I Suck at Video Games

I really wanted to see Sumo, so I ended up paying an agency an extra $25 on top of the ticket price ($35) to get the tickets. I had tickets in the second-to-last row. Sophranes, from Cypress, really wanted to see Sumo, so he left the hostel at 7:30, walked to the Sumo venue (about 15 minutes from this hostel), paid $21, and sat in the last row. Oh well. I was even up when he left!

The bouts start with the lowest class of rikishi, and work their way upwards. When the first group is going, there is hardly anyone there. 300-400 tops. So they let us go down to the very very front. We sat only a few feet away, and boy are these guys huge! You think I’m huge?

Anyway, there is a lot of ceremony for a very short bout. Some of them last a few seconds tops. In the second level, called Juryo, the guy who won beat his opponent in about 2 seconds. He just stepped backwards and tossed the guy down. This was one of the times the fans laughed. Laughed! I must say that this was the most surprising thing about this event: the fans did not act like I expected. They basically cheer for the popular wrestlers, but it seems no one is even paying attention most of the time.

The funniest part of the entire event was the awards ceremony. Hakuho, the champion, is given some awards. It starts with the Emperor’s Cup, which is gigantic. Then there’s another trophy. And another. And a proclamation. And more trophies. Then there was a giant hookah. Then there was a statue of a cow on a pedastal. A huge line-up of Japanese men in dark suits were presenting these trophies. Then a representative from Toyota gave him a truck to take home all of his trophies! (No, not really.)