I went to see the 34th Grand Sumo Tournament at Ryogoku Stadium on Sunday. This was the first time for me, seeing live sumo, although as a kid I always used to watch it on Channel 4 in the UK. At that time however sumo was still pretty much a Japanese only sport, but now foreigners are coming to dominated the top ranks. You can Wikipedia for more info although the foreign born reference is out of date. This site shows a list of all wrestlers and states there are 57 active foreign fighters out of 703.

Two wrestlers going at it

Doesn’t sound a lot, but as you restrict to the higher ranks, the percentage goes up a bit. Although, I had gotten the impression that there was a crisis in sumo with the number of foreigners outweighing native Japanese. From looking at the stats I still see a great number of Japanese. Maybe it’s because the top rank, Yokozuna, has been dominated by foreigners for the last 10 years (see bottom of page).

But in any case, Sunday’s 1-day tournament is outside the normal schedule for determining rank, and was won by a Japanese, apparently a feat last done 7 years ago.

Will they start this time?

The final was between a Bulgarian born Ozeki (2nd rank) by the name of Kotooshu, and a native Sekiwake (3rd rank) wrestler called Goeido. Goeido had made it past several higher ranked wrestlers, including toppling the reigning champion and Yokozuna in the semi-final, before tripping up the Bulgarian to claim the top prize, a hefty 円3,200,000 (about $36,000 dollars). Not bad for a days work, although in global sporting terms quite modest I suppose.

Bulgarian finalist

As could be expected from a drought of native champions, everyone was quite pleased when Goeido won, the post championship interview focusing on how great it was a native had won after so long. Although as in the best sumo tradition, the interviewer did most of the talking.

The sumo itself was much as I remember. A long preamble in which the opponents glare at each other and pretend to get ready to start, although you know full well they won’t at the sweeper guys haven’t even gotten out the way yet. Once they’ve done this 2 or 3 times, they start the match, which is usually over in 10 seconds. Although, you couldn’t feel bored as the matches continued one after another pretty much without rest, the ceremony of the whole event always allowing your eyes to be kept busy with something interesting, be it the guy who sings at the end of each

Keeping the ring tidy

bout, the sweepers keeping the ring clean and correct, the wrestlers themselves and their elaborate preparation, or magnificent dress of the referees.

Traditional crooner

We were there for about 2 hours, in not too shabby seats on the second floor. Although maybe next time I’ll fork out for the first floor cushion seats, so I can throw them at the ring when something happens I like (or not), as many people did for the final two bouts.

It’s February which means the hay fever season is upon us. Every year at this time, thousands of tons of cedar pollen swirls around Japan making life miserable for millions. The number of sufferers depends on who you ask but estimates range from 10% to 20% of people in Japan and that’s a lot of runny noses.

Business has been quick to cash in by providing a wide range of products designed to alleviate symptoms. These include antihistamine tablets, face masks, nose sprays and goggles which account for 20 billion yen in annual sales.

Why does Japan have so much cedar?

Between the 50s and 70s, around 4.5 million hectares of cedar trees were planted in an attempt to meet the growing need for construction materials. However, it eventually became more economical to import lumber from abroad making the cedar plantations obsolete. Even today as the forests mature the amount of cedar produced increases as do the number of hay fever sufferers. Apparently, even the monkeys are suffering. The cedar looks as if it is here to stay as government plans to reduce the plantations are not ambitious or well funded.

In the mean time the only course open to most people is to by whatever is on offer at the pharmacy and check out the pollen maps of Japan. Weathernews.jp has an excellent pollen map of Japan updated in real time. I’ll definitely be referring to it in the coming months. Wish me luck and plenty of chainsaws…

Some useful links:

Tackling The Cedar Blight

General Facts on Hey Fever (Japan Times)

Hay Fever in Japan (What Japan Thinks)

Environmental Ministry Pollen Map

This is a video segment about the Tokyo Weekender Magazine which I am involved with. It’s a magazine for the foreign community living in Tokyo and has been going for about 40 years.

The other day, NHK came, filmed around the office and followed Kelly the editor of the magazine on her rounds. I’m in the video for about 2 seconds trying and failing to not look like a complete idiot speaking Japanese.

Some of the Japanese in this isn’t too challenging so this might be good practice for you budding students of the language. NHK was also kind enough to provide subtitles for our interviews so there is some reading practice for you too.

Enjoy.