sumojoann

The See's Candy shipment doesn't arrive til tomorrow (Friday)!! They send it by 2-Day Air.

Haha!! I knew what you meant! Besides living on Sumo Forum, do you still live in California (if you don't mind my asking)? Ordering See's online is easy. They charge only a flat shipping charge of $6.95 & they protect the candy from the heat (hopefully). They ship it 2-day air. Now internationally is another story. Several years ago, we had See's ship candy to friends in Japan and some of my relatives in New Zealand. The cost to ship ONE POUND was something like $50-$75USD (NOT INCLUDING THE CANDY!!). So that was a one-time thing.

Thank you, everyone, for your Happy Birthday wishes. My husband told me to order as much See's Candy online as I wanted and that would be his present to me. See's Candy is a California company and is my favorite American chocolate. It's never a good idea to give me carte blanche to order anything, much less chocolate. So I finished up the Haagen Dazs Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bar I was eating and ordered the following --- One pound EACH of Assorted Chocolates, Toffee-ettes, Awesome Dark Chocolate Walnut Bars, Dark Chocolate Raspberry Creams and a Custom Box of half Dark Chocolate Scotchmallows and half Milk Chocolate Almond Caramels. They will be shared with friends and family, of course! (Limit one piece! lol) This is not really expensive chocolate compared to some. It runs $25-$30USD/pound (about 24 pieces per box). See's has stores in some cities on the West Coast of the US. When there used to be a store here in Houston, Texas, they always gave each customer a free piece of chocolate. One time we discovered that See's had a store in Tokyo!!! It was in Harajuku (don't know if it's still there). They offered us a free chocolate but then proceeded to cut it in HALF while telling us that they sold their chocolate BY THE PIECE FOR THREE HUNDRED YEN (about $3.00 USD)!!!! When I was hoping to meet Hakuho in 2014, I almost brought over a one-pound box of See's from home to give to him as a gift. But I decided on a t-shirt instead since it was lighter to carry. Later I found out he has a sweet tooth so I regretted the t-shirt. Thank you for sharing your secret, Fujisan. What a nice story!

I believe you are correct.

In the scheme of things, age is all relative. I have found that to be the case. I will be 73 on October 12 and when I was young, I could never actually picture myself being so "old"! But when I finally made it to this age, I realized that being 6 feet above the grass is much better than the alternative! I hope, Fujisan, that you continue to have your enthusiasm for life. So even if the old bod falls apart, as long as you can look forward to the next basho, and maybe have other interests in life, and friendships, I think you'll reach those milestones. I hope so, anyway! I wish you many more Happy Birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Fujisan! And many more ..............

Jason just posted this on Youtube 14 hours ago. He is unboxing a new set of 2021 BBM sumo cards called "Heroes". It features ONLY retired rikishi.

The pic I asked about is still up. It's about halfway down on the right side of my screen. (A few of the pics you posted were posted twice. I think that might be the case here. The duplicate just needs to be removed). Thanks. Edit: The wrong pic is located sort of to the RIGHT of a pic of Hakuho wearing a red/black yukata shaking the hand of a woman who's wearing a black top and grey skirt. The pic I have just described is located on the LEFT side of the screen. The pic DIRECTLY to the LEFT of the wrong pic & DIRECTLY BELOW the Hakuho red/black yukata pic shows Hakuho in the ring with a Gyoji wearing a BLUE outfit. I hope this will help you find it.

What about this pic? Is that Hakuho front center? It doesn't quite look like him.

I've just spent the last hour closely examining these great photos. Thank you so much, Akinomaki!

I'm on SF several times a day & have had no problems. I have Mozilla Firefox but my browser is very old. Sorry to hear that y'all are having problems with it.

Hakuho's intai live interview will start at 3 PM JST Oct 1. Unfortunately, I can't watch it because my browser is out of date!

Does Hakuho really have a restaurant named Chanko Ho in the Ginza?? If so, this is the first I have heard of it.

