Another affair

[Fay]

As a friend told me a drunken sumo wrestler from Tamanoui beya hit a taxi driver. The poor man has to stay 2 weeks at home it seems. The driver could escape and the sumo wrestler fled.

[Sokkenaiyama]

Could you please add some more details? Hit him how? With a beer bottle over the back of the head? With a car? With an extra card?

[Fay]

Could you please add some more details? Hit him how? With a beer bottle over the back of the head? With a car? With an extra card?

If I had i would (In a state of confusion...)

I'm sure it will be in the news soon.

[Bealzbob]

The poor man has to stay 2 weeks at home it seems.

Or at least stay at home as long as a good compensation payout requires.

[Jonosuke]

Is this an actual incident filed with the Police?

How would the driver know he was a Tamanoi Beya rikishi? Did he pick him up at the heya or drop him there or talk to him in the cab? By fleeing, did he pay a cab fare or what did actually take place during the fracas?

How did this friend come to this news? Was the person there actually witnessing the event or hearing from someoone else?

I am sorry to ask all these as I read on 2Ch all these unsubstantiated stories, hearsays and rumors all the time and I　have become more jaded.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Jonosuke

[Fay]

The rikishi was picked up at Tamanoui.

Just made a check at yahoo news and found an article, perhaps someone with more japanese skills than me could tell us more.

article

[Jonosuke]

The rikishi was picked up at Tamanoui.

Just made a check at yahoo news and found an article, perhaps someone with more japanese skills than me could tell us more.

article

Yeah, Fay, this does sound pretty bad.

I guess having Tochiazuma apologizing may have calmed the situation.

I will say the suspension is due for the rikishi in question.

[Otokonoyama]

Seems a rikishi took exception to a little probing questioning by a cabbie on the pot situation. Decided opening a can of whoop-ass was in order. While the man was still in the driver's seat... :-S

Edited September 8, 2008 by Otokonoyama

[Jonosuke]

The story:

According to those close to the taxi driver, around 11 PM on September 7, he picked up a rikishi at Tamanoi Beya and after a discussion turned to the current marijuana incident, the rikishi allegedly turned violent.

He told the driver, 50, "What's wrong with a rikishi smoking a pot?" and when the driver replied,"Mister, that's a bad thing, don't you think?"　

"Then the rikishi suddenly started getting violent and punching the driver from the rear seat. He started kicking and punching the driver. The driver has an injury requiring two weeks of treatment," a relative of the driver said. "You know 'Clothsline'? The rikishi started doing it to the driver side headrest, so many times. The driver thought he would be killed and ran to a police kiosk right away."

When the driver went back to his car, the rikishi was gone so he went back to the heya with police. Apparently the okamisan and Tochiazuma oyakata came out to offer an apology.

"It appears one of our young rikishi got drunk and started causing a disturbance. A police officer from a nearby police kiosk came by and told us that they were called in by a taxi driver. We heard their story and I have apologized to the police officers and taxi driver," Tochiazuma oyakata said.

"I didn't realize it would become such a big news. Right now we are making the rikishi stay in his heya. We told him not to leave the heya except for meals. He cannot go out now. He is showing a remorse and feellng badly.," the okaimisan said on September 8. The rikishi admitted causing a disturbance in the taxi but denying he ever hit the driver.

"I asked him whether he got drunk and hit the driver but he denied hitting him. Then I asked him if he hit the door and that he admitted doing," the okamisan added.

"Well you know he is kind of big so even when he started shaking in the cab, you know....The driver told us, 'I got scared so I went to the police.'. Anyway as far as I　know this was all that happened,"　Tochiazuma oyakata said.

The taxi driver is reportedly filing a claim of damage to the police on September 8.

[Harry]

This nightmare of "rikishi gone wild" needs to stop! What could be next???

[hidenohana]

The story:

According to those close to the taxi driver, around 11 PM on September 7, he picked up a rikishi at Tamanoi Beya and after a discussion turned to the current marijuana incident, the rikishi allegedly turned violent.

He told the driver, 50, "What's wrong with a rikishi smoking a pot?"

Fair enough! (Flying a plane...) (Showing respect...) ;-)

But beating up an unfortunate, when drunk... I take it that's a big deal everywhere-particularly for rikishi in Japan.

No?

[Kintamayama]

The inevitable-"OK, who is it??"

My guess- Shibuya.

[Fay]

No idea, my guess Karatsuumi.

I hope it isn't Takaazuma, but I think we already would know about another foreigner behaving bad.

[hidenohana]

The line up

I can't be the new new recruits can it?

http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tamanoi-beya/

[Asashosakari]

"I asked him whether he got drunk and hit the driver but he denied hitting him."

Could be technically true, I guess, if he was only hitting the seat and headrest, but I'd still classify that as assault, especially if it took place while driving.

Roid rage? (Oh shut my mouth...)

[Mark Buckton]

sad if true - and the only reason I say 'if' is not that it hasn't made the media yet, but also the part about the clothesline of the driver's side headrest and kicking / punching the driver.

This, as far as I know, is a physical impossibility regardless of size or body shape.

