Tributes have been paid in Japan to Akebono, the first foreign wrestler to reach the pinnacle of the sport of sumo, who has died aged 54.
The wrestler, who was born Chad Rowan in Hawaii, is regarded as a pioneer after he broke down cultural barriers in the centuries-old sport to become the first non-Japanese yokozuna grand champion in 1993.
He won 11 major sumo tournaments, which are held six times a year, before retiring in 2001 and turning to K-1 and professional wrestling. He was runner-up at 13 other tournaments, despite being plagued by injury.
Photo: Reuters
Japanese media said the wrestler, who took the name Taro Akebono when he became a Japanese citizen in 1996, had died of heart failure this month, citing a statement by the US Forces in Japan.
TRIBUTES PAID TO THE WRESTLER
Rahm Emanuel, the US ambassador to Japan, said he was “deeply saddened” by the news.
Photo: AFP
He said in a post on X that the wrestler, who was 203cm tall and weighed 233kg at his heaviest, was “a giant in the world of sumo, a proud Hawaiian and a bridge between the US and Japan.”
When Akebono became the first-ever foreign-born grand champion he opened the door for other foreign wrestlers to find success in the sport, Emanuel said.
“Throughout his 35 years in Japan, Akebono strengthened the cultural ties between the US and his adopted homeland by uniting us all through sport. I send my sincerest condolences to his family and friends and to sumo fans everywhere,” he said.
Akebono, who was a familiar face on Japanese TV, entered the sumo world in 1988, becoming the 64th yokozuna at the New Year tournament in Tokyo in January 1993. He became a stable master after retiring as a wrestler in 2001.
One of the heaviest and tallest rikishi, or wrestlers, in the sport’s history, Akebono and his fellow Hawaiian behemoth, the 287kg Konishiki, paved the way for a steady stream of foreign wrestlers, including five yokozuna from Mongolia.
Many sumo fans will remember Akebono for his fierce 1990s rivalry with the popular Japanese brothers and members of the sumo aristocracy, Takanohana and Wakanohana, both of whom went on to become grand champions.
Akebono is survived by his wife, daughter and two sons.
June 23 to June 29 After capturing the walled city of Hsinchu on June 22, 1895, the Japanese hoped to quickly push south and seize control of Taiwan’s entire west coast — but their advance was stalled for more than a month. Not only did local Hakka fighters continue to cause them headaches, resistance forces even attempted to retake the city three times. “We had planned to occupy Anping (Tainan) and Takao (Kaohsiung) as soon as possible, but ever since we took Hsinchu, nearby bandits proclaiming to be ‘righteous people’ (義民) have been destroying train tracks and electrical cables, and gathering in villages
Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week’s air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former US intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world’s deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend
The wide-screen spectacle of Formula One gets a gleaming, rip-roaring workout in Joseph Kosinski’s F1, a fine-tuned machine of a movie that, in its most riveting racing scenes, approaches a kind of high-speed splendor. Kosinski, who last endeavored to put moviegoers in the seat of a fighter jet in Top Gun: Maverick, has moved to the open cockpits of Formula One with much the same affection, if not outright need, for speed. A lot of the same team is back. Jerry Bruckheimer produces. Ehren Kruger, a co-writer on Maverick, takes sole credit here. Hans Zimmer, a co-composer previously, supplies the thumping
Dr. Y. Tony Yang, Associate Dean of Health Policy and Population Science at George Washington University, argued last week in a piece for the Taipei Times about former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) leading a student delegation to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that, “The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world” (“Ma’s Visit, DPP’s Blind Spot,” June 18, page 8). Yang contends that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has a blind spot: “By treating any