sumo-related TV: Matta nashi!

[David Luke <luke@in-system.com>]

Yesterday I was listening to Moritaka Chisato's "Rock Alive" album,
which contains the song "Watashi ga obasan ni natte mo".  It reminded
me of a TV show that I don't recall ever coming up on the ML before
in discussions of sumo-related shows...

During the fall season of 1992 there was a "dorama" on TV in Japan
called "Matta nashi!".  It starred Saito Yuki as a newlywed okamisan
in a small sumobeya, and used the above-mentioned Moritaka song as
its theme song.

I didn't see the whole series, and didn't know all that much about
sumo at the time.  So, I really don't know how well it portrays life
in a heya, but you might find it interesting.

I don't know if the series was released on video, but it was pretty
popular, I think, so there's a pretty good chance it was.  Yuki-chan
was at the top of her dorama-acting game, the theme song was very
popular (Moritaka was selected to sing it at the Kouhaku Utagassen
in 1992), and sumo was at about the peak of its popularity in the
decade, with Konishiki and Akebono at the top of the heap, and
Musashimaru and the Hanada boys coming on strong.

All these factors combined to help "Matta nashi!" do pretty well
ratings-wise, so there's probably a good chance that there are
videos of it floating around somewhere.

--
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David Luke                            Beware of the lollipop of mediocrity.
luke@in-system.com                    Lick it once and you suck forever.
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