About US -- SumoTalk

ABOUT US

Sumotalk.com was founded by Kenji Heilman and Mike Wesemann in November, 2002. Kenji and Mike first met in Japan in the summer of 1994 when both began new jobs working for the government in Fukuoka Prefecture. The two became fast friends based upon a common interest: a love of sports, particularly sumo. Kenji and Mike worked for three years in Fukuoka enjoying great food, the local onsen, and of course talking sumo. Favorite rikishi, the oyakata on the NHK broadcast and Sumo Digest who provided the best analysis, and details of stable visits during the Kyushu basho were frequently discussed. Despite the wealth of analysis and insight provided in the Japanese press and by the Oyakata themselves, Kenji and Mike both noticed a lack of any insightful information regarding sumo in the English language that was provided in a timely matter. The internet had yet to come into fruition then, and the SumoWorld magazine--a publication admired by both Kenji and Mike--was not available until well after the basho ended. Daily sumo reports by the English newspapers in Japan lacked any depth or insight, and the English announcers on NHK's BS2 broadcast couldn't even pronounce the rikishi's names correctly let alone provide any information to stimulate a non-beginner to sumo.

Kenji and Mike left Japan in 1997 but still continued to communicate via email with the content focusing primarily on sumo. Each would send the other a pre-basho report, comments during the basho, and then a roundtable report after the basho ended. Over time, Kenji and Mike realized that there had to be thousands of other sumo fans like them who fell in love with the sport while living in Japan and who wanted more information in the English language than was readily available. The idea of Sumotalk was hatched and briefly discussed several years prior to its inception, and when a few breaks fell Kenji and Mike's way, they pounced on their idea and turned Sumotalk into a reality. Sumotalk was initially targeted to English speakers living in Japan who had access to the live sumo bouts and were interested in sumo, but who couldn't understand Japanese; however, after the launch of the website, it soon became apparent that a huge underground of sumo fanatics existed all over the world.

After several years of shouldering the burden of reporting and updating the site daily during the basho, Kenji and Mike realized that the load was too great for just two people to handle. Without ever having discussed the matter between them, Kenji and Mike sent near simultaneous emails to each other suggesting that Simon Siddall be brought on full time as an equal contributor. Simon made his debut on Sumotalk during the Nagoya 2004 basho as a substitute writer and quickly became the go-to man when Kenji or Mike needed a day or two off. The content of Simon's reports conformed exactly to the vision of the website, which is to provide expert sumo analysis and entertain in the process. As the popularity of Sumotalk continued to rise, the site began to receive emails in ever increasing numbers. During the 2005 Haru basho, Mike opened an email from Clancy Kelly and was blown away immediately recognizing Clancy's genius after reading just a few lines. Ignoring the 10th commandment, Mike coveted Clancy's services for the site and touted him as a regular contributor by Natsu 2005. Clancy was instrumental in pushing the site to new creative levels and helping create the current Sumotalk culture enjoyed by its readers.

Martin Matra joined the fraternity several years later making the jump from international contributor in Romanian to full-fledged English contributor whose English ability surpasses most of the native contributors. Martin was instrumental in putting together the Sumotalk Discussion Board, which not only gave the readers their own voice but created a forum from which Sumotalk could recruit new contributors like Mark Arbo (Canada) and Mario Kadastik (Estonia). While some have fallen by the wayside, the Sumotalk contributors remain a tight fraternity who have a special connection with the fans around the world.

The tone and style of Sumotalk has drawn criticism for its abrasiveness, arrogance, and irreverence, but the website was born from the emails of two friends who never shied away from telling it as they saw it while running a little smack and trash-talking along the way. To our critics we say, "we talk about sumo, you talk about us," and to our fans (both of you) we say "thanks mom and dad!"

Former Contributors: Simon Siddall | George Guida | Bernie McManus

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