Takamizakura

Harumafuji doesn't lend itself to easy crowd-chanting/shouting at the TV ;-)

Plus it'll hopefully mean no drastic change to this design:

Good stuff! :-)

I hope they are considering this option, at the very least to keep my Ama-related puns & wish for Ama Pajamas alive & well.

My condolences to people who've been bilked by Clyde. I'm familiar with the situation of financially helping out a small magazine, only to never get the money back and never getting an apology or explanation (the editor basically disappeared). It could be that Clyde lacks the organization to manage subscriptions, or worse, just using subscription money to pay off debts to printers, distributors, and advertisers. If anyone's in mind to get Clyde off the air as a means of retribution, would writing a letter to NHK sumo director be useful at all? My cynical side would think that NHK would be indifferent to foreign broadcast gossip...

Jonosuke, Thanks for all your translating and collecting all the honbasho quotes & gossip. If there was a way to subscribe to a Honbasho Talk RSS feed, I would! Looking forward to more of your good work next year B-)

I just watched Ama's fight against Wakanosato, and it's left me really impressed & happy but confused. Can someone explain to me how Ama changed his momentum so quickly before he pushed out Wakanosato? It looked to me like Wakanosato's weight was preventing Ama from moving forward, but Ama's grip changed a couple of times and out went Wakanosato. Apart from the that and a mini-twist I couldn't get how Ama managed to change direction so quickly.

That brings up another question: what happens to General Admission ticket-holders when they attend a day that's sold out? Are they still allowed in the arena & box areas to look for unoccupied seats? The more I read these threads, the more it reminds me of Wimbledon!

Thanks to everyone for their tips about ticket-buying strategies. I didn't realise there were 2-person Masu A/B seats until I read this thread 'cuz they're not listed on the KK's site. I hope that from reading this and the Hatsu 2008 thread I'll be armed with some useful bits for getting tickets for Hatsu 2009. Problem is, I'm in the UK and the thought of sending a friend in Tokyo (who's not *really* into sumo) to queue overnight at KK in December probably amounts to a human rights violation. Last time she went with us to a tournament, she got some cheap seats at Lawson but I'd like to get Masu seats for Hatsu 2009 as we're there for the duration of the basho. If I ask my friend to queue at the KK and she hangs up on me, would ordering through Ticket Pia be the next best bet? Also, can you get tickets from chaya "cold," or do you have to be a supporter, etc.? (sorry for drifting to off-topic land, but I mainly wanted to say thanks for the Aki info)

Those guys are fast!

Consider me fooled (and relieved), you cheeky monkeys! (Shaking head...) It has been a bad day for me, so it's nice to kind of end it with a smile. (Laughing...)

Crap. I just got a reply from JSTV that they won't show it. (Shaking head...) Any chance of a kind soul recording this?

Could someone help me ID the guys in this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o61eenvMW7E I'm pretty sure the one on the far left is Kirinowaka, and I think Hakuba is next to him. Can't ID the other two guys on the right who seem to be enjoying themselves. :) I've only started watching PythagoraSwitch, so I can't tell if this is a one-off. I do remember watching another NHK children's show, 日本語であそぼ (Fun with Japanese), where they had a very large man who I assume is a Hawaiian/Samoan ex-rikishi wearing a colourful foam all-body costume bouncing around with kids. Whenever sumo features in children's shows it's always a treat.

If it is not a wind-up, this is so incredibly stupid I don't even know how to begin venting against it.

Sweet! :D How about getting members of the YDC as future guests? Maybe too scary for children?

You got me on the Konishiki bit. For some reason I thought he would've been in his 50s by now, and physically unable to be keeping up with kids on a TV show. But that's pretty cool, despite him dressing up as what looks like a sea mine. Wikipedia indicates that he's taking a break doing TV work.

Thanks for the IDs everyone! (Showing respect...)

Sorry for delay in uploading the SS interview--either my computer/ISP/Youtube hates me. It's up now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHyUZgVu7AU As for NHK keeping a watchful eye over Youtube uploads, a lot do slip through. I've had Hakuho's Aki 2007 interview on my page without it getting yanked. I wonder if having no Japanese text in my keywords & descriptions are a factor to this. Also, Hiro Morita said on Monday's News Today 30 Minutes that, "Yokozuna: Life at the Top" will be aired on 31 March, 19:30 JST. This is slightly confusing because I don't know which NHK channel he's referring to, and NHK World Premium still hasn't added this show to its schedule.

I'll upload Asashoryu's Sunday Sports interview later today. Too early in the morning to figure out how to spell that in katakana for a Youtube search.

Baruto-Futeno

I also worried about how expensive & what a hassle it would be to get JSTV. But I hardly watched channels on my Sky satellite package and it was a waste of money. Most of the UK TV channels now offer on-demand viewing and the bittorrent scene is healthy, and most channels I watch are available on free-to-air/Freeview receivers. And now that Eurosport have online streams, there's nothing I'm missing from my old Sky bundle... I also pick up lots of Eurosport/MTV feeds from other European & Middle Eastern countries from the same dish for free. You don't need a gigantic dish to get the Hotbird channels in Israel; 80-90cm will do and should cost less than

I've noticed a trailer on NHK World Premium today for a documentary about Hakuho & Asashoryu called "Yokozuna: Life at the Top." The trailer said it will be broadcast on 4th & 7th of April, but I didn't write down the airtimes. There's no mention of it on the NHK World site (yet?), but Hiro Morita alluded to have interviewed Ryu for this doc on his Haru 2008 preview on News Today 30 Minutes.

Not quite; do you know about JSTV (http://www.jstv.co.uk)? Although it's based in the UK, it lists the Tel Aviv Hilton as one of the hotels that receive it so the signal should be available to Israel as well as most of Europe (if I've assumed correctly that's where you are). I've subscribed to it for over a year now and it covers my Sumo/cultural cravings. And you can choose to have English-language feeds for sumo. Highly recommended.

My bad. Maybe the JSA are hoping the recent Mongolian surge is transient and they won't have to think about a non-Japan basho (In a state of confusion...) IMO it'd be like considering hosting the MLB World Series in Japan, heaven forbid!

Well, it would make a lot more sense then hosting a basho in LA...