Sweaty Sumo Superstars

So really there isn't much to write that's not already in the pictures, but here goes...

A bunch of us went to Osaka, watched a sumo tournament, then went home. The tournament takes place during the day, with the lower-ranked sumos sumoing (I've decided that "sumo" can be used as a verb) in the morning, and the higher-ranking matches occuring later in the afternoon. Basically, there are a bunch of ceremonies, then sumos come out two at a time, have more ceremony-type stuff, and then the matches commence. This gives people a lot of time to have snacks and get drunk in between matches (I felt sorely out of place not having brought any booze).

The tournaments are 15 days long, with each sumo fighting once per day. We were there on the last day, which also just happened to be designated as "foreigner's day". Kind of funny that many foreign people in Japan are interested in Sumo, and will go to a tournament, when many Japanese people have never been, and have no interest in it (to them it's just another sport).

Anyhow, one interesting tidbit of info is that the current Yokozuna (grand champion) is a forgeiner himself (from Mongolia), and apparently a lot of people really hate him. Apparently he doesn't "respect the sumo traditions strongly enough", which upsets some people. Sumo in Japan is currently in a "crisis" because all sumos who seem to have the potential to become the next Yokozuna are all foreign. They are apparently introducing tough new regulations that will make it more difficult for foreigners to enter into the sport, unless they are of "good character" and "will honour the sumo traditions strongly".

More posts soon...