NHK Sumo Blackout

[Mulboyne]

AFP: Japan's NHK won't air sumo meet over mob scandals
Japan's NHK network said Tuesday it won't air an upcoming sumo tournament because of scandals linked to yakuza crime groups, the first time it has scrapped the broadcast in more than 50 years. Scores of wrestlers in the ancient sport, who are expected to act as role models in Japan, have been involved in illegal gambling on baseball games and other sports, long a source of cash for Japanese mobsters. Top members of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate have also been given ringside seats at recent sumo tournaments, apparently to send a silent message to jailed gangsters because NHK broadcasts are shown in prisons. The government-run Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) -- which has televised sumo tournaments since 1953 and broadcast them on the radio since 1928 -- has been angered by the latest scandal to hit sumo. "NHK chairman announces Nagoya tournament will not be broadcast," the station said in a breaking news flash after chairman Shigeo Fukuchi made the announcement at a press conference. Rather than broadcast the fights live, it will show only results and highlights, Fukuchi said, adding that viewers' complaints had rained in over sumo's "once-in-a-century crisis". "This is a very significant and regrettable issue," he said. "We have received very severe opinions from our viewers every day"...more...

[IkemenTommy]

It's alright. I still refuse to pay for NHK's subscription fee.

[Tobacco Taro]

FFS ... If NHK stopped showing everything that had a connection to the yaks they would have a very slim schedule indeed ...

[Yokohammer]

But ... this is just another annoying example of institutional hypocrisy. Anyone with any connection to the world of sumo couldn't possibly ignore the fact that this type of thing has been going on forever. And yet when something smelly floats to the surface everyone hops on their moral high horse and feigns outrage while pointing fingers everywhere but at themselves.

The wrestlers knew it, the stable masters knew it, the koenkai knew it, the sumo association knew it (they're all former wrestlers, after all), and NHK bloody well knew it too. So now they fire one scapegoat wrestler and stable master and suspend a handful of others. NHK not airing the tournament will do some serious financial damage, which will be the greatest penalty of all.

But will it solve the problem? I kinda doubt it. It'll probably drive it further underground though.

Fortunately, it's going to be really hard to blame this one on the foreigners. For quite a while now there's been sort of an undercurrent of grumbling that all the foreign wrestlers were contributing to the decline of Japan's pure Yamato-spirited national sport. Admittedly some foreign wrestlers have provided some justification for that view. But not this time.

[dimwit]

The problem when it comes right down to the roots of it is, that sumo has a multiple personality disorder. Is it a sport or is it a national tradition? If it is a sport than you can not have the massive amount of government interference in it.

[Mike Oxlong]

Doesn't the government interference include status as a non-profit org, making all monies collected tax free?

[dimwit]

Doesn't the government interference include status as a non-profit org, making all monies collected tax free?

And that is the root of the problem. Subsidizing professional sports is a really, really stupid thing to do. Rather than allowing sumo to be subject to commerical pressures they get government oversight, which in fact means no oversight until the shit hits the fan.

But honestly, I am just as happy if they fucked the pretense of it being sport and look at it as a fun spectacle. Screw the six tournaments a year, or better still move them around occasionally. Personnally, I would like to see the big boys out here.

[Samurai_Jerk]

How can a scum-bag organization like NHK even pretend to take the moral high ground?

[FG Lurker]

How can a scum-bag organization like NHK even pretend to take the moral high ground?

Agreed 100%.

Beyond that though, the whole attitude about gambling here is really bizarre. Gambling = illegal* but pachinko** on every corner = a-ok! Of course none of that pachinko non-gambling-gambling money ends up funding the yaks or gets funneled to Krazy Kim's House of Kommunism, aka North Korea...

I have no problem with gambling, it's just the system here that is ridiculous. Color me surprised.

* Except of course those types of gambling that aren't illegal, like horses, bikes, and gov't run lotteries...

** Yes, I understand the loopholes pachinko uses to avoid being classified as gambling. If the gov't is serious about cutting off funding for yaks and NK though they should shut down the industry.

