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April 28, 2024
 

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Mark Buckton

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Mark Buckton
Mark Buckton has covered sumo for The Japan Times Online since 2006 and has long worked with broadcast media such as the BBC and CNN when things go awry in the sport. He has contributed to six books on Japanese culture, and is a columnist at entertainment magazine Eye-Ai.
For Mark Buckton's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
SUMO
May 24, 2006
F2 is born -- you read it here first!
F2! F2! F2! Rather a strange way to start an article on the recently completed Natsu Basho but as the dust continues to settle and as sumo fans around the world slowly adjust to life after the tournament, I for one believe the man with the Emperor's Cup now sat proudly on his sideboard is increasingly likely to be compared to one of the sport's most legendary of yokozuna from decades past.
SUMO
May 3, 2006
Expectations rise as Natsu nears
With a popular new ozeki in the shape of Mongolian Hakuho to whet appetites and a couple of faithful old Japanese types who were toughening the soles of their feet while he was still a toddler, we have a rather interesting mix of past and present, Japanese and foreign at the rank for the May 7th to 21st Natsu Basho. Add the only Japanese ozeki with a body still capable of advancement and a Bulgarian with a dodgy knee, and predicting the direction this latest yusho might take looks somewhat tricky. Tricky perhaps but deliciously so.
Japan Times
SUMO / SUMO SCRIBBLINGS
Apr 12, 2006
Promotions, trips and an NHK departure
With memories of the Osaka Haru Basho starting to fade, a lot of sumo fans will be looking to May 7th and the first day of the Natsu Basho in Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan.
SUMO
Mar 28, 2006
HARU HAPPENINGS -- Something for everyone
In perhaps the most entertaining sumo tournament in years, the recently completed Haru Basho essentially had it all.
SUMO
Mar 8, 2006
Tochiazuma or Hakuho to shine in Osaka?
Just four days off now, the March 12th to 26th Haru Basho looks like being the make or break tournament for Tochiazuma of Tamanoi Beya in Tokyo's Adachi-ku.
SUMO
Feb 27, 2006
NHK Sumo - Yea or Nay?
NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, is this week expected to make an announcement that will, in part, give either a thumbs up or a thumbs down to the continuation of their English language coverage of sumo tournaments.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Top U.S. and China diplomats talk tough amid warnings of new ‘downward spiral’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing on Friday

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