John Gunning

Much and all as the thought of a mysterious disappearance and subsequent enjoying of various online theories amuses me, it’s probably best to follow up on that tweet in case anyone is concerned. It’s nothing to do with negativity online. I always enjoying chopping it up with people on social media or wherever. I don’t often get a lot of negative feedback but even when I do it never bothers me. In fact anyone doing what I do should be happy to get criticism and hear contrary views. Apart from keeping your feet on the ground it’s extremely valuable for both ensuring your arguments are sound and understanding how audiences are evolving. Regarding the sumo book. That was finished and with the publisher in spring of 2020. It was due to come out last month but Covid and shifting economics in the publishing industry has led to it being pushed back to 2022 or possibly even 2023. I’m considering a major rewrite and perhaps taking some offers from bigger publishers but we’ll see. Anyway I’ll try to get that out within the next 18 months. The projects I mentioned in the tweet (wasn’t talking about the book as that is basically finished) are extremely time consuming and require constant attention and focus. Mostly science related but there are a few sporting ones in there as well, including one or two (hopefully very impactful) sumo things. I’ll still be doing all my usual sumo stuff for Japan Times and NHK. I’m back from a two basho kyujo break on Grand Sumo Preview for July and once COVID is under control color commentators should be returning to the booth. Everything is good. I’ll miss the back and forth online for sure but it’s only a few years. In mid 2024 I’ll be done with those projects and back as normal.

As you might have noticed my column in JT has increased to weekly. I’ve got stuff I can write about but that level of regularity means there is an opportunity to do columns on pretty much anything sumo related. What do you want to see covered? I’m talking outside the obvious interviews with rikishi, basho previews etc. Are there parts of the sumo world you want to know more about? Stuff that doesn’t get covered much like the place that makes mawashi or historical sumo locations etc? I don’t have a strong preference myself so I’d rather write about things people are interested in. The big / current sumo stories will continue to be dealt with. This is more of an opportunity to throw some light on the lesser known parts. Thanks in advance.