Comments on: Taizo Sugimura: A Very Special Visionary

by: Garrett DeOrio

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 10:41:04 +0000

Andruw, moving the Fighters to Sapporo was a brilliant idea, proposed as a business idea and carried out as such. Could a Hokkaido basho be successful? Sure, I don’t see why not. Is it going to boost Hokkaido’s economy? No way. Furthermore, it’d have to be in Sapporo, which isn’t particularly hurting. Baseball teams also brand a town, raise it’s image. A sumo basho could do this, but it would be a lot more akin to a traveling show, which Sapporo already gets - the wrestlers travel up there and compete, it just doesn’t count. Most of all, though, it’s simply not a governmental issue. If Sugimura wants to do that, he should have tried to get into the sumo world, not run for the Diet.

As for going up through Sakhalin, then down through Primorskij to get to Vladivostok, again: What’s the point? Take a look at a map and you’ll see how little sense that would make as compared to flying or taking the ferry. The distance required to get from the population center of Hokkaido to Vladivostok would be greater than the total length of the home islands of Japan and the route would be absurdly indirect. It would be like driving from Tokyo to Fukuoka via Aomori. And after all of that, the result would be to go from a mid-sized to fairly large urban area to a small one, through hundreds and hundreds of miles of sparsely-populated nothingness. There’s no point.

So, yes, it is technically possible, but monumentally stupid. If it ever even started to happen, we could be guaranteed some choice TV appearances by Sugimura as he went on air to brag about all the sweet graft he was getting.

by: Ken Worsley

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 06:35:10 +0000

I agree about the Hokkaido Basho idea. I like it. I also don’t see why Tokyo gets the monopoly of having 3 of 6 tournaments a year. Even if one of the annual tournaments was on some sort of rotation basis, that could work since people might anticipate it a bit more. That said, I have no idea if sumo elders are interested in such a thing, nor if Hokkaido has the infrastructure to hold such an event.

As far as connecting Hokkaido to Sakhalin/Siberia goes…we’ve seen stunningly low usage on what was built connecting Tokyo to Chiba across the bay. Huge waste of money. I don’t see there being much demand to go to Siberia.

by: Andruw Jones

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 00:03:35 +0000

OK, maybe those aren’t the greatest ideas and aren’t what policy wonks like you guys want to see, but it looks like you laid out exactly how Taizo Sugimura’s ideas are possible.
I looked at the Trans-Global Highway proposal you linked to and it shows a tunnel from Hokkaido to Sakhalin, then a tunnel from Sakhalin to the mainland of Siberia. This looks possible as both tunnels would be shorter than the tunnel from Honshu to Hokkaido that is already being used. People could take a train from Hokkaido to Sakhalin to the mainland and connect with the Trans-Siberian Railroad after that.

Re: the sumo basho. Why not? Was it stupid to move the Fighters to Hokkaido? They’ve done well there. People might go to Hokkaido to watch the basho, which would bring money to the area.

by: Garrett DeOrio

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 12:12:55 +0000

Sapporo gets the sumo tour, which, granted, is not a basho, but courting an expensive event in a troubled sport with declining popularity strikes me as a foolish idea for helping an area with a declining population and financial problems. What Hokkaido needs are long-term growth ideas, creative ones. I get the feeling Sugimura wouldn’t know a grown-up creative idea if it walked up to him and introduced itself (much less a creative idea that helped other people.)

by: Kraig

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:17:42 +0000

I like the sumo tournament idea, though I don’t see how that would sway more than a few votes, and I don’t see how he’d be able to get it done. But Tokyo gets to hold 3 of the big bashos every year, and it would be great to see more held outside the capital.

With Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka covered, Sapporo and Okinawa stand out as good choices. Sumo’s going to have to do something different to appeal to more people.

by: Ken Worsley

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 09:33:07 +0000

There were definitely rumors of him running around behind his finance’s back, but I don’t remember any details aside from a weekly referring to her as Aさん at the time, which means nothing.

Why would anyone from Hokkaido care about either proposal? Then again, what proposals have other potential candidates laid out there? At least the kid is getting some attention, nuts as both ideas may be.

by: Walter

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 04:11:38 +0000

Isn’t this the same guy who blogged eating ramen with his girlfriend while engaged to a different woman?
Low points for morality and even lower points for intelligence. People in Chiba would have to be thrilled if he moved up to Hokkaido.