[sumo] China Jungyo

[Greg Lund <jac@powerup.com.au>]

 Moti <sumo@dichne.com> wrote:

> Apparently the PR before the Koen was poor and not many knew about the
> tour, but since arriving, the guys are making considerable media waves.

Funny how it is always like that.  For us "true believers" it is hard 
to imagine, but even in sports-mad Australia, we struggled to sell 
seats or generate any real publicity prior to the '97 visit.   Right 
up till two days before the first event in Melbourne, more than half 
the seats there were unsold, and Sydney was looking like a potential 
disaster.  Plans were formed hastily behind the scenes to go out in 
fleets of taxis and hand out tickets to the local Japanese community 
via lists provided by the Japanese Consulate General, to groups of 
school kids, and a whole lot of other target groups, just to get 
"bums on seats" - as we say in Oz - to ensure no embarrassment when 
the TV pictures went back to Japan.  The old "man-in onrei" 
imperative was very strong!!

Then, they arrived in Melbourne, and began appearing in public - 
doing nothing more than walking down the streets of Melbourne, 
visiting schools, department stores and so on, and within just a 
couple of hours, suddenly - even before any real local post-arrival 
publicity appeared,  the ticket agency switchboards started to light 
up, and within 24 hours every seat in the house was sold for both 
performances.  That was more than 16,000 people each night in the 
Melbourne Tennis Centre - still the world record (I believe) for sumo 
audiences in or out of Japan (and only possible because the tennis 
centre venue was perfect for sumo too, and everyone had a good view). 
Radio and TV stations had to broadcast messages asking people to stop 
jamming the phone lines. People without tickets queued outside in the 
vain hope of cancellations . . . It was just amazing.  If they had 
been able to stay for two weeks, instead of just two nights, in 
Melbourne, it would have been full house every night.

And the flow-on effect in Sydney was just as dramatic.  The impact 
that 40 or so of the big guys in traditional gear - it was winter 
kimono and haori a lot of the time in wintry Melbourne  - was 
absolutely stunning.

So I for one can understand the Chinese situation. Hope those media 
waves Moti mentioned  translate to full houses for them there too.

Greg Lund
(currently in Hokkaido, with the last of the magical Ezo-Zakura still 
blooming in the garden)



--
Greg lund
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Tel:  (81+) 1456-5-6335
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[EndPost by Greg Lund <jac@powerup.com.au>]