid magazine in Japan ran a series of articles alleging yakuza (Japanese mafia) ties and match rigging. Making the claims then were two ex-wrestlers, who died suddenly within 15 hours of each other in the same Nagoya hospital and of the same respiratory ailment. Sumo is indeed filled with mystery. Itai is aware of the fate of previous whistle-blowers. One of the deceased wrestlers was his stable master...
Itai, 43, left the ring in 1991 but has stepped back into the sumo spotlight with charges that much of the flesh-to-flesh combat is mere show. In his day, he told TIME, 80% of the matches were fixed, with winner and loser worked out beforehand in the dressing rooms. "Match fixing was kind of matter-of-fact among the wrestlers," says Itai, a jocular, baby-faced giant. "None of us felt any guilt...
...wonder Japan was filled with rumors last week that after going public with his allegations, Itai was in hiding, fearing that gangsters with sumo ties had put out a contract on his life. "I'm not afraid! I'm not hiding!" Itai protested. The Japan Sumo Association, Vatican-like in its secrecy, and with a hammerlock hold on the sport, has always denied charges of match fixing. (It refused interview requests from TIME last week.) But Itai isn't going down lightly. He has produced tapes he surreptitiously made during sumo meetings in 1989 and 1991. They suggest that, contrary...
...tapes, given to TIME, a voice identified as that of one of Japan's highest-ranking sumo officials says, "Match rigging is a rationale to skip training and daily practice and sacrifices the fundamental nature of sumo. And when this is out in the public, it will threaten the existence of the Japan Sumo Association." Later the official directly addresses the wrestlers: "You wrestlers have a look on your face that says, 'What's the problem? This has been around for a long time.' But at some point, we need to put an end to this." Itai's allegations...
...computer itself. It finally allows me to stow that plastic stylus and type like a man. In fact, I pecked out most of this column on the 6:24 Long Island Rail Road train home, easily balancing Palm and keyboard in my lap. And I only occasionally elbowed the sumo wrestler squished in next...