In the last issue of Sumo Scribblings following the Hatsu Basho, mention was made of Asashoryu's self-destructive mindset in relation to the then recent allegations that he had up and punched somebody following a night on the beer in a plush neighborhood of Tokyo.
While the exact circumstances surrounding the case are still unknown, many Japanese fans have been left guessing as to what happened during the infamous mid-basho kerfuffle. The Japanese Sumo Association has remained largely silent on the matter, and Asashoryu himself scooted off to Hawaii the first chance he got. He is, depending on which claim you believe, still on the fairways, back in Mongolia or perhaps over in Vancouver supporting his countrymen there.?
Wherever he is, he is not helping his own case by staying silent, ignoring those that have long supported him and providing his foes with a soap box from which to air their views, unchallenged. Asashoryu had of course long been regarded as the nail sticking up that so many conservatives in and around sumo wanted to hammer down. Many in Japan did try, with comments criticizing his repeated run-ins with that all elusive concept of "hinkaku" so often bandied about as something non-Japanese fail to comprehend.