Takanohana on the TV program osharekankei

[stuart@gol.com (Stuart Woodward)]

I forgot to post a message about this a few weeks ago but Takanohana
recently made an appearance on the Sunday night TV program
"Osharekankei" on Japanese TV.

The program is a 30 minute interview with someone who is "trendy" or
in the news. Typically they take a look into the purse or handbag of
the guest. If the guest is male, they will take one of the exclusively
female audience for a trip around the block in their car. And also
they read to the guest a sentimental letter from an old-friend, or
parent.

A few weeks ago Takanohana was the guest. One of the first questions
was related to when Wakanohana was the guest some time before. "What
does your wife call you?".

For Wakanohana it was "Ozeki", for Takanohana it is "Ko-chan"
(derivative of his first name) or "Papa" (since he is a daddy).

They asked what was his favourite treat? He said to go out for a drive
with his wife Keiko and their baby. She drives - he has never learnt-
and he carries the baby in the back. Where do they go? To the Drive-In
Kentucky Fried Chicken Shop! What is his favourite food? The Basil
sandwich.

They asked him, how did he propose to his wife. This is always a
difficult question or sensitive question in Japan as many men never
ask their girlfriends directly. After fishing around for a few minutes
the host got to this, "Let's become one...", to which the host then
quipped, "...and go down to the Kentucky".

When Takanohana was young, he wanted to be a soccer player. They
showed a film of him at Junior school playing dodge-ball with other
kids in the gym. It was frightening. He towered over the other kids
and the power he put into throwing the ball looked like it would kill
someone if the ball hit them. He was a giant at school and looked like
he would burst his little shorts and T-shirt.

How long is hair? Down to his chest.

The final scene was a mother who had requested for him to pick up her
twin 2-3 year old girls. The girls burst out crying when he tried to
pick them up, one in each hand. He almost dropped them when the
started twisting and squirming to get free...

The sentimental letter was from Wakanohana.



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              Stuart C. Woodward, Minami-Ku, Yokohama, JAPAN
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