Saturday, August 19, 2006

PREMIER SU RECEIVES JAPANESE SUMO WRESTLERS

Taipei, Aug. 18 (CNA) Premier Su Tseng-chang welcomed on Friday 42 Japanese sumo wrestlers who are on a five-day visit by showing them the best Taiwan has to offer -- the Taipei 101 building, Taiwan-grown fruit and hand puppets.

This is the first visit to Taiwan by a Japanese sumo team since the end of World War II, and the first foreign visit for the Japanese sumo team in 13 years.

"That shows the strong cultural connection between Taiwan and Japan," Su said at a reception in Taipei 101 before presenting the sumo wrestlers with gifts of Taiwan-made fruit and hand puppets.

Su described the visiting wrestlers as "Japan's national treasure," and said he was glad to see exchanges between Taiwan and Japan are at an all-time high, with visitors between the two countries exceeding 2.4 million and bilateral trade exceeding US$60 billion last year.

A 42-game promotional sumo tournament will be held at the Taipei Arena on Saturday and Sunday.