SUMO!!!!

I have so many other pics to post from different places in Japan so far, but I'm reeling from excitement from today's sumo tournament that I have to blog right away!!!!

Coming to Japan, I wanted the complete Japanese experience. And what's a complete Japanese experience without SUMO!? OK, first of all, I hate sports. I've been to football, basketball...baseball, etc games back home and hated them all! I mean, seriously, so freaking boring...people just sitting there watching these athletes run back and forth with zero expressions on their faces and fans cheering and screaming for god knows what. I'd rather drag my eyeballs through a field of broken glass than watch another Hawks or Braves game.

In front of the stadium! Ahmahgawd, I was seriously so excited and jumping around...for a sportings event of all things!! Japan has made me a changed woman!

ANYWAYS, sumo is so different!!! It's very fun to watch! Unlike boring looking athletes, sumo wrestlers (rikishi) are a sight for the eyes to behold! They're giants among men!

How cool is this!!! JUST LOOK AT THEM! Fuck, they're big! These are the big dogs of the tournament who have many sponsors and wear very cool apron loincloth thingies! I think I'm in love <3

I was so afraid to take this picture outside the stadium cuz god knows he could snap me in half with his pinky, but they're actually very friendly! 

Moar sumo wrestlers inside! JK, it's just a cutout lol. I was surprise to see so many non-japanese rikishi in the tournament...many of them are Samoans, Bulgarians, etc

So what makes sumo so fun to watch? There's so much pomp and circumstance that goes into each aspect of the ceremony. Before the fighters battle, they throw salt over the ring with such vigor and slap their bellies and thighs loudly like they're ancient warriors or something! It's such an old sport and you can tell this has been done generation after generation to the delight of so many fans of past. And the referee guy in the middle is friggin adorable! He changes costumes every 3 seconds and it always looks very extravagant! God, when I think of how silly American referees look in their stupid jailhouse t-shirts, it's so depressing compared to the all the bells and jingles that you get with sumo matches. There are also chants that all the fans know and say in perfect unison at the exact moment during each ceremony. The energy is really electrifying! You don't get all the down time as you do with baseball or basketball or whatever...every moment is pulse-racing! Seriously, I am not exaggerating and just trying to make Japan sound awesome at everything...I am the first to hate on any sort of sporting event, but I enjoyed the hell out of today and was on my on my feet watching intently the whole time!

This is the biggest stadium in Japan on the last day of the May tournament! Everyone was going bananas! ESPECIALLY MEEEE!!!

When your program looks like this, you know you're in for a ride

What is better than watching two morbidly obese half naked men wearing loincloths flailing into each other with massive bellies and boobies and rolls flapping away to the cheer of hundreds of overly excited Japanese people? Nothing, that's what! You can literally feel how proud these people are of their country and their traditions. I felt so lucky to be a part of it!

All the rikishi coming onto the ring preparing for a spectacular showdown

I was so in awe each time a wrestler got down in a squat and prepared to charge...they're so humongous I don't even know how they're capable of moving, but they're very powerful! My favorite is when they get caught up in each other and waddle around trying to grab each other by the underwear! Then they finally grab their opponent by the fat and manage to throw him out of the ring like chubby penguins tumbling over. Why can't we have actually interesting to watch sports like this!!

When the tournament was over, everyone rushed outside to watch the rikishi exit the stadium and ask for their autographs. I was so nervous to talk to them that I just stood behind looking like a creeper lol!

The coolest part of the day was actually seeing the wife of one of the grand champions...she was super tiny!! I know what thoughts and images will go through your head when you read this, and trust me, they're the same thoughts and images that occupied my mind the entireee day!