There is a SUMO wrestler from Republic of Estonia, and his Sumo Name is Baluto. Maybe this is not right spelling because the Japanese pronunciation is hard in Alphabet.  Maybe his sumo name, Baluto ( or Baruto, Balto, Balt..anything like them is OK) comes from the Baltic Sea.

Anyway, he bacame OZEKI rank today. Ozeki is the second highest status in Sumo wrestlers ranking. Top ranker is YOKOZUNA, or grand champion. But being Ozaki means really special ( of course Yokozuna is more special though). Ozaki usually has 5 to 6 fellow apprentice to assit him, they care Ozeki when Ozeki wash his hands, foot, head, and when he does his hair too.  Ozeki’s fellow apprentice need to work for Ozeki because it’s one of their basic practise to become a good wrestler.  They learn how to keep the national treasure of Sumo in clean and safe. They also learn the spirit of national activity because SUMO is a tribute ceremony to God before it’s a sport of Japan.  So working with Tokozuna or Ozeki means a perfect pleasure for the apprentice too.

AlsoYokozuna or Ozeki have to take care of the apprentice until they become good wrestlers.  Yokozuna or Ozaki often take them dinner, and the all the payment is usulaly by Yokozuna or Ozeki’s charge. It often is more than 2000 or 3000 US dollars a time because mamy eat much.  But Yokozuna or Ozeki feed them as a top sumo wrestler.  Also the top sumo wrestler make enough money to work on them all.

After becoming Ozeki, the sumo wrestler is treated as such. Taking 1st class airplane, aprivate large car with a driver, and more special treatments for Ozaki and Yokozuna are given.

Becoming Ozeki is such a honor for Japanese people. 

Balt ( Balto) is liked by Japanese people although there were some other sumo wrestlers who were not loved, so we hope he will really become the real Ozeki with such a mental status.  And he will be respected as a Sumo wrestler and as a Japanese.

An old Japanese prisoner who got death penalty in China seems to be executed soon, news reported today. This is a hard topic, so I’m not sure if I could write about it here.

Some years ago, I heard about this Japanese person who got jailed in China because of the penalty of smuggling drugs in to China. First of all, I need to say that all the people must obey the law of the country as far as they live in the country. And this person actually broke the law of China, in that sense, there could be no excuse for the penalty he unfortunately got.

Of course I can’t say any opinion here because the law will be the judge there.

But, I would need to comment from the other aspect. I read about this person in magazines,. He was in very poor situation then, he got fired and had no job or money then. All he could do for his life was anything that could bring money to him.  In that situation, unfortunately…really unfortunately, the smuggler group found him.  He had to do it for money. Job seemed easy because he had just to carry SOMETHING he didn’t know to China.  He was too naive then, but he did it for money first. The result was the death penalty.

I feel really pity for him.  It’s too sad to hear it.  There are same kind of older people in Japan now by losing their jobs.  But they need money to live. What he did was of course wrong, but what made him such was the Japanese society. It’s not always his fault.  If he could just work for his simple life, he had no obligation to work like that.  He didn’t have to go to strange place for him with carrying strange things with him.

Japanese government today announced “  we regret it very much”.  What a light word.  Human life is not light. Do they know that ?

Amnesty of Japan also seems to send a letter to China to stop it from humanity aspect.  But when we think of the death penalty system, Japan needs to understand that there still is the death penalty system in Japan and some are still executed each year in Japan.

I really hope the person in China could have a calmness in mind in any situation ( it’s hard though), but Japan has to think about human life again…now.

I used to think Mr. Donut is an American Brand Donut shop.  That’s because the taste is perfect. I like it, everyone likes it, and there is no fault in the taste of Mr. Donut.

When I first traveled in the USA, I tried to find Mr. Donut shop in LA or San Francisco, but I couldn’t even though I paid my attention to the street signboards everyday.  What I saw frequently was Dun-kin Donuts Shops.

There is no doubt that Dunkin Donuts is a very good donut shop and the taste is also good.

For me, still Mr. Donut is the best place for enjoy the lovely taste of Donuts. After I came back to Japan from America, I asked some of my friends why there is no Mr. Donut in America.  I notice that I was the only person who believed it to be American original.  I finally found out it was born in Japan.

Now Mr. Donut is found in all of the major cities of Japan.  If you ever come to Japan, I will really recommend you try it.  Taste is delicate and item variation is really wide. You can fully enjoy them while you stay in Japan.

Recently Mr. Donut seems to have some shops in Asian countries too. If they give the same items as Japanese shops have, some of those countries people might have already known the name or its taste.

Japanese arrangement ability sometimes works very well just like Japan made up Japanese noodle by arranging from Chinese noodle, Japanese curry from Indian curry,and Japanese pasta variation from Italian pasta.

Certainly donuts are imported from the USA, and th taste is really like American.  But, if you are a donut fan, you will see how the taste of Japanese ones are subtly different from American ones. 

Please enjoy !