[Samurai_Jerk]

** Yes, I understand the loopholes pachinko uses to avoid being classified as gambling. If the gov't is serious about cutting off funding for yaks and NK though they should shut down the industry.

Let's not forget the money that all these assholes drop at hostess clubs. Who the fuck do they think owns those places?

[IkemenTommy]

Agreed 100%.

Beyond that though, the whole attitude about gambling here is really bizarre. Gambling = illegal* but pachinko** on every corner = a-ok! Of course none of that pachinko non-gambling-gambling money ends up funding the yaks or gets funneled to Krazy Kim's House of Kommunism, aka North Korea...

I have no problem with gambling, it's just the system here that is ridiculous. Color me surprised.

* Except of course those types of gambling that aren't illegal, like horses, bikes, and gov't run lotteries...

** Yes, I understand the loopholes pachinko uses to avoid being classified as gambling. If the gov't is serious about cutting off funding for yaks and NK though they should shut down the industry.

The only thing different about pachinko and other "organized" gambling is that the portion of the earning is taxable and thus it generates national stimulus. Granted, even though there is yakz involvement behind them, they will not go away.

[Samurai_Jerk]

As FGL pointed out you have pachinko, horse racing, bike racing, and takarakuji in Japan. Not to mention shit loads of illegal majong gambling going on. I understand the authorities have to do something if a law is broken. However, I find it ridiculous that the Japanese are so scandalized by this. What a bunch of fucking hypocrits. When the story first broke I wasn't really paying attention and thought it was a Pete Rose kind of thing which is fucked. Once I heard they were betting on baseball (OK, maybe it was like Pete Rose ) and not sumo, my reaction was so what? The funny thing is I've heard some of my coworkers in the office talking about how bad everyone in sumo is and somehow they link this to the fact that there aren't enough Japanese in the top ranks anymore.

[Yokohammer]

The funny thing is I've heard some of my coworkers in the office talking about how bad everyone in sumo is and somehow they link this to the fact that there aren't enough Japanese in the top ranks anymore.

Now there's a typically warped leap of self-vindicating logic!

As far as gambling goes, I had heard that most foreign wrestlers would rather send money home to their own countries than fritter it away on bets. A lot of these kids come from pretty poor backgrounds and understand the value of cash. Most of the people involved with the betting are locals ... but I suppose they've got to have a theory why the real problem is the foreigners, no matter how idiotic it is.

[Mike Oxlong]

I'm sure some folks have been around long enough to know about the Black Mist Scandal...

*not me, I just read it somewhere.

[IkemenTommy]

As FGL pointed out you have pachinko, horse racing, bike racing, and takarakuji in Japan. Not to mention shit loads of illegal majong gambling going on. I understand the authorities have to do something if a law is broken. However, I find it ridiculous that the Japanese are so scandalized by this. What a bunch of fucking hypocrits. When the story first broke I wasn't really paying attention and thought it was a Pete Rose kind of thing which is fucked. Once I heard they were betting on baseball (OK, maybe it was like Pete Rose ]so what?[/i] The funny thing is I've heard some of my coworkers in the office talking about how bad everyone in sumo is and somehow they link this to the fact that there aren't enough Japanese in the top ranks anymore.

When this story first broke out, I thought.. wow, wonderful.. we can finally go after the real source and the yakz but no.. the police and the prosecutors have turned their cheek and totally dismissed going one step further.

I am no Takechan and going to point out the obvious that there may be some police bribery going on (or not) but this is always the case with the police here.

Oh wait, as always they have set their priorities straight and are busy going after the big bad gaijin bike thieves and Roppongi drug smugglers.

[sublight]

I'm sure some folks have been around long enough to know about the Black Mist Scandal...

*not me, I just read it somewhere.

Watching this morning's Sunday Japon news/talk show, I noticed Dave Specter was wearing a baseball jersey for the Nishitetsu Lions, one of the first teams caught in the scandal. Deliberate?

p.s. I'd never heard of Black Mist until reading that link. Thanks!

[Mike Oxlong]