Chankonabe

[finley@ntttsd.onlab.ntt.JP (Marion R Finley)]

Dear Fellow Sumo-Enthusiasts:

	As another newcomer to this forum, I too would like to express
my appreciation to all of you who have written in about this fascinating
martial art as well as the very human reporting by a member of his daily
life situation in the Kobe area. While all my personal friends and
acquaitances in the Hanshin earthquake area escaped with their lives -
many losing their homes, however - the same is not true for some of my
laboratory associates here at NTT who lost family members to the quake, in
one case due to the lack of medical help: the only hospital they could reach
had its only physician badly wounded himself and unable to treat patients
and a wall of flames blocked their access to the only other hospital
available in their immediate region.

	Special appreciation goes to Masumi Abe for detailed reports and
other information.

	As Canadians accustomed to the rigours of a much harsher winter
than the one here in the Kantou area, my wife and I still have the desire
sometimes for heavier, winter-proofing food, so we too would like to have
information about recipes for chankonabe.

	Have any among you acquired, at reasonable prices, any of Lynn
Matsuoka's Sumo prints. What is your opinion of them in general?

	Another quick question concerning the relative strengths of
football players versus the rikishi of sumo: has anyone even conducted
any systematic set of scientific tests, testing all aspects of their
performance and perhaps averaging it over players in both groups? As of
now, it seems that all one hears or reads is hearsay and opinion, which,
while interesting, are perhaps not really conclusive.

	Finally, about the internationalization of Grand Sumo, is this not
similar perhaps to what has happened to Shotokan of Chitoryu karate also
rooted in Japan, or some styles of Gong Fu and of Chinese medince, rooted
in China, in that they are in a way gifts from their mother countries to the
world? Therefore, while preserving their native identity they necessarily
imply international involvement. Is this not the natural progression of
things in these waning years of the millenium?


			With best regards,
		
				Marion
				finley@ntttsd.ntt.jp
	
			Guest Researcher
			NTT Optical Network Systems Laboratories
			Yokosuka, Japan
			E-mail: finley@ntttsd.ntt.jp