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Gaijin Yokozuna

Gaijin Yokozuna

Author: Mark Panek

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

ISBN: 0824830431

Category: Biography & Autobiography

Page: 322

View: 582

At the age of eighteen, Chad Rowan left his home in rural Hawai'i for Tokyo with visions of becoming a star athlete in Japan's national sport, sumo. But upon his arrival he was shocked less by the city crowds and the winter cold than by having to scrub toilets and answer to fifteen-year-olds who had preceded him at the sumo beya. Rowan spoke no Japanese. Of Japanese culture, he knew only what little his father, a former tour bus driver in Hawai'i, had been able to tell him as they drove to the airport. And he had never before set foot in a sumo ring. Five years later, against the backdrop of rising U.S.–Japan economic tension, Rowan became the first gaijin (non-Japanese) to advance to sumo's top rank, yokozuna. His historic promotion was more a cultural accomplishment than an athletic one, since yokozuna are expected to embody highly prized Japanese values such as hard work, patience, strength, and hinkaku, a special kind of dignity thought to be available only to Japanese. He was promoted ahead of his two main rivals, the brothers Koji and Masaru Hanada, who had been raised in the sumo beya run by their father, the former sumo great Takanohana I. Perhaps the defining moment of the gaijin's unique success occurred at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, when Rowan, chosen to personify "Japanese" to one of the largest television audiences in history, performed a sacred sumo ritual at the opening ceremony. Gaijin Yokozuna chronicles the events leading to that improbable scene at Nagano and beyond, tracing Rowan's life from his Hawai'i upbringing to his 2001 retirement ceremony. Along the way it briefly examines the careers of two Hawai'i-born sumotori who paved the way for Rowan, Jesse Kuhaulua (Takamiyama) and Salevaa Atisanoe (Konishiki). The author shares stories from family members, coaches, friends, fellow sumo competitors, and of course Rowan himself, whom he accompanied on three Japan-wide exhibition tours. The work is further informed by volumes of secondary source material on sumo, Japanese culture, and local Hawai'i culture.
Gaijin Yokozuna
Language: en
Pages: 322

Gaijin Yokozuna

Authors: Mark Panek
Categories: Biography & Autobiography
Type: BOOK - Published: 2006-05-31 - Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

At the age of eighteen, Chad Rowan left his home in rural Hawai'i for Tokyo with visions of becoming a star athlete in Japan's national sport, sumo. But upon his arrival he was shocked less by the city crowds and the winter cold than by having to scrub toilets and
More than Cricket and Football
Language: en
Pages: 368

More than Cricket and Football

Authors: Joel Nathan Rosen, Maureen M. Smith
Categories: Sports & Recreation
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-12-02 - Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Given the presumed dominance of American sport, many fans throughout the hemisphere find it difficult to envision the role of sport beyond the confines of their own continent. And yet, world sport consists of so much more than the games Americans play and so much more than the stereotype of
Japanese Cultural Nationalism
Language: en
Pages: 303

Japanese Cultural Nationalism

Authors: Roy Starrs
Categories: History
Type: BOOK - Published: 2021-10-01 - Publisher: BRILL

Based on the premise that Japanese cultural nationalism has been and is a major cultural/historical force throughout the Asia Pacific this book has dual focus: Part 1 explores Japanese literature, philosophy, education, politics, diplomacy, music; Part 2 extends Japanese role to Asia Pacific at large.
Internationalising Japan
Language: en
Pages: 262

Internationalising Japan

Authors: Jeremy Breaden, Stacey Steele, Carolyn S. Stevens
Categories: Social Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014-04-24 - Publisher: Routledge

In the twenty-first century, the concept of internationalisation remains a crucial tool for understanding the dynamics of globalising processes. It draws attention to the dimensions of conscious action in inter- and trans-national phenomena, connecting globalisation with individuals’ experience of everyday life. This book explores how internationalisation is imagined, discussed and
Sporting Performances
Language: en
Pages: 216

Sporting Performances

Authors: Shannon L. Walsh
Categories: Performing Arts
Type: BOOK - Published: 2020-08-06 - Publisher: Routledge

Sporting Performances is the first anthology to tackle sports and physical culture from a performance perspective; it serves as an invitation and provocation for scholarly discourse on the connections between sports and physical culture, and theatre and performance. Through a series of intriguing case studies that blur the lines between

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