Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Pensioner gets gong in Japan for sumo broadcasts
A PENSIONER who became a sumo wrestling commentator in Japan is being given a prestigious award.
Doreen Simmons, 85, will receive the Order of the Rising Sun after 25 years broadcasting the sport.
Doreen, who moved to Japan from Nottingham in 1973, said: “I was amazed when I got the news of the award. I have simply never thought of myself in those terms.” The Cambridge graduate fell in love with sumo while working for the Foreign Press Centre in Tokyo.
She got a job as an English language commentator for TV station NHK and now lives in the sport’s heartland city of Ryogoku. She added: “I liked the challenge of living in an Asian country and I was interested in getting to know more about sumo and Japanese life and culture. I watched sumo live for the first time in 1974.”