Hanami & Sumo

It is the height of hanami, or Cherry-blossom-viewing season in Tokyo, and much of the news coverage as of late has been focused on the best hanami destinations and the foods associated with the tradition. Of course, because the Japanese love their sports, the cherry-blossom footage often ends up spliced with sports coverage. Though the Japanese team won the world league pennant this year, NHK (Japan National Broadcasting) has focused more on the spring sumo tournament. It seems that this being spring, most of the focus has been placed on the rivalry between the ozeki and the current yokozuna, or grand champion. He is a brutish Mongolian called by the name of Asashoryu. He is not very well liked because, as one who holds the highest rank in the very Japanese sport, he is not very Japanese. He is foremost an aggresive athlete, and occasionally breaks form because of it, he also refuses to become any more Japanese than he has to.

There seems to be a trend here. Japanese traditions are making way for new ones, not because anyone has imposed cultural modification from the top down, but because the more popular news story makes the front page, and the best wrestler wins the tournament.