Bulgarian pride in . . . Osaka?

Osaka

After our time in Hakata we scuttled up to Osaka. Our primary mission in Osaka was to attend the spring Osaka Sumo Tournament (there are only six such tournaments in Japan all year, one every two months). Especially when we have been sick here, the only thing we have been able to watch on TV and actually understand is sumo wrestling (which we assume most of you are familiar with on at least some sort of level, but in case it you are not this Wikipedia entry on sumo should help explain it).

Many of the wrestlers -- and not just Japanese ones -- did not fit the stereotype of an overweight, out of shape sumo wrestler that many of us may have. Sure, all of them are big, but they are fit, especially their legs (they kind of make baseball catchers look like they have chicken legs). One thing that caught our attention in particular while watching sumo on TV was the number of Western wrestlers. Well, we must tell you that Benny was very pleased when he found out that one of the top sumo wrestlers in Japan is actually Bulgarian (Benny's grandfather was Bulgarian). Benny was even more pleased when he got to take a picture with the wrestler's cardboard cutout -- exciting stuff! We were lucky enough to also see him fight, although as you can see in this video, he received quite a spanking from what we think was a Russian sumo wrestler (the Bulgarian wrestler is the one of the left):

We actually spent most of the day at the sumo arena, as they day starts with lower level wrestlers. Although the wrestlers in the morning are not particularly good when compared to the wrestlers at the end of the day, we did get a much better view in the morning, as you can see here:

Overall seeing sumo wrestling in person was one of the best things we did in Japan. It was not just the wrestling that was exciting, but also seeing the ceremony and rituals in person.

Tokyo

As we write this we are wrapping up our last days Japan, and are writing this from Tokyo. As you can see from this album, we are spending much of our time on our last day viewing the blossoms, which although they are not out in full force, are quite impressive. We are going to London next (after one night in Mumbai), where we will be spending a few days with family and friends before going to La Coruna in northweatern Spain.