This is Bill Tsutsui with another Postcard from Asia from the Center for East Asian Studies.

A typical sumo bout lasts, oh, about 10 seconds. That’s roughly how long it takes one mountain of a man to push another one out of the designated circle. And so you have to ask yourself how is there even time to fix a match? But that’s the accusation sumo fans are leveling at Asashoryu, bad boy defending champion of Japan’s national sport. Asashoryu has already been criticized for being rude – he pulled another wrestler’s topknot! – and foreign – he's Mongolian – but this accusation is the foulest of all. A reporter alleges that Asashoryu paid his opponents $6500 to throw the fights. The Japanese Sumo Association denies it, but there is some suggestion that the association itself might be involved. That’s pretty heavy. Pun intended.

With thanks to Randi Hacker for this text, from the Center for East Asian Studies, I’m Bill Tsutsui. Wish you were here.