Tokyo sumo Basho

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Originally uploaded by Drew In Japan.

Well here are aome pictures that I took at my 1st sumo event! And let me just say. . . IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!! I took the local train to Tokyo from my home city of Yaizu. The train ride was about 4 hours to get there. It was a nice ride because I went with two Brits from work. They were very very excited to say the least. (The local train makes a lot more stops than the bullet train.) I think that I only got about 4 hours of sleep the night I was so pumped about going to the event.
The tournament (Basho in Japanese) was held in a city called Ryogoku which was a two transfer train ride from Tokyo's main station. I was very, very nervous about transfering trains in Tokyo. But me and the Brits got there with NO problems! Every time I tried to use my Japanese with people they kept answering in English, D'OH!
We were able to get tickets with no problems as well. We got to the Basho about 11:45am and we were able to watch the young up and coming sumo wrestlers fight. I was about 6 feet away from the ring in this picture. I was told before going to the event that the sumo wrestlers' skin changed color right before the matches. At first I thought that it was bullshit but while I was watching the young sumo guys up close I could see that their skin would get bright red before the match and after the match it looked like a more "normal" color. It was quite amazing.
The Brits and I had to move seats once the big main event sumo guys started having their matches. Our seats were not the best for the main event guys BUT watching the younger guys so close up was a REAL treat.
I think that we watched about 4 hours worth of matches that day! I also ate a traditional sumo dish called "chanko" which was like chicken soup or stew. It was really tasty and cheap! I got a big bowl for less than 2 bucks!
My co-workers (the Brits) fell in love with one of the gaijin sumo stars, named Kotooshu. He is from Bulgaria (spelling?) and he is a BIG and I mean BIG white guy! They thought that he was just the dreamiest!!! Them and about 30 million middle aged Japanese women! HA HA! Thus, during his match they screamed the loudest and embrassesed the HELL out of me! But it was no big deal. They had fun and so did I. I had SO MUCH fun in fact that I am going to try and go to the next Basho in Nagoya in March.

BTW, I was having a bit of a problem with someone posting dumb comments on my blog so I am going to have to shut down the comments section for a while. I am very sorry. I know who this person is and I would just like to say to them that they need to get a life and to go bother someone else! Asshole.

Shizzle.