I’m not exactly sure when my interest in sumo started. I remember seeing them on TV as a child in my small Albanian town called Fieri. Japan seemed so far away, but the image of them eating huge bowls of chanko nabe( at that time I didn't know it was called like this) stuck with me. Years later, I met a foreign girl in Japan who was fascinated by sumo life, especially post-retirement, but I didn’t dive in then either. She was studying and researching how hard is for them to find a job or even...

I wish to die in spring, beneath the cherry blossoms while the springtime moon is full. SaigyoThis is was and still is a famous death poem by Saigyo...

The title might come off as a bit cheesy to some, and yeah I admit, I share that sentiment too. But stay with me here because, at first blush, "kissa...