Sumo

On Sunday we headed to Nagoya, the city of plenty, to watch the Sumo tournament. Recently there has been some bad press for the sport, as several wrestlers and associated people were found guilty of illegal gambling on baseball games, in which the Japanese mafia (Yakuza) were involved. This proved quite a big hoo-haa in Japan, and as a result several wrestlers were suspected, including one of Nagoya's homegrown heroes, Kotomitsuki, an Ozeki (second in ranking to the champion Yokozuna). As such Japan's tv networks refused to air it nationally.

Anyway, we made our way there to have a gawp at some big fat wrestlers slapping and trying to throw eachother out of the ring. Actually, there's a bit more to it than that, and it was a surprising amount of fun to watch! I buckled slightly to consumerism and bought a poster illustrating all the wrestlers taking part, as well as a traditional mug with all their names on. Well, how often do you get to watch a sumo tournament?


I bet on the guy in blue...


...crap!