Monday, September 29, 2008

It's Cold... and Sumo.

Summer is hot in Tokyo. I mean disgustingly humid and nasty. My apartment (shoebox?) has a fancy new air conditioner with a ドライ setting to keep the air dry. But once you step out it's a wall of hot vapor. Happens every year.

Then... I should have expected it... it's cold as hell. It goes from possible to hike Mt. Fuji to suicide in a matter of 2 weeks. It's also the time I get my motorcycle. Memories of riding through the alps in a snowstorm aren't yet forgotten.

Anyways, I'm going to take a couple days next week and go to Mt. Bandai. Last time I went there... hold on... let me find a picture.



Ahh... memories.

Anyways, here's some shots from Sumo last week. If you haven't heard, three Russian Sumo wrestlers were banned because of their involvement with some marijuana. It's technically doping, because the extra weight gained from all the extra snacking gives them an advantage.



Miso Chanko... it's what the wrestlers eat every day. Some guy sitting next to me asked if I could eat the green vegetable. You will get that a lot in Japan. If something is indiginous to Japan, a lot of people think it is deadly to foreigners.







Backstage in the entrance wing.











The thug stare.



Love the cobra.



Hakuho in his honorific knots. He is the highest rank, yokozuna. Each yokozuna has their own knot pattern.









The final bout of the day. Hakuho won in a reverse decision from the judge. The crowd erupted and everyone threw their seat pillow onto the ring. It's cool though, you are allowed to do that.

1 comment:

Harvey said...

Nice shots!

Actually throwing the pillow at the end is technically not allowed, and if your timing is bad and you're the only one to toss it at the end of a particular match you could get in trouble. Gotta lose yourself in the masses to enjoy this old tradition!

Great photos will be back.