Nagoya Nears
Eric Blair
As Nagoya nears, EB gets a head start on the pack by focussing on points of interest, past and present surrounding sumo's hottest basho

Rikishi of Old
Joe Kuroda
The 42nd yokozuna Kagamisato falls under the JK microscope

Heya Peek
Barbara Ann Klein
Kokonoe-beya and the Chiyo Boys

SFM Interview
Mark Buckton
SFM's Ed-in-Chief interviews Estonian up and comer Baruto

Sumo 101
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM's Editor looks at all the twists and turns involved in the tsunauchi-shiki and adds a photo bonanza to boot

Photo Bonanza
See the Natsu
Basho and Kokonoe-beya photo bonanzas

Natsu Basho Summary
Lon Howard
Lon gives us his Natsu Basho summary, along with the henka sightings results

Lower Division Rikishi
Mikko Mattila
Mikko Mattila lets you know what is going on down below the curtain

Nagoya Ones to Watch
Mark Buckton
MB's mixed bag of things to look out for in Nagoya

Kimarite Focus
Mikko Mattila
Our man Mikko takes us on a tour of several defensive oriented kimarite

Amateur Angles
Howard Gilbert
The first of our regular column pieces on the amateur sumo scene from a man who knows more than most

Sumo Game
Bruce Rae
For a look at his very own: PTYW (Pick The Yusho Winners)

Sumo in Print
Barbara Ann Klein
SFM's Editor reviews the newly published biography of Akebono, Gaijin Yokozuna – but sees it as more than just a biography

Kokugi Connections
Todd Lambert
Check out Todd's bimonthly focus on 3 of the WWW's best sumo sites around

Fan Debate
Facilitator – Lon Howard
Sumo author Mina Hall and long long time fan Jim Bitgood discuss how to make sumo more entertaining – if such a concept is even necessary

SFM Cartoons
Benny Loh & Stephen Thompson		  
Sit back and enjoy the offerings of sumo's premier artists

Let’s Hear From You
What was it that
made you a sumo fan? James Vath in rural Japan lets us in on his gateway to the sport

Readers’ Letters
See what our readers had to say since we last went out

Sumo Quiz
The Quizmaster
Answer the Qs and win yourself next basho’s banzuke.

  Predictability prevails in Nagoya. Little more, nothing else.

We won't even get a break from the repetition when the imagination-deprived NHK camera crew pan around outside the basho venue (the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium). Guaranteed is a daily dose of those gold dolphinesque creature thingys perched atop Nagoya Castle; itself a drab 1959 concrete replica of the 1612 original flattened during WWII, and just a short walk from the basho-hosting Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. Guaranteed are comments on the aforementioned ‘thingys’ having been removed for last year's expo and then returned. In all likelihood some commentators will have researched these dates for the truly banal to jot down.
Imagination TV and radio types please! Please? And, of course GUARANTEED are comments from all who appear on air regarding the heat and humidity – ironic on the English version when you consider commentary comes from the air-conditioned studios in Tokyo and it does raise the question of exactly how many sumo fans in Japan are on the NHK debtors list for not coughing up the annual compulsory viewing fee?

No doubt other surprises and upsets in individual fights could be listed, and no doubt some will be scraped off the bottom of some literary or Internet barrel, but the point of my little anti-
Nagoya rant above, besides trying to save you money in case you had a visit planned outside basho season, is not that Nagoya doesn't provide some upsets – it is simply that it isn't
the ONLY place to provide such!

We never hear of Osaka oddities or, funny goings on in Fukuoka, do we? Tokyo has three tournaments each year and far more unexpected news comes out of the Kokugikan than will ever spring forth from the laptops and pens of those covering Nagoya, so, to those who claim it is a basho of upset, I repeat – uso, my friend, uso!

Note; no Nagoyans or dolphinesque thingys were harmed in the production of this article.

* for non-Japanese speakers – uso in this context means: ‘lie’ but can be used to express disbelief similar to ‘you're kidding’ or similar expressions of doubt.

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