SUMO!

The official day one (we can`t count the travel day, can we?) was well-spent at the sumo matches for the whole day. It was an incredibly interesting event.

We started out picking up food at the train station. Now, I`m not the most adventurous eater, so you can imagine that picking out something to eat from the non-descript piles of plastic containers full of exotic and odd-looking morsels was a bit of a challenge. I did manage to try a few things that I had never had. I actually bought a safe backup, the `Healthy Salad`, that I never actually ended up eating. I was surprised to find that the dumplings I picked up (filled with chicken or pork or soylent green... who knows?) were awesome. I picked up a noodle dish as well that was pretty good.



But back to the sumo...

We showed up a little after 10:30 in the morning. The matches had already started, but it was the lower ranking matches of the un-salaried combatants. So, of course the place was nearly empty with just a few groups I assumed were the family members of the wrestlers and the tourists who didn`t know that you didn`t need to get there that early. It was still a good way to catch up with the process and figure out what was going on. The arena was fairly small but sound carried really well to the entire room.

I never really knew much about sumo. I thought it was just fat guys in diapers slamming into each other. I`ve certainly only been fed the American stereotypes of the sport. These guys have incredible skill though. The rituals preceding each challenge were interesting (sorry to over-use that word). There is a prayer that it sung to each of the wrestlers. Then there is a rote series of movements that they go through before each match begins. This is where you see the slapping and stomping you are all familiar with. What became apparent right away is that the bigger guy doesn't always win. In fact it was nearly the opposite with 8 or 9 out of 10 of the bigger guys losing. You start to realize that the weight can just as easily be used against them as the other wrestler counters their moves.



Around 12:30, we were going to eat and walk around Ryogoku before coming back for the higher ranking matches, but it was pouring out so we stayed at the arena. We broke out the food we picked up and sat on a bench watching highlights from old matches courtesy of NHK on a screen in the lobby.

The afternoon started with the Junior sumo wrestlers (who actually get paid) and then the senior ones to finish out the night around 6P. These upper levels really took it up a notch and the rituals before each match got longer and longer, incorporating the sipping of water to purify the body, the throwing of salt to purify the ring and the ceremonial washing with a damp cloth. The matches were more intense, with a lot of hand-work and many big guys ending up on the floor outside the ring. We even saw some injuries including one guy who looked like he broke a toe. Each level was preceded with a ceremonial entrance of the East and West wrestlers all decked out in their special aprons. At the end of the night, we were expecting the bow dance to be much more than it was, but all in all, this was a great way to spend the first day acclimating to the timezone and Japan in general.

We hit Akihabara and walked around for a while before heading back to the hotel. `Electric Town` was full of arcades and electronics stores that are all housed in these very narrow buildings that had 5 to 8 floors in them. The arcades were cacophonous rows of video games and a ton of those things I can only call grabby machines, where you try to pick up a prize in the big chamber with two tongs that barely stay together (hence making the operators lots of money with little risk).

We headed back and ate something quick. I managed to stay up until 10PM this time so maybe I`m getting there on the new schedule. Today is up in the air on what we will do, but tonight is the first Nine Inch Nails show. Hopefully Bagley will bring his laptop down to the cafe and upload some pics at some point.

-WILL