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.

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.

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

The way things are going here in Beijing, you won’t be able to order “Sexually Immature Chicken” at your favorite restaurant very much longer. Sexually Immature Chicken is the kind of mangled English translation for “pullet” that will soon fall victim to Beijing’s pre-Olympics self improvement campaign which is waging war on inaccurate translations such as this one. Signs all around the capital are being vetted and edited and corrected to eliminate national embarrassment when the tourists flock to the city for the Summer Games in 2008. It’s the end of an era and all we can say is, “Waiter! Bring me another serving of Sexually Immature Chicken while it’s still on the menu!”

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

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

What’s the longest running film series in world history? Charlie Chan – no. James Bond – no. It’s not even Godzilla. Try the Tora-san films, which totaled a whopping 48 features between 1969 and 1996. The franchise centers on its bumbling hero Tora-san, an itinerant salesman from Tokyo with a happy-go-lucky attitude much at odds with Japan’s straight-laced society. Tora-san is something of a Homer Simpson Japanese-style: he is never a success, never wears stylish clothes, and never gets the girl. In a nation obsessed with achievement and prestige, Tora-san is a cherished cinematic reminder that a warm heart might just be the most important thing in life after all.

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

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

South Korea has added another dimension to its reputation as the most wired country in the world. Instead of referring to hi-tech communication, however, this refers to hi-wire competition. The world’s first high-wire championships were held here in Seoul and drew competitors from nine countries. The 1.2 inch thick wire was strung across the Han River into which at least two competitors plunged. The representative of South Korea recorded a time that was more than 6 minutes slower than the winning time of just over 11 minutes logged by a Chinese wire walker. In communications, the world has gone from wired to wireless. It is hoped, at least by the faint of heart, that we will never see a high-wireless championship…even in South Korea.

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

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

Visitors to China experience culture shock when they see people hawkin’ and spittin’ everywhere from main streets to Buddhist temples. You see, spitting is considered good for the health. Well, it may be good for the health of the spitter but it certainly is not good for the health of the economy, especially now that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are within spittin’ distance, so to speak. And so, a citywide campaign known as the Green Woodpecker Project has sprung up. Volunteers stalk spitters with tissues and vidcams encouraging them to change their ways. Spitting action shots can be found on a website, presumably to gross people out enough to quit. Wait until youtube gets a hold of this…

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

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

You got your A Train. You got your Chattanooga Choo Choo. You got your Hogwarts Express. And now you got your Reunification Railroad. For the first time in 56 years, trains crossed the border between North and South Korea and it is being hailed as an important step on the road to reconciliation. Five cars long, the trains traveled 27 kilometers—one going north, the other going south—carrying passengers from both countries. Whether North Korea will allow regular train service across the border remains unknown, but at least one major marketing problem has been tackled already: No riders will be blown to bits if the train should be up and running: North Korea cleared land mines in order for the tracks to be laid.

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

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

After you’ve spent, say, two weeks in China, the thing you appreciate most about Japan is the bathrooms. From heated seats to auto-flush to automatic deodorizers to a warm air bottom-drying system that eliminates the need for toilet tissue, the Japanese toilet does what it can to make the bathroom experience sublime. Of course, when things go wrong with such a sophisticated system, things go very wrong. Still, the last thing you expect in a toilet is a fire. But this is just what happened to about 30 toilets in the Toto Z series, forcing a recall of 180,000 units. Happily, no one was seated on any of the units when the fires broke out. Okay. I know. You could still call it a “hot seat.”

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

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

File this under “Statistics to the Rescue”. Economy or ecology? Ecology or economy? Tough choice. Especially for China which is barreling recklessly ahead in its quest to become top consumer nation. A recent release from the Chinese government states that the country has a plan that calls for “controlling greenhouse emissions” without imposing “mandatory caps” that might interfere with the country’s meteoric economic trajectory. China has now surpassed the US as the world’s top producer of CO2 emissions, but the Chinese government insists that statistically this doesn’t matter because the per capita output is still lower than the United States. Using one environmental catastrophe to justify another. And they call Washington’s PR guys masters of spin!

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

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

Arthritic jaw? Recent wisdom tooth extraction? The universe saying “It is time”? Whatever. All we know is that Japan’s six year domination of Nathan’s Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating contest at Coney Island came to an end this year. For the first time since 2001 the mustard yellow belt went to someone other than Takeru Kobayashi, the reigning king of wiener chugging. Eschewing the delicate table manners that define Japanese etiquette, Kobayashi crammed 63 hot dogs with buns into his mouth. Alas, this fell short of the 66 gulped by Californian Joey Chestnut. It only took three franks for Kobayashi to fall from überdog to underdog…well, there’s always 2008.

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