Sumo!

Jeremy and Bonnie headed to the sumo tournament Saturday and my plan was to meet up later. We thought that there would be tickets available in the afternoon, but that was not the case. So I took a few photos, had a brush with greatness when I very famous wrestler (I base this not on knowledge but on the roar of the crowd when he stepped out of his limo five feet away from me) and headed over to Akihabara to buy a router as I mentioned in the previous post.

Jeremy and Bonnie got in and liked it so much they wanted to go again. So on Sunday I sucked it up and set the alarm for 6:30, showered, ate breakfast and was out the door by 7am. I made it to Ryogoku Kokugikan by 7:30 and held a spot until tickets went on sale at 8:30.

Since the matches don't start right away, we headed over to McDonald's where I broke a month-long fast by ordering American fast food. No matter where you go, a McMuffin and hash brown taste the same. Well, unless you are in a country where pork is a no-no. Then probably not.

There were a couple of girls sitting next to us who were both passing out and nodding off all throughout their meal. We figured they were up all night partying. Little did we know we would see them inside Kokugikan.

After breakfast we entered the stadium and took advantage of the early hour to do some seat improvement. The best wrestlers don't fight until later in the day, so the arena is mostly empty early on and steadily fills up as the day goes on. Here is a sample fight:




After taking in a few matches from up close we noticed that the girls from McDonald's were sitting quite close to us and were still nodding off. Given how empty the stadium was and how many other people had simply stretched out to take a nap, we could not figure out for the life of us why she had not as well. Take a look:



After a few matches we went out to lunch. After reading about chanko nabe, the traditional stew of vegetables, meats and other ingredients I was very much looking to try some out. We found a place that served it and sat down for lunch. This setup cost about $12.00

















This is a a better picture of the stew. You cook it at the table on the burner provided.

















We wandered around a bit and found some other interesting things about. We stumbled upon what must have been the Sumo Walk of Fame as there were several statues like this one:


























We re-entered the stadium just before several of the higher-ranked wrestlers arrived and shot some pictures of them:






























I don't think the guy in the green hat is a big fan of non-Japanese sumo wrestlers

A while after we returned it was finally time for the top wrestlers to show their stuff. First they were presented to the crowd in their traditional aprons (this happened twice) and then the yokozuna came out in his own ceremony















And we hung around through the end to watch the yokozuna get his prize.















I have some more video on the way, I just need to set it to upload before I go to bed!