Sasanishiki 57 Posted April 2, 2020 Hi SF members, It's been a long time since I was last here - back some time in 2010 by the looks of things. I can see from a couple of threads that there are many old faces here (at least by the shikona), which is great. I fist joined in 2004 and became a Moderator here, primarily based on my interest in and knowledge of amateur sumo in Japan and around the world. I had a brief career as an amateur sumo athlete, probably from 2007-2011, with the highlight of representing my country and region at the sumo competition of the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I think I last competed in 2014, at the Oceania Sumo Championships. I completed a PhD thesis on the international spread of amateur sumo in 2009, with final completion and conferment of my doctorate in 2010. I'd already started working full time, had a young daughter, and very little time to commit to Sumo Forum or even sumo at all. Without the luxury of being able to have SF open on my computer all the time at work, like I did when I was at university, my ability to post and maintain a presence here fell away and I dropped off into inactivity. I wasn't able to easily keep up with the news basho after basho, and my links with amateur sumo became sporadic. Recently, I've been reinvigorated by John Gunning, and with my country (New Zealand) currently in a lockdown due to COVID-19 and that I only work part-time at the moment, I decided to venture in again. I look forward to getting back up to speed with what's been happening in the past decade, much of which I'll be completely ignorant about. Please forgive any naïve comments or old stories that I write. Yoroshiku, Howard 13 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RabidJohn 1,274 Posted April 3, 2020 Welcome back. 14 hours ago, Sasanishiki said: I look forward to getting back up to speed with what's been happening in the past decade, much of which I'll be completely ignorant about. In a nutshell, 5 years of Hakuho winning almost everything and 5 years of Hakuho not winning everything, plus 2 Mongolian yokozuna being forced to retire and 2 Mongolian yokozuna not being forced to retire. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kintamayama 41,316 Posted April 5, 2020 (edited) Welcome back. I was just asking about you a few weeks back.. Edited April 5, 2020 by Kintamayama Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kashunowaka 269 Posted April 5, 2020 Antipodal greetings from another member who's been away for a long time and recently returned to the forum. Welcome back @Sasanishiki! 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sasanishiki 57 Posted April 5, 2020 2 hours ago, Kintamayama said: Welcome back. I was just asking about you a few weeks back.. I must’ve felt my ears burning, then. No, actually it was reason some of John Gunning’s stuff that helped pique my curiosity. Also a bit more time on my hands now my country is on lockdown. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Yangnomazuma 59 Posted April 7, 2020 Apparently, you can go banzuke-gai on Sumoforum and return with tsuna intact! :) 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hakutorizakura 464 Posted April 7, 2020 3 hours ago, Yangnomazuma said: Apparently, you can go banzuke-gai on Sumoforum and return with tsuna intact! :) No YDC here, it seems Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fujisan 500 Posted April 24, 2020 Welcome back Sasanishiki. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Swami 244 Posted May 17, 2020 Hearty salutations from the Swami! Swami Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
