The Throwdown – written in late January 2009

Their jet-black hair is pinned into an immaculate bun. Clad only in an ornate apron and fundoshi (ie. cloth swaddled around their loins??), each man parades around the ring for the opening ceremonies. Some of them simply seem chunky, while others seem rather muscular. As they face the crowds, they stand with pride in a ring. Hundreds of people have filled the stadium to watch awe and clap for these giant figures. This is the second-last day of the sumo tournament in Tokyo, featuring some of today’s bigger names of the ancient sport.

Bright and early on Saturday morning, the girls (M-sensei and H-sensei) and I stumbled onto a Tokyo-bound bus at 7:20 a.m. I am not a morning person, but hey, we are trying to save our yennies. (The 1.5-hours shinkansen ride is faster and more expensive. The bus takes about four hours from Koriyama.)

We caught some lunch at T.G.I Friday’s with the other JETs. The restaurant’s servers all had to wear silly hats and buttons on their suspenders (flair?!) It was something right out of the movie, “Office Space.”

We all headed to Ryogoku, which has been dubbed “Sumo Town” in Tokyo. On the sidewalk, there were a couple of the amateur wrestlers who were out and about. These are the “scrubs” – they are still in the early stages of learning the sport. The sumo tournament is held in the Kokukigan, which is a green-roofed building located beside the train station. Since it was the second-last day of the tournament, the place was obviously packed with eager spectators.

A decorative roof is suspended right above the sumo ring, which is located in the middle of the stadium. Red cushions dot the lower level; people pay top dollar for this prime seating. We sat on the upper level, but still had a great view of the bouts. Despite their sheer immense size, I thought that the sumo wrestlers’ movements had a hint of grace. Their calculated moves are meant to instill fear in their opponents, and inspire frenzy amongst the hundreds of fans who are sitting in the arena or listening to the bouts on the radio. M-sensei and I fancied the foreign looking Kotooshu, who looked like a teddy bear in the sumo booklet. We also saw the infamous Asashoryu.

At night, we ended up doing the usual – grabbed dinner and went clubbing. We ended up at “Air,” which H-sensei has discovered is the same one in that “Lost in Translation” movie. It was all right – I wasn’t really feeling it, because I was sick. And there so much house music – soooo much house music. We also had to stay out pretty late, because our hostel locks the front doors between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. We cabbed back, and I finally got to bed around 5 a.m. Ah, Tokyo.

On Sunday, we went down to Harajuku where the girls had their hair appointments. I wandered around Harajuku while waiting for them. We then ate at Pizza Express, and I salivated over my delicious spinach and cheese calzone. Oh, how I miss cheese! (I’m only mentioning the mundane task of eating… because…. Mom, Dad, Ernest – we had the same waiter! “THANK YOU VERY MUCH!” haha)