NO live broadcast of Nagoya basho

[Asashosakari]

I think they made a big mistake, and it IS a big deal. They will pay for it, I don't know how and when, but I'll be here to remind you...

FWIW, I already spotted a few hesitant attempts at pushing the "doesn't NHK know what they're doing to all the retirees for whom watching sumo fosters a sense of community?!" notion last weekend, prior to NHK's cancellation decision. I expect to see more of that once the inevitable blowback begins.

And then there are the guys with the speaker vans...

[ilovesumo]

After a mamber of SMAP danced naked in the middle of night in a park, their regular weekly program, one of the most highly rated shows, was put on hold. See these things happen and sumo is no exception.

Sorry but this person had no whatsoever impact on the Japanese National Sport No broadcast means the little boy from Hokkaido cannot watch it, cannot become interested in it, enter a Heya and become the future Yokozuna as his parents likely won't visit the Kokugikan with him.... Big impact!

Very big impact! The reason why the number of rikishi rose after the broadcast started is obvious - Sumo reached far more people in far more places. If this stops - big Problem and they must know that....

Wrote to them with the opinion file. Those who cannot type Japanese cannot use it - I get errors if the field with the Katakana-name doesn't contain katakana.

Maybe some of us can use skype or so and call em.

Edited July 6, 2010 by ilovesumo

[nonews]

so nhk has decided to side with the few on this forum like petareno and screw the common person who they are supposed to serve. the old time managers trying to save face? they have no face to save when they make decisions bassed on what a minority of viewers think. and I would guess most of the so called viewers don't watch the tv broadcasts anyway.

those who think not shoqwing sumo will fix anything kinda come across as nhk managers and japanese polititions. they have no mind of their own and when faced with a percieved problem they stick their heads in the sand and hope it will go away. mindless idiotic jerks.

[Peterao]

And then there are the guys with the speaker vans...

Great. They can transition from "don't show 'The Cove'!" to "Show the sumo!"

You must be proud to be siding with those guys!

[Kintamayama]

Point taken. But would you be willing to say the same thing to shumitto for doing the same to me?

May I ask how many of your 13 years were in the Heisei era? Japan is changing, sir. Just as sumo needs to do.

I am not a moderator here so I don't think it appropriate for me to discuss stuff that doesn't involve me getting offended.. As for my years in Japan, I was there between 1954 -1967-from 8 months old to 13-my formative years-most of my friends were Japanese and I felt more Japanese than anything else most of the time. Since then, I have been involved with Japanese people constantly and am up to date with the changes. I also go to Japan every two years or so for two weeks and sometimes get sent there to try and evaluate business opportunities for major companies here, trying to use my understanding of the Japanese "way" to help. I succeed once in a while. I do get what you and Joe are trying to say, I just don't agree with you as to the role of "moral regulator" that a TV station decided it can take. Other than that, as I have stated at least twice today, I agree with most of what you are saying. I just don't see how not broadcasting sumo will bring about reform in sumo. I just see fans (who did not participate in that "poll" for whatever reason), who have nothing to do with all this, getting directly in the line of fire. Now, if the Education Ministry would have forced the Kyokai to cancel Nagoya in order to clean up the stables, that would have been a totally different thing. I would have been equally annoyed, but would have GOT it, as it is within their "jurisdiction".

[Asashosakari]

You must be proud to be siding with those guys!

Pride is an emotion more suited to adherents of the righteous faith of Nosumo.

[Peterao]

Sorry but this person had no whatsoever impact on the Japanese National Sport No broadcast means the little boy from Hokkaido cannot watch it, cannot become interested in it, enter a Heya and become the future Yokozuna as his parents likely won't visit the Kokugikan with him.... Big impact!

If you were a mother, would _you_ want your son to take an interest in a world where deadly hazings and massive gangster involvement are known to take place?

Maybe you could also buy him a few AVs and see if he takes a shine to becoming a porn star...

[ilovesumo]

And then there are the guys with the speaker vans...

Great. They can transition from "don't show 'The Cove'!" to "Show the sumo!"

You must be proud to be siding with those guys!

Come on, you should get the sarcasm.

[Peterao]

Point taken. But would you be willing to say the same thing to shumitto for doing the same to me?

