Sunday, September 14, 2008

Sumo, Sake, and three Japanese Sugar Daddies…Just an Average Sunday :)

(Note: I have a couple of videos to add to this post, but they don't seem to want to upload at the moment...I'll keep trying!)


I just experienced one of the most fun days of my entire life…which says a lot, because I’m no stranger to fun. :) Every moment seemed to be more entertaining than the last—Rachael and I agreed that it was a perfect day.

The beginning of the day was a little sketchy, as I seemed to be fighting some kind of cold/sinus thing. I wasn’t feeling awful, but wasn’t feeling tip-top, either. I didn’t have the energy to be on my feet all day, so Rachael and I agreed that it would be the perfect day to attend the grand sumo wrestling tournament that happened to be kicking off in Tokyo that day! :) Seeing a sumo match was one of the items on my “must-do” list in Japan, so I was practically jumping for joy that our visit coincided perfectly with the semi-annual tournament.

Most tickets were sold out, but we were extremely fortunate to be able to purchase two box-seats without breaking the bank…after agreeing that we would be willing to share the box with two other strangers if anyone else happened to purchase those tickets (which didn’t happen—woo hoo!). Well…the “box” was literally a little square area (on the main level of the arena!!) with four floor cushions where we were to perch our behinds. The upper level/balcony area had typical chairs, and we quickly agreed that “chairs are for squares.” :) We settled into our little box around 1:00pm, thinking that we would only stay a couple of hours, max. The matches had been going on since 8:30am, by the way, and weren’t scheduled to end until 5:30pm! We thought there was no way that we could stay there until 5:30…but oh, how wrong we were!

We quickly read through our programs and picked up a few little facts about sumo. I also read a bio about one of the top wrestlers this year, who happens to be from Bulgaria…so I felt like I had someone specific to root for when his time rolled around. After the first match that we witnessed (which lasted all of 10 seconds), we were totally hooked! The matches were SO entertaining and







were also bookended by fascinating little rituals, ceremonial and otherwise. I believe there were 200-something matches that day, beginning with the apprentices (we had missed that), then moving onto the junior class, then the main guys. As the day progressed toward the big name wrestlers, the crowd sweltered and the energy level in the arena became palpable. I took a couple of little video clips of the wrestlers, which I have watched an embarrassing number of times since. :) I loved it!

So…in addition to the entertainment value of the sport itself, our day became over-the-top-fun thanks to the help of three distinguished, middle-aged Japanese businessmen in the box next to









ours. They had obviously paid a premium price for a package deal, as they were showered with fancy foods and assorted beverages from the moment they sat down. We, of course, simply had granola bars and bottles of water for our sustenance. After a few large bottles of Asahi (a local beer), the one man who spoke fairly fluent English leaned over and asked where I was from. When I said, “America,” he thought that was absolutely fantastic. He told the others that Rachael and I were from America and all kinds of excited chatter followed. They were clearly amused by these two random American girls with box seats at the sumo tournament, and they thought everything we said was hysterical. Keep in mind that only one of them spoke fluent English (so was presumably the only one who understood us)…but one of the others just giggled like a school girl anytime Rachael or I would speak. In turn, we of course thought THAT was hilarious!

The next thing I knew, they presented us with one of their bottles of sake, and two cups. :) We politely thanked them and timidly sipped the strong rice wine. Before long, they were passing over little boxes of (quite tasty) mystery meat on a stick, and rice crackers. Next came the very fancy bento boxes with an assortment of Japanese delicacies (sushi, salmon, shrimp, fancy-cut vegetables, some type of animal organs) and rice. And then came another bottle of sake! As a side note, I have to say that this was the best sake I have ever had; usually, I think it’s disgusting…but Rachael and I polished off these two bottles with relative ease. :) We thought this was all a little strange, but professed our gratitude regularly and assumed it was just another example of the wonderful warmth of the Japanese people that we had been noting all week.

Well…then the cameras came out. :) The one English-speaking gentleman started taking photos of Rachael and I—separately, together, close-up, far away from the left, far away from the right—there was seriously a 20 minute photo shoot taking place as Rachael and I realized that we had inadvertently acquired some sugar daddies. Oh my.

The kind photographer then asked for our email addresses so he could send the photos to us. I tried to think of someone else’s email address that might not mind being a buffer, but am not good at thinking on my feet in those situations…so I gave him an email address that I am about to retire. I felt bad about being suspicious of them, because they were SO kind to us and super friendly. But, still…it was a little odd, right?

Soon, though, the English-speaking one turned to me and translated something that one of the others had asked…”You look so young. Are you married? Because he is looking to get married and wonders if you are married.” Then he giggled and said something about how the other guy was 60, and was probably old enough to be my dad. I was dying…wishing so badly that I had a hidden camera capturing all of this for posterity. My response is a total blur to me, but Rachael told me later that she was holding her breath and was relieved when I gave just the right response. :) So, long story short…the wedding was a few hours later…just kidding!!!

After this little awkward marriage discussion, we all just laughed and they kept trying to share their giant bottles of beer with us (which we were adamantly refusing at this point). We all enjoyed the final few exciting matches of the tournament, and were stunned by how quickly the day had flown by! After the final closing ceremony, we prepared to depart (i.e. put our shoes back on) and exchanged goodbyes. One of the gentlemen who had not spoken any English up to that point said, with typical Japanese reverence, “We are pleased at our day. Our seats were great because you are our neighbors.” Then they all bowed goodbye…


I love this country.

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