When Japan exports anything to the world, you can be sure the world notices, whether it’s a Walkman, a VCR, a video game console or Anime cartoons.

But October 21 found New Yorkers noticing something larger than life, and unable to look away from a new type of import: Sumo wrestling. Sumo wrestlers who were literally parading down Madison Square Garden, to be exact.

Over two dozen wrestlers from nine countries, the heaviest of whom weighed in at a whopping 461 pounds and in full sumo regalia marched across Seventh Avenue to promote the Battle of the Giants last Saturday and compete in the World Sumo Challenge to promote the tradition-rich, ancient Japanese sport to America.

Sumo, Japan’s national sport, is actually already popular around the world. If history is any indication, this event is a major step towards cementing that popularity in the psyche of the world. And the event was proof positive of such growth, as the athletes who participated in the event weren’t just Japanese or American, but from all over, including Germany, Norway, Poland and Hungary.

New Yorkers gawked and cheered at the massive creatures who were semi-naked, with a bystander even asking one of the wrestlers if he could touch his buttocks.

The recent surge in popularity of the sport is a product of skillful marketing and PR of its promoters, who not only know how to increase the drama of the matches by way of grouping the players into chest-thumping clans, a nationally distributed TV series, and borrowing innovations from its WWE brethren such as theme songs, pre-fight acrobatics and merchandise, among others.

The recent spectacles and type of promotion may not be the kind that the ancient Japanese may smile upon, especially with people likening it more to the pro-wrestling circuit’s World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) type of showmanship. But there is no doubt about the cultural and many other benefits brought about by the surge in the popularity of the sport.

The event culminated to the electric and wild, raucous screams of fans after Japan’s Mitshuhiko Fukao, a 5’10” 412-pounder won the night after hitting the ring’s floor just a fraction of a second after Petar Stoyanov, his Bulgarian adversary, stepped out of bounds.

You can just imagine the action figures that are sure to result not only from the shrewd marketing but from the colorful nature of the characters themselves.


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