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mainichi shimbun: Konishiki throws veil over private life



found at http://www.mainichi.co.jp/english/waiwai/face/face.html

Sunday, Dec. 24, 2000


     A 300-kilogram celebrity intent on guarding his privacy is bound to 
strike others as standoffish. So it was with Konishiki, the sumo champ 
turned TV commercial omnipresence who, by the way, filed for divorce earlier 
this month.

    How standoffish is standoffish? Asahi Geino (12/28) tells this story: At 
the height of his sumo success as the first foreign-born ozeki, sumo's 
second highest rank, Konishiki received a most generous token of esteem from 
a fan: a new house, fully paid for. And yet, huffs the fan, not one 
invitation to the house did his thoughtfulness win him!

    One cannot blame a man for throwing a veil over his private life -- nor, 
when fame is the man's very substantial bread and butter, can we altogether 
blame the media for seeking to penetrate the veil. What happened between the 
wrestler and his lady, petite former model Sumika Shioda? All that is known 
for certain, says Friday (12/29), is that on Dec. 9 the couple walked into 
the ward office in Tokyo's Sumida-ku and filed divorce papers, shortly after 
which Konishiki departed for his native Hawaii.

    The couple married in 1992 -- Konishiki, says Flash (1/2-9), defying the 
advice of his entourage. What did the entourage have against Sumika? 
Primarily her conspicuous lack of interest in sumo. Indeed, Flash continues, 
when, wracked by injuries, Konishiki left the ring for good in 1997, he 
wanted to remain in the sport in some capacity, but Sumika talked him out of 
it. When next he surfaced, it was on a Suntory Whisky commercial. The rest 
is entertainment history; his 1998 earnings, according to Asahi Geino, came 
to 140 million yen, making him the nation's 17th richest show business 
personality. Not bad for someone who stumbled into the floodlights almost by 
accident!

    Once there, he found he could do anything. This past March he cut a CD. 
Next year's plans include emceeing a TV show and launching a cartoon 
character. Asahi Geino warns that the on-screen life of the average talento 
is five years at most. If so, Konishiki has three wild years ahead of him.

    Grim prognostications aside, he and Sumika seemed happy together in 
their early years, even being voted "Best Couple," says Flash ("Nice 
Couple," says Friday) in 1998. Neither weekly tells us who did the voting.

    Whoever it was was not privy to developments behind the veil, for by 
then, hindsight shows, the relationship was decidedly on the rocks. The 
problem, Flash speculates, was money -- not too little of it but too much, 
Konishiki finally losing all patience with Sumika's family's attempts to 
gain control of it.

(Michael Hoffman, Contributing Writer)
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