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Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament
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As with many other interesting travel topics on this forum.

A colleague and I have a free day in Tokyo on May 18th and decided that the Sumo Grand Tournament was something we both wanted to see. We just purchased tickets through a reseller - hopefully those logistics will work out and we will receive the tickets...

With that being said, we are trying to find out some details as it appears the daily schedule begins at 8 AM and runs to early evening.

Would appreciate advice, first hand knowledge, and recommendations (e.g. when we should arrive, things we should definitely know, etc.)
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [p4ckfill] [ In reply to ]
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Do not, I repeat, do not get ring side seats unless you want 600 lbs of flesh on you. Other than that, just take it in and enjoy the atmosphere. Check out the different types of food, check out the greeting lines (outside the venue) for the wrestlers as they come and go. These guys are treated like rock stars.

These matches are usually short, with the actual ceremonial bits actually longer than the match itself. There will be several classes so if you want to see the superstars then wait until a little bit later in the day. After watching for 2 hrs or so I was ready to move on. Enjoy it.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [axlsix3] [ In reply to ]
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axlsix3 wrote:
Do not, I repeat, do not get ring side seats unless you want 600 lbs of flesh on you. Other than that, just take it in and enjoy the atmosphere. Check out the different types of food, check out the greeting lines (outside the venue) for the wrestlers as they come and go. These guys are treated like rock stars.

These matches are usually short, with the actual ceremonial bits actually longer than the match itself. There will be several classes so if you want to see the superstars then wait until a little bit later in the day. After watching for 2 hrs or so I was ready to move on. Enjoy it.

Thanks! This is helpful. We were trying to figure out how long to plan to be at the event and it sounds like a few hours. We had read the description about ringside seats and didn't feel like 600 lbs of flesh on us so avoided that.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [p4ckfill] [ In reply to ]
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I'ld skip watching those fat dudes in thongs, The betting has started. Who will be the winner?


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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [p4ckfill] [ In reply to ]
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The lower classes start in the morning, so no need to go early unless you just want to see more action. The matches have already started and are shown live on TV so you can judge when to go based on that.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [tigermilk] [ In reply to ]
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tigermilk wrote:
The lower classes start in the morning, so no need to go early unless you just want to see more action. The matches have already started and are shown live on TV so you can judge when to go based on that.

Thanks. We are thinking of going in the early afternoon for a few hours and will check it out on TV in the morning.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [p4ckfill] [ In reply to ]
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Hopefully Tochinoshin keeps up his winning ways and makes it back to ozeki. Too bad Hakuho is out with injury as that guy just has beautiful craft. It would be a joy to watch him live. Sumo GOAT. Those 2 and Takayasu have to be my favorites. Thank goodness for NHK World and YouTube for me to get my sumo replays.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [p4ckfill] [ In reply to ]
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So how was it?
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [tigermilk] [ In reply to ]
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I think he was the dude in the upper right hand corner...


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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [tigermilk] [ In reply to ]
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We had a great time. Cool to see the crowds, the ritual of it, and just soak it in.

Thanks again for the advice. We got there about 2 and stayed nearly until the finish.
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Re: Advice for Grand Sumo Tournament [axlsix3] [ In reply to ]
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We did see a guy get pretty much flattened. He stood up right away and the crowd applauded. Fun to see.
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