The driver's side headrest - and oftentimes the passenger side headrest - is always within a protective plastic 'wall' which shows prices / film ads and ads for various local companies with flyers to take - etc.

A spate of stabbings with a couple committed by US servicefolk led to this over the past few years and I use taxi's around 2/3 times a week. In the area near Tamanoi, almost all taxis are Hinomaru - and you very rarely see any other form,

There is a police box on the corner opposite the heya FWIW, but another odd aspect is the rikishi getting annoyed when picked up.

Usual routine - BACK (almost never front door unless the back seat is filled) door opens automatically, person gets in, states location, driver closes door and starts. Again - being in the back does not 'let' the rikishi hit the driver let alone kick him.

For the driver to then get the question out of his mouth about dope and for the rikishi to answer as is claimed would take a couple of hundred metres. This means he is not close to the heya. BUt - there are no other policeboxes / stations for at least 600m - 800m in any direction that are manned all the time (cuts!). The one that is closest is actually only accessed after a much longer detour by road or a short cut through a temple that closes its gates at 1800 - and knowing the taxi drivers near here (many have Okinawan accents and often don't know where they are going) ....... Also, if the taxi driver ran, is he really hurt? Going back to the box near the heya? Maybe but I have often been past and seen it unmanned.

And of course the question must be asked - if picked up at 11pm (2300) why? so very late? Where is he going? Could he actually be returning home - to another heya?

Tochiazuma alone lives out - lives a couple of Ks (and one train station away or two if you count Daishimae) so would he have been there when taxi and police returned - presumably around 2330 or so?

Too much confusion just now and too much obvious stretching of .............

Edited September 8, 2008 by Mark Buckton

[sekihiryu]

This, as far as I know, is a physical impossibility regardless of size or body shape.

The driver's side headrest - and oftentimes the passenger side headrest - is always within a protective plastic 'wall' which shows prices / film ads and ads for various local companies with flyers to take - etc.

well I don't know about Tokyo but in Kansai the 'protective plastic wall" is the most flimsy tiny useless joke of a thing.

a quick Google image search found me a great photo that sums up the futility of the shield.

this "ain't gonna stop anyone"

[Mark Buckton]

that pic has got to be very old - haven't seen them for years. Usually now across most of the back of the front 2 seats - very thick plastic now and you often can't see what the driver looks like if he has all the pics / price lists up.

[Mark Buckton]

No idea, my guess Karatsuumi.

I hope it isn't Takaazuma, but I think we already would know about another foreigner behaving bad.

it would be interesting to know where you came up with this. (Flying a plane...) Imagine he did nothing, but that he saw his name here?

[Kintamayama]

Toushinyama (34) from Sandanme. He went to a friend's house for some chanko and became "dead drunk", called a taxi, shouted, spat, and shook the driver's chair, causing him to hit his head. The driver went to a police box to complain, and returned to the heya with a policeman, where everyone apologized. Tamanoi Oyakata reported this to Isenoumi before the rijikai yesterday. "You should be watching your guys closely!", said Isenoumi. "I am really sorry this happened at a time like this and will make sure it doesn't happen again!", said Tochiazuma later.

[Orion]

that pic has got to be very old - haven't seen them for years. Usually now across most of the back of the front 2 seats - very thick plastic now and you often can't see what the driver looks like if he has all the pics / price lists up.

I take a taxi two or three times a month in central Tokyo and I have never seen a really thick plastic sheet at all. All the taxis I take have a very flimsy plastic sheet behind the driver as shown in the photo, and if there is anything in front of the passenger seat it is equally flimsy and seems intended only to carry advertising.

I have certainly read about the reinforced taxis, which may ply on dangerous routes, e.g. long-distance and late-night, where taxi-drivers are more likely to be attacked and robbed.

Orion

[Flohru]

"It appears one of our young rikishi got drunk and started causing a disturbance. A police officer from a nearby police kiosk came by and told us that they were called in by a taxi driver. We heard their story and I have apologized to the police officers and taxi driver," Tochiazuma oyakata said.

Toushinyama (34) from Sandanme.

Funny that the mentioned "young rikishi" is more than two years older than Tochiazuma oyakata himself...

But seriously doesn't the sentence "What's wrong with a rikishi smoking a pot?"out of the mouth of a senior rikishi (even if drunk) might indicate that smoking pot is more common in the Sumo World than just the misdoing of a few Russians?!

I wonder if Toshinyama will be tested...

[Kintamayama]

I wonder if Toshinyama will be tested...

He's toast. He'll "retire" in the coming days a la Kotokanyuu. He's a lower ranker AND old. Dispensable.

Edited September 9, 2008 by Kintamayama

[Peterao]

that pic has got to be very old - haven't seen them for years. Usually now across most of the back of the front 2 seats - very thick plastic now and you often can't see what the driver looks like if he has all the pics / price lists up.

Looks a lot like all the cabs I see in Kanagawa. Maybe Roppongi has all the specially reinforced taxis?

[Manekineko]

Funny that the mentioned "young rikishi" is more than two years older than Tochiazuma oyakata himself...

Maybe he said "junior rikishi", meaning non-sekitori?