May I ask how many of your 13 years were in the Heisei era? Japan is changing, sir. Just as sumo needs to do.

I am not a moderator here so I don't think it appropriate for me to discuss stuff that doesn't involve me getting offended..

I withdraw my comment. That was a very Japanese response.

Really, it was the Ministry's job to put a stop to this. But the government is even less responsive to the people than NHK, and they always choose the path of least resistance rather than make the potentially unpopular but necessary decisions to deal with a crisis.

An NHK blackout was literally the last weapon strong enough to get the NSK to realize that their traditional strategy of stalling and scapegoating is not acceptable.

I don't like that things have come to this either. But I am thinking of the long term beyond Nagoya Basho and, to me, this is the lesser of two evils.

[Asashosakari]

An NHK blackout was literally the last weapon strong enough to get the NSK to realize that their traditional strategy of stalling and scapegoating is not acceptable.

So what are you going to do if it doesn't result in any material changes?

(And please - only Gorilla Monsoon got to misuse "literally" like that.)

[Peterao]

And then there are the guys with the speaker vans...

Great. They can transition from "don't show 'The Cove'!" to "Show the sumo!"

You must be proud to be siding with those guys!

Come on, you should get the sarcasm.

I thought that was irony!

[Peterao]

An NHK blackout was literally the last weapon strong enough to get the NSK to realize that their traditional strategy of stalling and scapegoating is not acceptable.

So what are you going to do if it doesn't result in any material changes?

(And please - only Gorilla Monsoon got to misuse "literally" like that.)

I don't have all of the potential contingencies of life mapped out in advance.

(and don't make me come over there and drop you on your external occiperal protusion!)

[Asashosakari]

I don't have all of the potential contingencies of life mapped out in advance.

That doesn't seem to jibe with your belief that NHK is the last line of defense. How do you know if you haven't thought past that stage?

[Peterao]

I don't have all of the potential contingencies of life mapped out in advance.

That doesn't seem to jibe with your belief that NHK is the last line of defense. How do you know if you haven't thought past that stage?

Because it is the only thing I can think of that hasn't either been shot down already (ie, ministry involvement) or has already happened (ie, declining attendance, declining enrollment, declining advertising) to make the Kyokai change their fundamental way of thinking.

[Asashosakari]

their fundamental way of thinking.

What exactly do you mean by that? Or, perhaps as a shorthand answer: During which historical period did Ozumo best represent the values you want them to adhere to?

[Peterao]

I will need some time, and perhaps a new topic, to articulate my thoughts on that.

[sekihiryu]

In the dictionary of proverbs, idioms and cliches, they will be able to use this case of NHK v NSK as a textbook example of cut off your nose to spite your face

[Peterao]

Actually, I do know my next immediate course of action: boycott McDonald's, and let them know that I will not patronize their restaurant until they rescind their pledge to continue with kensho advertising.

[nonews]

In the dictionary of proverbs, idioms and cliches, they will be able to use this case of NHK v NSK as a textbook example of cut off your nose to spite your face

would this same hue and cry occur if it had been baseball players caught betting on sumo? would nhk have stopped showing baseball games live? nothing would have happened. people would have said so what? they aren't betting on their own game so who cares.

[Jonosuke]

An NHK blackout was literally the last weapon strong enough to get the NSK to realize that their traditional strategy of stalling and scapegoating is not acceptable.

I am not sure you are serious about this but obviously it was not the intention of NHK to do so, they simply listened to the average men and women and decided it was not their best interest to cover it. And remember it wasn't only NHK that is pulling out from the basho as all yobidashi sponsors are gone as well as Coke and All Japan Agricultural Grower Association, almost the backbone of Ozumo, more conservative and shall I say down to earth folks who value traditions and customs of things Japanese.

The main problem with the Kyokai is they tend to rely heya oyakata too heavily and some oyakata cannot manage things by all their own. This is one reason we should cut down on the number of heya. One oyakata heya must be abolished as it's too much for one man to coach and develop young rikishi as well as go recruiting new rikishi, meeting with sponsors, doing Kyokai duty. Onomatsu is one of the nicest guys around but he has never even known what was going on in his heya.

