Sumo trainee bullied to death
September 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
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The death of a teenage sumo trainee, who was beaten savagely by his stable-master and bullied mercilessly by older wrestlers, has thrown open the secretive world of the national sport of Japan and horrified its fans.
Match-fixing allegations and other scandals that have arisen this year have already dented sumo’s image as a sport of noble traditions and samurai honor.
Yesterday’s tearful public appearance by the father of the dead boy is likely to destroy the dignified image of sumo for ever. The death of 17-year-old Takashi Saito has exposed it as a murky domain where bullying is rife and violence is part of daily life.
Masato Saito begged the sport’s authorities to end their cover-up of his son’s sudden death. Weeping, he demanded that the Sumo Association tell the truth and take steps to prevent a repeat of the abuse that cost the life of Takashi.
In what would be the first arrest of a sumo stable-master, police sources said that they were likely to charge Junichi Yamamoto in the next few days with causing the death of his teenage jonokuchi – the most junior rank of wrestler.
The life of aspiring young sumo wrestlers is notoriously tough, but until yesterday it was always assumed that the stable-masters had the best interests of their wrestlers at heart and knew where to draw the line.
As details of Takashi’s death have trickled out – officially he died from heart failure in June while preparing for a tournament – a grim reality has emerged. Hit repeatedly on the head with a beer bottle by his instructor, kicked by his fellow students and later pummelled with a metal baseball bat, Takashi’s short career in sumo has been exposed as a daily ordeal.
He ran away twice from the stable but was forced back into the fold by older wrestlers. As punishment for his desertion, his mobile phone was smashed to bits to deny him any contact with his family and the outside world. In a move that Mr Saito now regrets bitterly, he told his son to stick it out rather than quit.
On the day before his death Takashi was forced to endure an ordeal that coroners at Niigata University believe may have led to his death.
As part of their training regime, wrestlers are put through regular sessions of butsukari geiko – a bone-crunching process in which young sumo are repeatedly charged into by their peers to prepare them for the violence in a match.
Butsukari geiko is so fierce that wrestlers are limited to only three or four minutes. On the day before he died Takashi was exposed to 30 minutes of battery by bigger, stronger wrestlers.
Barmaid serves lethal shot
September 29, 2007 | Leave a Comment
An Australian barmaid with a reputation as a prankster, served an unsuspecting patron a shot of disinfectant appeared in court over what her lawyer has called a misguided joke.
Barmaid Emily Craig, 23 years old, served a client a single 30ml shot glass of Pine-O-Cleen disinfectant in March during a 6 a.m. drinking bout at Evolution Nightclub, causing him to become violently ill, the Melbourne Magistrates court was told.
“This was a misguided joke at an ungodly hour,” Craig’s lawyer George Balot told the judge.
Police told the court that Craig was known for her prankster-style behavior and once covered a bar in sticky tape. She upped the ante with her pranks by serving up the powerful floor cleaner after giving the man shots of pure water.
The patron developed ulcers on his skin after drinking the disinfectant shot from Craig, who has since lost her job and faces four charges of intentionally causing injury.
Swastika building about as popular as a Neo Nazi
September 28, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Painting a swastika on a public building is a hate crime. But what happens when the building itself is the swastika? While appearing innocuous from the ground, the striking shape of a construction in San Diego, now on view to internet users accessing Google Earth, is unmistakable - it resembles the Nazi symbol.
Ground-breaking began for the six-building complex at the Coronado US navy base in southern California in 1967. While the original plans called for two central buildings and a single L-shaped barracks, Naval Amphibious Base Complex 320-325 evolved in design. By the time it was finished in 1970 it had four L-shaped buildings - set at right angles. That was when the problem was spotted.
Forgotten about after the initial controversy, the buildings’ form has emerged again as an issue thanks to the internet and Google Earth. It has led an unlikely alliance - of bloggers, anti-discrimination activists, lawmakers and one talk-radio host - to take action. And now the navy has added $600,000 (£300,000) to its 2008 budget for camouflage. Landscaping, rock structures and solar panels should help disguise its shape.
“We take this very seriously,” said Scott Sutherland, deputy public affairs officer for the Navy Region Southwest. “We don’t want to be associated with something as symbolic and hateful as a swastika.”
But the remedy may not stop conspiracy theorists. The buildings, surmise some bloggers, were put up by German POWs as a Hitler tribute. Others say that nearby buildings look like planes pointing at the swastika. One theory has it that, sideways, the buildings resemble Calvary crosses. And the crosses point to Jerusalem. You name it, someone probably has a conspiracy theory to back it up.
Theif rips off woman’s panties in public
September 27, 2007 | Leave a Comment
“It’s pretty strange. I haven’t heard anything like it before,” Det-Sen-Sgt Brad Rix said.
He said the 23-year-old was grabbed from behind as she walked home from a train station.
The offender then lifted her dress up, and pulled off her underpants before grabbing her bag and taking off.
“It was absolute daylight, not far from a train station. This person must have felt sure he was going to get away with it,” Det-Sen-Sgt Rix said. He said there was no attempt to sexually assault the woman, who did not realise her bag had been stolen until some time later.
“It’s possible he may have stolen her underpants as a trophy, or perhaps he intended taking the attack further. We don’t know,” he said.
The woman has vowed to wear pants in the future to discourage a repeat offense.
Boredom the cause of nude stick-ups
September 26, 2007 | Leave a Comment
A 24-YEAR-OLD man arrested in the US state of Pennsylvania for holding up a convenience store wearing nothing but a hat has told police he did it because he was bored, according to local reports.
Police were questioning Carl Wagner over a separate incident of indecent exposure when they recognised him from a surveillance video in which he can be seen entering the store naked but apparently covering his manhood with a hand.
“We actually had an incident where the gentleman lives where he was exposing himself to two females. He was initially brought in on that accusation,” Carbondale police sergeant Thomas Heller told local television channel WNEP.
“We put two and two together, it was definitely him,” he said.
Police said that Wagner had admitted carrying out the stick up and had been charged with robbery, open lewdness and indecent exposure.
The surveillance video shows a man with heavy tan lines, apparently from a “wife-beater” style vest, approach the counter. Officials said the man demanded money from the clerk, who refused to hand anything over and called the police.
The robber then fled the store empty handed, well one hand was covering his junk.
Wagner appeared in court on Wednesday fully dressed. Asked by police why he carried out the attempted robbery, he said he was bored.
