Wakanoho leaves Japan

Russian sumo wrestler Soslan Aleksandrovich Gagloev (formerly known as Wakanoho), whose arrest last August kicked off a series of drug scandals in the professional sumo world, has left Japan. NTV’s Real Time News followed him to the airport:

He had spent most of the last 6 months fighting the JSA’s decision to ban him from professional sumo, but it seems he has finally given up. As he prepared to enter the airport, he made one final apology to sumo fans.

A lifetime ban from sumo wrestling for smoking marijuana is:

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7 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - February 18, 2009 at 6:47 am

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags:

Montsan

If you break the rules, you deserve some form of punishment but considering what a joke drug marijuana is relative to all of the other “bad drugs,” I think a lifetime ban from the sport is excessive. A several-month suspension and some other form of contrition would be far more reasonable.

To be fair, I can’t remember all of the details regarding this situation so there may have been other violations factored into this decision, but I still think marijuana use is treated far more seriously than it actually is.
http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Wakanoho vs Michael Phelps – A good example of comparative culture.
Philip

I voted unfair punishment. Lifetime is excessive.

However, this is Japan, and he should have known better. And he was doing something that is illegal–no matter how much it should be legalized or at least decriminalized.

Comparing Phelps is completely different; he wasn’t arrested for possession.
Intricate

I have long ago concluded that alcohol is just as bad as marijuana (if not worse) and i don’t see people get banned or arrested for drinking sake, what’s up with that?

It’s just because alcohol is culturally so embedded that it isn’t perceived as drugs, marijuana is relatively new and basically exclusively reserved to a certain type of people, so there apparently is some sort of xenophobic taboo surrounding it.

For the record, i neither drink nor smoke. I just have some friends doing either one of them or both, and i seriously don’t see any difference in behaviour between those who drank booze and those who smoked pot. Those who did both are usually floored.

jb

the irony, though, is that cannabis was legal in japan until the occupation

Muk

The thing is that any foreigner found smoking, or possessing marijuana will be banned for life.
It is one known law. If you want to live in a country you have to follow the laws, and being famous should not help you avoiding those… It happens too many times!
Muk

(Banned from sumo does not apply only to foreigner sorry)
But being banned from Japan is a consequence for a foreigner… And ass far as I know he’s not, so he should be happy with that

Wakanoho leaves Japan

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