Memories of Hakuho --------------- I was hoping to be able to get back to Japan again and to be able to watch Hakuho once more in person but it is not to be. I'll have to be content with my memories of the only basho I was able to attend -- Aki 2014 from Days 8 to 15. The most memorable bout was on Day 14 between Hakuho and Ichinojo, who was making his Makuuchi debut. Just before the bout started, I could feel the excitement in the air at the Kokugikan. I don't think any other bout generated as much tension. Because Ichinojo was making his debut, no one, including Hakuho, could foretell who would be the victor. Ichinojo was huge and looked menacing with his hair hanging down (it wasn't long enough for a topknot). As the bout started, the noise of the crowd rose to a fever pitch. It was so loud, I couldn't hear my husband or my friend trying to say something to me. The bout ended quickly with a magnificent throw by Hakuho. Incredibly, the noise in the Kokugikan increased. People were clapping, cheering, yelling, shouting and screaming. It was pandemonium and the atmosphere was electric! It was like nothing I've ever witnessed before. You never hear this on the live TV broadcast because it would be impossible to hear the announcers. It took about 5 minutes before the incredible roar died down. I'll never forget it....... Two days before this, on Day 12, I was lucky enough to be able to meet Hakuho at Miyagino Beya after having watched him train for about one hour. He spoke to about a dozen reporters and then I was introduced. I had learned some Mongolian phrases so I was able to trot those out. Amazingly, he understood me! I told him he was very handsome and he seemed quite embarrassed. I was told much later by a Mongolian man that commenting on someone elses looks is not something that is done in Mongolian culture. lol Despite my behavior, I was invited (not by Hakuho) to have lunch with Hakuho, his trainer, and our mutual friend, the one who introduced me. Just the four of us. We sat on the floor in the kitchen around a low table and ate chanko, sausage, natto and fresh peaches. Hakuho had a beer & offered me one. He was polite but rather reserved. I don't think he knew quite what to make of me, a 65-year-old American female sumo fanatic, with him as my favorite (at the time). He made polite conversation, asking me if I was traveling alone, where I was from, etc. When I told him that I was traveling with my husband, he asked why my husband had not come to meet him. OMG, I couldn't tell him the truth!!! My husband, though a casual sumo fan, didn't care about meeting Hakuho! He said he'd rather visit the Sword Museum. So my friend had to gently tell Hakuho that my husband was only a casual fan and wasn't able to come. Hakuho didn't understand and after the explanation was repeated, he still looked confused. I don't think he had ever heard of anyone who didn't want to meet him!! Soooo awkward! lol Hakuho sounded excited when I told him in Mongolian that I had brought him a gift, but when he saw it was only a t-shirt with his favorite word on it (DREAM), he looked disappointed and didn't even say, "Thank you", not even in Mongolian or Japanese!. It was probably a good thing, though, because I had bought a XXXXXXL, thinking he was a massive guy. He' was not really that big, especially in the chest area. To this day, I wished I had brought him a box of See's Candy, my favorite American chocolate. I found out later that he has quite a sweet tooth. (If any of you SF members ever want to try to see a training session or meet Hakuho at Miyagino Beya once he becomes an Oyakata, you might increase your chances of getting permission if you offer a big box of excellent-quality chocolate! (No guarantees, of course. Note: Don't try to buy See's Chocolate in Tokyo, though. At $3.00 FOR ONE PIECE!! [2014 price], that's ridiculous! In the US, a one-lb box is less than $20.00. I believe it's available only in stores in the western part of the US, and maybe at a kiosk at LAX (Airport in Los Angeles) or the International Airport in San Francisco, but it can be ordered online from Los Angeles, CA. And then you could put it in your checked luggage on your way to Japan --- AFTER Covid, of course ....... sigh ...... whenever that might be!). Hakuho has not been my favorite for quite a number of years, but at the time I met him, he was, and it was the highlight of our trip. Here is a video of my most memorable bout.

I think Murray was right about Kiribayama paying attention to Harumafuji's old moves. I'm inclined to believe that Kiribayama admires Harumafuji quite a lot or at least his techniques. Quite a while back, on Kiribayama's Instagram account, he had 3 photos of Harumafuji posted but none of Hakuho. (For whatever reason, he has since removed those photos).

Are they still able to enter Aki even if they are not on the Aki Banzuke? Is that how the "tsukedashi" arrangement works?

What about Katsuji (also spelled Katsudi) Matsumoto (1904-1986)? He was a shojo manga artist who was most famous for Kurukuru Kurumi-chan, which was serialized from 1938-1940 and again from 1949-1954. I could only find one good photo of him & he is younger than in the picture with the rikishi, but there certainly is a resemblance. If the sumo photo was taken in 1971, he would have been 67. Wikipedia described him as being "stylish" and in the sumo photo, he looks dashing in his 3-piece suit. (There is an animation director by the same name but they are 2 different people). http://katsudi.com/en/katsudi-matsumotos-life-and-the-era/

The thing that confused me when I was researching this is that Osamu Tezuka was born in 1928. If this photo was taken in 1971, he would have been only 43. The man in the photo is obviously much older. If Osaumi Trzuka was the "father of Japanese manga", and he was only 43 in 1971, then it would have to be someone who predated him. Who could that be?

Here is another photo of Ryuichi Yokoyama, this time in 1964. (He's in the center of the photo). He has a serious look on his face & looks older, a lot like the sumo picture. You can click on the photo to enlarge it. During this period in his life, he was a manga artist. His 2 assistants look a little young to be working. https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/manga-artist-ryuichi-yokoyama-instructs-his-assistants-at-news-photo/1203306328

I think the man in the picture with the rikishi might be Ryuichi Yokoyama (1909-2001), who was most famous as a cartoonist, best known for "Fuku Chan", which ran from 1938-1971. He worked in other media as well. Here is a photo on him in 1967, arriving at LAX (Los Angeles Int'l Airport) along with some other top Japanese cartoonists. He looks older in the sumo photo but it's possibly due to him scowling, the fluorescent lights and the lack of tinted glasses. You have to scroll down to see the group picture with him. Click on the picture to enlarge it. What do you think? https://beretandboina.blogspot.com/2010/02/another-japanese-cartoonist-ryuichi.html (See my next post for another photo of him).

This is just a WAG (Wild AZZ Guess) but could it be Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese filmmaker (1910-1998)? EDIT: I'm thinking it's not. In all the photos of Kurosawa, he's commonly wearing 2 types of hats, neither one being a beret. Also, the man in this photos looks quite a bit thinner and if it was taken around 1971, Kurosawa would have only been around 61. This man looks older.

LOL ........... That's right! That's why I included it in my post. Maybe the title of the thread should be changed to "Crazy & Ridiculous Predictions" or "Crazy, Ridiculous and Impossible Predictions".

These are fantastic pictures!! You did such a great job! I am looking forward to next week.

That's the first thing I thought of, too!

Takagenji introduces Shonanzakura to weed which they smoke throughout the podcast. They begin to talk slower and slower, meandering from subject to subject. After 4 hours, their listeners, what's left of them, tune out. Shonanzakura and Takagenji are oblivious because they have wandered off in search of munchies.