I’m going to miss Asashoryu, too. I remember going to see sumo when he was still a “tiny” young ozeki.
My Canadian female friend hits the Roppongi hiphop clubs with him sometimes. He’s got a thing for blondes, apparently!

Seriously, this is the feeling of a number of non-Japanese sumo fans. Not all, obviously, but a lot. I don’t know of any other rikishi that had been so hounded in the press, and I have been followibng sumo for a LOT of years - and I mean a LOT. I’ve also traveled with them on exhibitions outside of Japan and saw how the press would, for the most part, shoo away foreigners from photo ops - unless it suited their purposes. Even while whatching sumo at the formal venues in Japan, one can hear (if one understands Japanese) the derisive remarks about the foreign rikishi, but not as much as against the Mongolians.

Finally, Billy, I’m sorry if you think it’s a Bad-ass comment. Perhaps you sould express your own views rather than toss mine away with a two-word comment - three, if you count the hyphened word as two.