The Kyokai promised to act on reforms for umpteen times after their special committee sessions but so far they have come up no concrete steps to address all issues. It's not enough to establish a committee by outsiders after pressed repeatedly by Ministry of Education and Science. Have the executives proposed any measures to rid of illegal gambling by rikishi and oyakata,? Have they come up some ideas to have their rikishi disassociate themselves from yakuza members? So far they have come up with nothing except their resolve to hold the Nagoya Basho and have offending rikishi and oyakata stay away from the venue.

Whether it is NHK or Nagatani-En, corporate sponsors and organizations need to hear firm responses from the Kyokai on how to rid themselves from yakzua relationships and to prevent further occurrences before they can resume their relationship again. Isn't it so unreasonable to ask?

[Peterao]

In the dictionary of proverbs, idioms and cliches, they will be able to use this case of NHK v NSK as a textbook example of cut off your nose to spite your face

would this same hue and cry occur if it had been baseball players caught betting on sumo? would nhk have stopped showing baseball games live? nothing would have happened. people would have said so what? they aren't betting on their own game so who cares.

Japanese baseball had its own gambling scandal 40 years ago that almost killed the league. ANY gambling by a baseball player would not be tolerated.

[Jonosuke]

Sorry but this person had no whatsoever impact on the Japanese National Sport No broadcast means the little boy from Hokkaido cannot watch it, cannot become interested in it, enter a Heya and become the future Yokozuna as his parents likely won't visit the Kokugikan with him.... Big impact!

Very big impact! The reason why the number of rikishi rose after the broadcast started is obvious - Sumo reached far more people in far more places. If this stops - big Problem and they must know that....

I was talking about TV programs, their SMAPXSMAP on Fuji recorded over 30% ratings more than several times and was reaching a whole lotta people. Their Kohaku temperance on NHK had an momentary rating of around 45%. The popularity of group did not make one iota as after Kusanagi was arrested, Fuji stopped it for a month until his "return". They do have impact outside Japan too as they were scheduled to appear at the Shaghai Expo earlier this year but the organizers were getting so concerned of crowd control that they canceled it. When did Ozumo had their tournament canceled due to such reason (and not even speaking for phantom London Jungyo)?

If there are so many little boys clamoring to watch it in Hokkaido, there will be more enterprising sponsors wanting to bring a jungyo there but as far as I know there aren't that many demand. The last time the Kyokai went there, they even paid for one themselves. The demographic of sumo viewer tells us the main bulk, some say as much as 80% are over 50 years old. Not even 5% of kids are regular sumo watchers while more than 30% watch baseball and 20% watch J-League.

NHK has been airing sumo for something like over 50 years and every year less and less kids join Ozumo so it cannot be lack of TV coverage that kids don't go into sumo. The big problem isn't TV coverage, it is the way Ozumo operates and its image.

[Gusoyama]

I will need some time, and perhaps a new topic, to articulate my thoughts on that.

The problem with putting people up on pedestals is that they eventually fall off. It may not have been documented, but I'm guessing most eras had their own issues, and I'm also guessing that gang involvement has been around for quite some time.

[jakking]

As NHK will still be covering the basho (otherwise there would be no material for the digest shows), perhaps they could still beam it to JapanTV so that we here in North America and Europe can watch it. After all, we apparently don't have the cultural context to be upset by what's going on and can just sit back and enjoy our favourite sport.

[Peterao]

As NHK will still be covering the basho (otherwise there would be no material for the digest shows), perhaps they could still beam it to JapanTV so that we here in North America and Europe can watch it. After all, we apparently don't have the cultural context to be upset by what's going on and can just sit back and enjoy our favourite sport.

Give the folks at JapanTV a call, and let us know how that works out for you.

The full schedule has been released by NHK. Weekday broadcasts (9) will be from 6:30 to 6:52. Weekend and holiday broadcasts (6) will be from 6:10 to a soft end time of 6:40 (meaning there could be a slight overrun)

This means that we will see approximately (((22 * 9) + (30 * 6)) / 60) + ? = about 6 hours and 30 minutes of total coverage for the entire Nagoya Basho.

The radio results show will run daily from 6:05 to 6:10. It will be the first time in 82 years that live sumo will not be broadcast on the radio.