Over 300 people were to scheduled to help cut off the topknot. They were mainly company presidents, supporters, celebrities, relatives, friends, and fellow sumo wrestlers. But no women of course, not even his mother. The process took about 90 minutes.

During a trip to Hawai'i earlier, Akebono actually sat on the lawn of his mom's house and let her cut off some of his hair. So the first snip was actually done by his mom. Yes, there are ways to get around silly rules.

The Governor of Hawai'i, Ben Cayetano, could not make it to the retirement ceremony (but he did visit Japan soon afterward with tourist officials to try and get more tourists to visit Hawai'i in the wake of the terrorist attacks). Instead, the announcer read the Governor's message in Japanese which proclaimed Sept. 29 to be Akebono Day.