TOKYO >> One by one the camera phones come out to snap pictures as Salevaa Atisanoe, deep in conversation, sits in the expansive lobby of a luxury apartment building in Roppongi.
After 33 years of celebrity in Japan, the man known as Konishiki scarcely notices the awe-struck looks and double-take stares that his presence continues to attract in the country.
But away from Japan and Hawaii it is different. "I’m kind of overwhelmed that, some of the places I go, they know who I am," Atisanoe said. "Can you imagine, they knew me on the street in Israel?"
Even after dropping more than 300 pounds from a high of more than 600, the former sumotori from Nanakuli is still big deal.
Eighteen years after he retired from Japan’s national sport, Atisanoe, 51, has yet to slow down. He’s still known as Konishiki, only now it is in a lucrative, wide-ranging entertainment career that has taken him far from salt-tossing range of the sumo ring. Last fall he was in the Middle East hosting a "Japanese Cultural Week" in Jerusalem. He’s been to Australia, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Europe.
He’s done commercials, movies and records, a 12-year TV program ("Konishiki Kids Show") and hosted a radio gig, concerts and cultural shows.
And, in his spare time, charity work.
"What spare time?" he fires back. "I’m as busy as I’ve ever been."
In December he assembled a group of volunteers, loaded trucks and, for a fourth consecutive year, his "Koni Santa Project" delivered gifts to children in the earthquake and tsunami-hit areas of Tohoku.
In Hawaii he runs "Konishiki’s Kids," a program that gives youngsters from the Leeward Coast an opportunity to visit Japan.
"It has kept me busy, that’s why the time has gone so fast since I retired (from sumo)," Atisanoe said. "It feels almost like yesterday."
These days his connection to the sport where he made his name and fortune is mostly in hosting tours to the tournaments. But the University High graduate’s place in the sport is undeniable. His arrival in the midst of the "Hawaii boom" of the 1980s and ’90s and rapid rise shook the centuries-old sport to its feudal underpinnings.
He reached sumo’s second-highest rank of ozeki in record time and was on the verge of becoming its first foreign born yokozuna when hit by a backlash from purists and xenophobes.
"Getting to ozeki was huge and caused a stir within the sport and the country itself," Atisanoe said. "I made a lot of noise and, the way I look at it, I broke the ice."
He was denied the promotion to yokozuna in 1992 but the resulting controversy helped force open the door for those who would follow, including Chad (Akebono) Rowan of Waimanalo in 1993 and Fiamalu (Musashimaru) Penitani of Waianae in 1999 and the current wave of Mongolians.
When his career in the ring was over after a 730-498 record and well-worn knees, "I knew I wasn’t going to stay in sumo (as an elder)," Atisanoe said. "So I decided to do what I already did for fun, which is performing. This time creating my own shows, staging events."
Thirty three years after first setting foot in Japan as a wide-eyed 18-year old sumo recruit, Atisanoe said, "The whole thing is like a dream to me."
Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com or 529-4820.
