A dozen women in sports bras and tight shorts stood behind a U-shaped counter at an underground bar in a busy Tokyo ...

Women aren’t permitted to enter the sumo ring. Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s first female leader, did not present the Prime Minister’s Cup at a major tournament.

TOKYO (AP) — Sumo is more than a sport in Japan. It’s a sacred tradition, a 1,500-year-old spectacle steeped in Shinto ritual and ceremony. But at its heart lies a long-standing taboo: women are still ...

THE TWO young contenders grab at each other’s loincloths. A referee keeps up the shout of “nokotta nokotta”, indicating that the wrestlers are still in the game. Suddenly one lunges forward, sending ...

We tend to look back at MMA’s early days as a volatile, unpredictable and borderline unhinged collection of bizarro pugilism loosely defining the “era.” Japan’s all-women fight promotion Smackgirl, ...

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