The French weekly magazine Paris Match said in its Jan. 15 edition that Sarkozy, a popular 49-year-old Cabinet minister with presidential ambitions, told reporters during his visit earlier this month to China that sumo "is not really a sport for intellectuals."

Ambassador Hiroshi Hirabayashi said the interior minister said the article contained conjecture by the reporter.

According to Hirabayashi, Sarkozy criticized what he called sensational reporting and conjecture about domestic politics in the media. The presidential race is set for 2007.

Sarkozy reportedly said of sumo, "How can they be fascinated by these battles between obese guys with slicked-down topknots?"

The weekly also quoted him as describing Tokyo as being "stifling" and saying he doesn't understand how people can be amazed by Kyoto, and that he found famous Japanese gardens there "grim."

The Paris Match reporter who accompanied Sarkozy on the trip told a radio program Jan. 20 that the quotes from the minister in the report were accurate.

The Japan Times Weekly: Jan. 31, 2004
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