I’m not happy for Japanese sumo in this case, but I do feel positive about the Ukrainian. He fled Ukraine in 2022, made very effective use of all the preferential treatment the US required its satellites to provide to Ukrainian refugees, and as a result he quickly achieved something many Japanese never reach in their entire lives.
https://video.nostr.build/22db007cf6db3305a0c9e58a6a1ca7fbff28547d77ea55d98d7bf9d678a4ab2b.mp4
Now he needs to consolidate his results before the war in Ukraine ends; this will allow him to continue his career in Japan and return to Ukraine once Ukrainians start losing the preferential treatment they've been given. With that background, he could even open his own school in Ukraine.
And who knows — maybe one day the Emperor's Cup will be permanently housed in Lviv.
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since he's just taking an opportunity that opened, he can't be blamed for it but i suspect sumo inc. will not be keen on it.
Japanese people, like other Asians, are very strong nationalists. And of course, like any civilized society, they try to hide it somehow — but that only makes it show even more in certain moments.
And overall, the fact that a Ukrainian is a sumo champion, that construction sites are staffed by Muslims, and so on — of course it breaks the familiar image of Japan that foreigners are used to.
yeah, and when it boils down they have clear targets for blame. this probably will stoke up the fire of nationalism further considering the context. japan's government has been betraying the people severely for more than a generation now, because of stagflation and now immigrants and blonde sumos. this is unacceptable to the seniors of japan, surely!