Sumo on French TV

[Olivier Steiner <olivier.steiner@dmxqm.epfl.ch>]

                      Subject:                              Time:  12:54
  OFFICE MEMO         Sumo on French TV                     Date:  15.6.1995

Looking at a French channel (TV5) last week, I just saw a short broadcasting
about sumo during the evening news. It was related to the sumo exhibition
that will take place in October and to the visit of several sumotori in Paris
(included Takanonami). I found it interesting to see how sumo is seen by
French journalists and photographers... As it may be of some interest for you
I tried to translate what has been said into English.  Unfortunately it is
only a text and I can't show you the very nice pictures they took, which were
really well related to the text.

Olivier.

SUMOTORI, STARS IN PARIS (THE WEIGHT OF SUMO AND THE SHOCK OF THE PICTURES)

You can hear them coming from far away  (sound of "geta"), the sumotori in
Paris. Tradition travels with them, it is 1500 years old and they are its
heirs. A tradition mixing legend, religion and sport. The Sumotori fascinate,
their look intrigues. In Japan they are stars, used to posing like
top-models. (Comments of a photographer of the "Elle" magazine) "It differs a
lot from female top-models. If I am not polite, a shove and I end up in the
hospital for eight days. You see what I mean... So, we calm down. They are
really beautiful. I was looking at a close-up in profile, it's superb, it's
like a statue! The people surrounding them are very afraid we could ridicule
them but in fact it's another kind of beauty, it differs from Claudia
Schiffer, that's all!"
Yes, but Claudia Schiffer eats less, because they eat so much it's taken for
granted that they make for better entertainment than houseguests!
Around the table they weigh 120, 130, 165 kilos and some as much as 270
kilos. You could think they are nice and harmless pachyderms? What a mistake!
These wrestlers practice the 70 fundamental fighting techniques everyday.
They are 900 professionals in Japan and their schools are extremely severe,
making them very great sportsmen with great flexibility. So inevitably, when
they travel they relax a little bit.
(Takanonami says)"French women are so beautiful that when I walk in the
street I don't know where to look at"
Sumo raises your spirit, makes your heart serene, helps to find a pacified
joy and maybe even makes it easier to smooth talk on the Champs-Elysees!