Japan visit

[Anne Doggett <adoggett@pa.ausom.net.au>]

Thanks to all, especially  Rob, Roy and Sue who gave me helpful advice re
visiting a heya and buying tickets for the basho.  I arrived home today
after two wonderful weeks in Japan of which sumo was only one small part.
An earthquake and a typhoon added to the excitement.  My son and I went to
Tokyo for 3 days.  The first morning we went to Azumazeki beya and were
very thrilled to see Akebono - not doing much, very relaxed, giving a
little advice here and there and joking with the others.  The next morning
at Izutsu beya was a different story.  There was no joking, just the
serious stuff. One poor young hopeful could do nothing right and was
rewarded with "yowai" by the trainer after he lost every bout.   Akinoshu
came later and after a warm up he allowed some of the younger members to
tackle him.  It was amazing to see how easily he tossed them out of the
ring.  I was disappointed not to see Terao.  The practice ended with
prayers and we then went around to see Dewanoumi beya still hard at work.
Then a day at the Kokugikan.  Mark (son) was determined to buy a Sapporo
bag, and although the team of men in charge told him they were NOT FOR SALE
he doesn't give up easily, and came back with a nice bag full of goodies.
By the way, does anyone know how you get one of these things legally?
There were people sitting in cheaper seats than us who had them.  (The sumo
was good too)  The next morning Mark really wanted to see his favourite
rikishi Asahiyutaka, so we went to Oshima beya but the polite young trainee
doing exercises outside told us "bashochu dame desu".  So we went back to
Izutsu and this time we were lucky enough to see Terao.  He looks older in
real life than he does on TV, and he is big - I thought he was quite slim -
but what a great strong body.  I think we brought good luck to Akinoshu and
Terao because they both did well.  It was a pity there were so many empty
seats in the stadium, and after talking to young people in Japan it seems
that it is not "cool" to like sumo at the moment.  Maybe the many
foreigners we saw at the stadium might indicate that a large proportion of
the future fans of sumo will be non Japanese. I have some wonderful
memories of my time in Tokyo, and again, thanks to those who were so
helpful with directions and advice.
Anne