Sumo and Baseball: Two Japanese Passions

Sumo is the most perfect of sports. It has elegance, ceremony, danger, art, speed and most important of all two fat bastards smacking the shit out of each other. It is immaculate, which is why it has remained essentially unchanged for thousands of years. It remains the only thing in the world that I want to see static. The only thing I love that loves me back.

-Warren Ellis

I thought the above quote (stolen from our friend James's site) would be an appropriate way to begin today's update. The Friday before last, Chad and I went with two of our friends to see our very first sumo match in Nagoya. After studying a bit about the globalization of sumo a couple years ago, I was excited to see the sport with my own eyes (not to mention I wanted a good look at these colossal warriors up close!).

The tournament started quite early, but we arrived around 2:00. As the wrestlers compete according to rank, the earlier you come in the day, the less crowded the stadium is. The later you come, the better matches you will see--including matches with the yokozuna, or grand champions. There are several divisions between the rankings in sumo, and between the competitions for each division, the next group of wrestlers walk around the ring wearing large apron-like uniforms advertising the wrestlers' sponsers. One of the wrestlers was sponsored by Hello Kitty, or Sanrio. It was not only strange to see a stoic, tough sumo wrestler wearing a Hello Kitty apron, but to think of how even a traditional and respected sport like sumo is not out of the reach of cuteness and modernity in Japan.

After the wrestlers exit the ring again, another group of men walk around holding the sponsors flags. One of the sponsors supporting a high ranking wrestler was none other than McDonald's (unfortunately, I couldn't get pictures). Once again, I was struck by the way something modern like McDonald's was paraded across the sumo ring. It makes one consider the true extent to which East meets West--to how globalized Japan has become. Japan has accepted McDonald's from the West (changing several aspects of the chain to suit Japan's cultural liking), and has gone a step further and brought it even into the ancient martial art of sumo.


Sponsor flags

Above and below: one of the yokozuna

Just when I thought I was done with sumo surprises, I got to talking with our friend Masayo. I was telling her how I couldn't believe how many foreign wrestlers compete in sumo these days. We were talking about how the restrictions against foreign competetors have been changing, and how I thought Japan was giving into other countries' desires to compete. And then she said something that really got me: "Japan isn't just letting foreigners wrestle--the sport of sumo depends on foreigners to survive. Nobody in Japan wants to do it anymore." Yeah, sumo's a strict, religious, difficult lifestyle, but it's an important tradition, isn't it? I've been realizing more and more how much tradition Japan is losing--how much its younger generations don't know anymore. And it's really a bummer, to say the least.

Pictured above is a wrestler performing the closing ceremony.

The subway was super crowded on the way home!

On the way to eat dinner...

Rainy season's not over yet!

The next part of our weekend brought us from the ancient practice of sumo to a relatively new sport in Japan: baseball. We went to see one of Japan's most famous teams, the Hanshin Tigers, and unfortunately they lost against the Swallows. More interesting than the game was people watching, anyway (but we couldn't help but feel a little disappointed--we came all the way from Mie!).


The stadium was packed!

Most people in Japan are quite serious about baseball. Despite it coming from the West, I once read that Japanese feel they put “…the spirit of Japan into it… Yakyu, (baseball), is a way to express the samurai spirit…” (Whiting 275). Pretty intense, but even more intense is the constant cheering that lasts throughout the entire game. Listen for an example in the video below, taken primarily to show the obsene-looking balloon release just after the 7th inning:

edit: Having video troubles--will try again later.

Overall, it was a pretty interesting weekend. Below are some pictures from our day in Kobe before the baseball game. We'll post on our kids camp adventures soon!

Kobe Port

Tomo and Chad in front of Kobe Tower


Unlike our sedentary riding horses for kids, if you put 200 yen in these bad boys they actually move around the area!

Check out the pirate ship!

This sign says, "Manual Labor/Made in World."

Oh my gosh! It's Bruce Lee!

Chad in China Town

Me, Chad, Tomo and Simone

The restaurant we ate in for lunch was in an old bank.

Love ya! <3

Our Pizza Party, Weekly Ramen Night and the Loop

A couple weeks ago, Chad and I tried pizza for the first time since we've been in Japan. We had a pizza "party" at our apartment with two of our friends, and with interesting choices like Seafood with Soy Sauce, Potato & Curry with Tartar Sauce, or Potato Special, we knew we were going to have interesting flavors bouncing on our taste buds. Of course, there were some more normal sounding options, like Hawaiian or Mexican or BBQ Chicken, but even so the pictures of the pizzas looked very different from those back home. We ended up choosing a Large Spicy Tuna pizza and a Large Pepper Roast Chicken Pizza.

Below is the Spicy Tuna. It had BBQ sauce, tuna, red pepper, black pepper, garlic, onion, two types of sausage, mushrooms, parsley and double cheese. At the equivalent of 34.00 USD, it was pretty nummy, believe it or not!

Here is the Pepper Roast Chicken (~$29.00), which was my favorite. It had mayonnaise, mustard mayo, roasted chicken, potatoes, black pepper and double cheese. MMM!

Although pizza is a rare--and expensive--treat, something we spoil ourselves with more often is our weekly trip to Kitakata Ramen. Kitakata, meaning "north place," is originally named after a city in northern Japan that is famous for its delicious ramen. The restaurant in Yokkaichi doesn't disappoint, either. Much better than any package ramen in the US, the ramen sold in shops in Japan is hearty, filling and delicious. Kitakata Ramen offers two noodle choices: futomen, or thick noodles, and hasomen, thin noodles. There are also several types of flavors and ingredients from which you can choose, but we usually go with the basic kitakata ramen with tamago (egg) topping.

We also enjoy gyoza and an occassional beer.

Other than our food adventures, we've had some other neat experiences as well. Friday night we went to a really interesting Japanese arcade called The Loop. Upon entering, you are given a bracelet to wear. Each time you want to play a game, use the crane machines, go fishing (for real fish!), play darts, or whatever you like, you scan your bracelet across the front of that game, and it adds the price to your bracelet. When you leave, the total is calculated and you pay. Below is the bracelet.

(I couldn't get very clear pictures because I couldn't use my flash)

Above is an example of the price box that you swipe your bracelet over. This game would add 350 yen to your total (about $3.50 USD). The first game Chad tried was a boxing game, and it cost 90 yen.

After that, we all played table tennis. It was 300 yen for 30 minutes, plus an unlimited drink bar during that time. SO much fun!

Yasu and Chad playing air hockey:

We also tried Purikura, these little booths in which you take lots of snapshots with you and your friends before decorating them and printing them as little stickers. The only downside is that everything is timed, so you generally have to move pretty fast. Considering how popular Purikura is, the time limit makes sense.

A rather scary aspect of the payment system at The Loop is that there is a whole floor for gambling. Like many casinos in the US that are now offering customers the convenience of paying by credit card, customers here can just swipe their electronic bracelet. Here are some pictures of the horse racing games. In the first one, you can see actual miniature-sized play horses racing around a track. It was crazy! In another game, players bet based on the very realistic animation appearing on the large screen in front of them.

Place your bets!

Needless to say, it was a very fun and amusing night! And to top it off, we made it outta' that very addicting place spending less than $15.00 between the two of us!