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Article: Heavy hitters; The Japan Sumo Association.(Japan's sumo scandals)(sumo wrestlers arrested for killing sumo trainee)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 16, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Scandal rocks the national sport
HIS meaty hands cupped his face, shielding it from cameras in the back of a police car. Masanori Fujii was one of three wrestlers and a former trainer arrested on February 7th for killing a 17-year-old sumo trainee in June. The body of the young recruit, Takashi Saito, was riddled with cigarette burns, bruises from baseball-bat blows and the scar from a beer bottle smashed against his forehead. His right ear was torn off. Initially, his trainer, or "stablemaster", denied hitting Mr Saito, who had several times tried to run away from the stable. The police ascribed the death to "natural causes" and the powerful Japan Sumo ...