Sumo

One of the things I was looking forward to doing in Tokyo was seeing some sumo wrestlers... So, when Dave and Julie mentioned also wanting to see them, I was pretty excited. Turns out the Tokyo Grand Sumo Wrestling Tournament was happening this week, and there were only two days left in the tournament. Seats were sold out, but Dave eagerly made a trip to the stadium early the next morning to see if he could get same day tickets. He came back with 4 tickets, I think we paid 2,000 yen a piece.

We made our way to the stadium via subway and train. The stadium, called the Sumo Hall, was pretty crowded, but we figured out where to sit (the back wall of the highest section!). We decided to get some bento boxes for lunch, and began to watch some of the bouts. Apparently, the actual "fighting" only lasts about 10 seconds; the rest of the match is the two men facing off, throwing salt (I had to look this up; we originally thought it was rice that they were throwing), drinking sacred water (Power Water) then spitting it out, and squatting a lot. Luckily, we had a zoom lens on our camera so even though we couldn't see too well from where we sat, we were later able to see more up close when we looked at our pictures!

 Posing at the train station

 stretching...

 throwing some salt

 The tournament lasted all day; from 10-6. The second to last match of the day was the most exciting. When the two sumos entered the ring, everybody whipped out their cameras and got on the edges of their seats! I'm pretty sure the favorite guy (the one in red, above) ended up losing, as he slipped and landed belly first on the ground.

I read that the winner of certain divisions could win up to 10,000,000 Yen (about $100,000)! I'm not sure who ended up winning this tournament though; we watched about 15 bouts and the whole tournament had lasted 2 weeks!

We ended the night with a walk to the Tokyo Sky Tree, which is the tallest structure in Japan. We didnt go to the top though- it would have cost 2,000 yen per person! (about 20 bucks) We figured it looked just as good from the bottom, and saved $80.