Joel of Far Outliers has a great post on the increasing number of foreign wrestlers - particularly Mongolians - making their way into the world of Japanese Sumo:
Dolgorsuren Dagvadorj has succeeded where Kublai Khan failed. Fighting under the name Asashoryu, he has conquered the (less and less) insular world of Japanese sumo. He was promoted to the highest rank of yokozuna (grand champion) upon the retirement of Musashimaru, the last of the two Hawai’i yokozuna. This marks the end of one era and the beginning of another. (By strange coincidence, Musashimaru bears an uncanny resemblance to Saigo Takamori!)
A little later:
Almost 50 foreign-born wrestlers are in the various ranks of sumo, with Mongolians the largest contingent, numbering nearly 30.
Anyway read the rest of Joel’s post, especially if you want to see what a white sumo wrestler looks like.
Also over at Far Outliers, Joel ponders an extremely good question - which territory has the distinction of being invaded the most? About Korea, he writes:
In the global competition for the prize of “most invaded territory” in history, I suspect Korea would be eliminated in the early rounds, even within its favored “most invaded peninsula” division. The competition in the “most invaded steppe” division is far more brutal. Even within the Eurasian peninsula division, the Anatolian, Balkan, Italian, and Iberian peninsulas have certainly compiled far more impressive records than the Korean peninsula, especially if one includes coastal piracy. Sure, the Korean peninsula has been invaded more often than the Japanese archipelago over the last couple of millennia, but both are in the bush leagues in the global scheme of things. In the “most invaded archipelago” division, Japan would probably not even be invited to the tournament, despite its devastating defeat in World War II.
Interesting. I’ve been in Korea so long that I had just started to assume that Korea was the most victimized territory on the planet - sort of gives you my perspective on things.
BTW, I’m adding Far Outliers to my blog roll - you might wish to do the same.
