Sumo!!

Last week I got 2 tickets for the opening day of the sumo tournament here in Fukuoka from my Japanese class. So today my wife and I went to go see the event, it starts at 8:30 am and goes to 6pm but the morning and mid day matches are basically the minor leagues the real event starts at 3:30. I would have gone early but we ended up going around 3:45 or so. This was my second time going to watch sumo live the last time was about 2 years ago. I love going to watch sumo its really relaxing, its kind of slow paced then really intense for about 15 seconds then it repeats. Its just a real fun time I like picking who I think is going to win and keeping track of how my picks are doing.

The view from our seats

Closing Ceremony

The only other thing to mention is that before some of the bigger matches with higher ranked wrestlers there are sponsor flags that are paraded around the ring (just once then they go back down the tunnel) but each flag is worth about $1000 to the winner of the match. So you get paid your regular amount and then depending on the match and how many sponsors the winner could win an extra $16,000, 16 was the most flags for one match today.


When we left there were some guys at the top of the tower (see the first picture) playing some drums it was kinda cool and set the mood.