Aya in Tokyo (source: japanesestreets)
Sumo World on Edge of Seats with Baruto
- from Japan Times -
OSAKA (Kyodo) Promotion-chasing sekiwake Baruto dodged a bullet to floor Aminishiki and retain his share of the lead alongside yokozuna Hakuho at the Spring Grand Sumo Tournament on Wednesday.
Baruto looked set to taste his first “kuroboshi” defeat of the 15-day tournament when he was tipped off balance at the start of an absorbing encounter at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium.
But the Estonian behemoth dug in deep and neutralized Aminishiki’s (1-3) attacks before getting both arms around the komusubi and squashing him to the sandy surface to improve to 4-0.
Baruto, whose warm personality and quirky sense of humor has won him a growing number of fans, is gunning for a move up the rankings to ozeki but must keep his form and register at least nine more wins here to be considered for promotion.
The Mongolian yokozuna showed his championship pedigree with another victory and shares the lead with Baruto, ozeki Harumafuji and three other wrestlers.
Hakuho delivered a polished performance in the day’s final bout, methodically working out Kyokutenho to improve to 18-2 in 20 meetings with his fellow Mongolian.
Harumafuji faced a potentially awkward opponent in the shape of Russian No. 2 maegashira Aran but prevailed with a powerful two-handed shove to stay among the early front-runners. Aran dropped to 0-4.
In other bouts featuring ozeki, Kotomitsuki (2-2) came a cropper at the hands of local favorite Goeido (2-2) and battle-weary Kaio dropped his second bout in a row when he came off second best in a slapfest against top-ranked maegashira Kakuryu (1-3).
Japan Addresses Spread of Cancer
- from The Japan Times
Cancer has been the No. 1 cause of death for Japanese since 1981, accounting for one-third of Japanese deaths. One’s lifestyle is closely related to the contraction of cancer and one can avoid developing cancer to a large extent by changing one’s lifestyle. Thus education can play an important role. Since many types of cancer develop slowly over many years, teaching children about the risk of cancer and the importance of having a healthy lifestyle will go a long way toward reducing cancer.
A report by researchers from the Geneva-based International Union Against Cancer (UICC) says that about 40 percent of cancers can be prevented by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Every year, Feb. 4 is marked as World Cancer Day, led by UICC and its member organizations in 86 nations with the support of the World Health Organization.
This year UICC started a campaign “Cancers can be prevented too.” WHO estimates that the number of global cancer deaths will increase 45 percent from 2007 to 11.5 million by 2030, up from 7.9 million deaths at present.
Media in Japan Get Access to Iran Uranium Conversion Plant
- From the Japan Times -
A uranium conversion facility and nuclear fuel plant in Isfahan, central Iran, were shown to Japanese media Wednesday as the United States and Europe continued to pressure the country about its atomic ambitions.
The conversion facility, which manufactures uranium hexafluoride as a raw material for uranium enrichment, forms the core of Iran’s nuclear program in tandem with a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
