When I first arrived here, I wasn't sure what to think of sumo. On the surface (and there is a lot of surface...), the sport doesn't appear as fast-paced and action packed as, for argument sake, our good ol' Canadian rock 'em sock 'em hockey. The thought of watching two nearly naked, super-sized men bump bellies wasn't exactly something I would tune into pay per view to see.
After a couple stints in the field watching sumo on tv and hurling rapid-fire questions at one of the students who enjoys the sport, I got to know it a bit better. Like any sport, knowing more about the rules, skill and strategy involved helps viewer enjoyment. I can now say that, kit aside, I am a fan of the sport and enjoy watching it.
The way the sport works, is 2 week long tournaments are held every two months. During a tournament, there are matches all day, every day and all wrestlers fight a different opponent every day. Sponsors put up cash as a prize that goes to the winner of some matches (they actually get handed a fat stack of bills right there at the end of the match!). The money tends to build as the tournament progresses and the record of the wrestlers develops. Here is a link to the Japan sumo association site if you want to read more.
So basically the "good" matches to watch are always the final weekend of the tournament. The crowd is more into it, there is more money at stake and titles are on the line. So, we did our homework, found out where the next tournament will be (next is Osaka, but most are held in Tokyo) and how to get tickets. Turns out that the only way to get tickets is to be here in Japan (there is NO way to buy tickets directly if you are not within Japan). To get the "good" tickets (the final weekend) you have to phone during the pre-sale day and reserve tickets. They of course don't take credit cards so you simply give them your mailing info and they send the tickets to your house by courier, then you pay cash on delivery (this is why you need to be in Japan to pull this all off).
On the pre-sale day a few weeks ago, I sat down with my cell phone and started dialing. As you can imagine, I only got busy signals for 20 solid minutes of redial. And yes, this is the same country where they are developing robot technologies that are intended to take over nursing home care, but you can't buy your sumo tickets online or with a credit card..... The dichotomoy is amazing! When I finally got through, they had no English speaking operators so I bumbled through the reservation with my pathetic Japanese (good thing I know how to say my address and days of the week - too bad that is about all I can manage).
In the end I was sucessful and the tickets were deliverd safely. So.... we will be attending the upcoming sumo bashyo (tournament) in Osaka! And we are excited about it! Stay tuned for an upcoming post with the details of what it is like to hear those bellies slapping live! Now to figure out how to get someone to tivo Japanese tv so we can see ourselves in the crowd.....
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