Backdoor Slider

I'm a recent (last 6 years, with casual attention prior) sumo fan, and thus can't pretend to understand the underlying culture of the sport (ed.2. kokugi). But if sumo is as sacred to the Japanese as it is claimed to be, doesn't the hullabalo over the *mostly* *hopefully* innocent gambling of individuals all come back to yaocho? I say this as an American who follows baseball very closely (and I apologize to those who have no interest; you should probably skip this next part of my post. I'll put a "..." where you can pick it up again if you wish). I believe Barry Bonds should and hopefully will be in the Hall of Fame, despite being more or less the O.J. of steroids. I also believe that Pete Rose should never, ever be considered for reinstatement in the league, let alone induction into the Hall of Fame. People will say that cheating is cheating, but betting on the game no matter what the case (and I realize he admitted a lot, slowly, in the last couple decades that he seems to think is going to brighten people's opinions about him - Oh, he's being honest now! - but only makes him seem like more of an opportunist) poses a threat to the integrity of the game, whether real or imagined. ... (Pick up again now non-baseball fans, if you wish) Baseball is baseball. Sumo is sumo. Baseball is the national pastime. Sumo is the Kokugi. The are certainly not parallel, and I understand that nobody involved in sumo has been accused of betting on sumo. But my point of cognitive similarity is thus: Gambling = Possibly associating with organized crime = Extraneal monetary considerations/possible extortion = possibility of yaocho = threat to the integrity of the kokugi. Others have said this in other words (I think), but I'm just trying to justify why this is becoming such a huge deal. I'm sure there are plenty of factors involved but this is my best attempt at relating to it personally. Sorry for the wordy (second, I think) post. Twice sorry for all the parentheticals (It's all I know[!]) P.S. Go Brewers ed. Sorry, I'm a bad speler 2nd ed. To avoid off-topic criticism, though it's probably coming...

Just noticed this. It reminds me of one of the few things I DON'T miss about living in Japan, so I'll make my first post to get it (somewhat) back on topic. Though I didn't personally witness the behaviour in question, it's obvious from the description that this woman has a genuine passion for sumo, something I think everyone on this board shares. As for her drive to call attention to herself, I can think of three reasons (there certainly may be others): 1. She has an overly enthusiastic personality. People of this type can be identified by their seemingly endless supply of energy, accompanied by texts/emails that contain way too many smiley faces (Holiday feeling...) (Yusho winner...) , hearts <3, and exclamation marks!!! 2. She enjoys the drink and the drink provides her with positive energy. This type of person can be identified by smell and by texts/emails, usually sent after 9pm, that require advanced decoding skills to render intelligible. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have been known to shout at sumo and fall squarely into this category. A long day of sumo and beer is a wonderful buildup of tense energy. You get there in the morning to a quiet, empty arena, seemingly able to hear a duck fart from the general admission seats. At first you are content to sit quitely and make marks on your program, using your reference book to look up the unknown teenager who catches your eye. But it happens every time - as the day goes by and the fans slowly shuffle into the gym the energy slowly builds; the sumo is getting faster, stonger, louder as the shikiri grow longer, causing each individual torikumi to become more of a buildup and release - you pay less and less attention to your program and become fixated on the dohyo. Juryo comes and goes, the "maninonrei" banners unfurl, and then you finally see The Man. At this point, it takes a stronger man than I to not get caught up in the electric atmosphere. And once the seal is broken, there is not a favorite rikishi who will not hear my voice.) The above types have been touched upon in the thread, and though some people may find them obnoxious they are completely harmless, generally good people. The third type, however, is to be avoided at all costs and chastised when unavoidable. These are the people that suffer from a social or personality disorder (or combination thereof) that manifest themselves in what has been called the "My Japan" or "Alpha Gaijin" syndromes, especially prevalent among those who pursue "Japanese" hobbies. Their actions serve two purposes: First, the must prove to the native Japanese around them that they "belong", that they are not some naive, fresh-off-the-boat foreigner looking to take pretty pictures of Japanese novelties. They are threatened by the presence of other foreigners and need to demonstate not only that they are not "with them", they in fact despise them. They serve notice that they are not to be underestimated nor brushed aside as "just another foreigner". Secondly, they need to assert their dominance over these other foreigners and clearly display their position at the top of the gaijin totem pole in their respective hobby/interest. Approaching them will be perceived as a challenge, and any discussion about said hobby inevitably becomes a contest in which they will take pains to put on display just how much more obscure knowledge they possess, how much longer they have pursued said interest, how many more "important" people they know (or, rather, how many important people know them), and so on until you prostrate yourself before their undeniable superiority. (For those of you who haven't spent enough time in Japan to have had the pleasure of meeting these types, awhile back in my lurking there was a poster here who clearly stood out with obvious symptoms of The Syndrome. I thought he was just a troll at first but judging from people's reactions he seemed to be a real person. There may have been more like him, but I'm sure the person I'm talking about will be obvious to anybody who read this board a few years ago.) Anyway, sorry for the long post. It's the first Haru-basho I've missed in years and it's been tougher than I expected.