The Sumo Wrestling Crisis

“The dignity of sumo wrestling vanishing. Allegations of match-fixing, dope-smoking, orgies, and ties to gangsters among the sport’s top stars have enraged the Japanese public.” A professor of International Relations in Osaka, Japan says the Japanese mafia Yakuza has infiltrated the traditional sport: “Sumo, as a traditional spectacle, cannot survive without respectable patrons. But Japan’s wealthiest people, such as entrepreneurs, medical doctors, and lawyers, are nowadays less willing or financially able to continue patronizing the sport, particularly since the collapse of Japan’s asset bubble in the early 1990’s.”