Tickets in Hand

You know that story about an American, who went all around Europe in a week and said "Oh, Rome. Was that the place where we saw the spotted dog?"

Well, yesterday I went to Kobe and saw a spotted dog. That and a place with pink balloons and grim bouncers offering "Sexual harrasment soap" (no photo available, see above: "grim bouncers").

There's nothing much I could write even on a good day about Kobe that would be particularly flattering. It's a little town with ugly buildings and a seaside swallowed up by shopping malls and international chain hotels. No wonder they spend all their time massaging cattle to produce that famous Kobe beef: there's nothing else to do there anyway.

Osaka was where I was actually staying, so Kobe was only a side show. Osaka at least has the benefit of being a large city with all those peculiarities one expects in large Asian cities: the drive, the crowds...

the bizarre shopping items...

the really unfortunate high rise buildings...

and the neon signs, particularly the "famous" Kobe running man. Well, judging by the amount of selfies in progress, he must be famous, though it beats me why that should be so.

But today I headed South-West to Fukuoka on a bullet train for one reason, and one reason only: Sumo!

The Kyushu Grand Basho is in progress here. Bashos are the World Championships of sumo, the only occasion for sumo wrestlers to rise, or fall, in the ranks. There are six Bashos every year, each Basho lasting 15 days. And tomorrow, on the 10th day of the last Basho of 2015, Kati Åberg will have ringside seats. The first photo of this posting shows my sentiments as I hold my A1 class tickets in hand.

Ok, not ringside, but pretty close anyway. In fact ringside seats are a bit dangerous in sumo. Sales are forbidden to children and those in poor health, since in the front seats one may be unfortunate enough as to have 200kg of sumo wrestler fall on top of one from the raised "dohyo" (circular ring).

The matches start 8.30 and end around 18.00, so I'd better be off to get some beauty sleep. After all, you never know who I might run into...