Sumo in Fukuoka

Roxy and I got up early this morning to head up to Fukuoka where we had tickets to see a live Sumo match.

I’m not an avid follower of Sumo, nor do I understand all the rules involved. So why go to the game?.. I think Japan is the only place where I might see a live game, so might as well see what it’s like while I’m still here! Also, there was a special deal available to all teachers…so we figured this would be as good a time as any to go.

The sumo players are nowhere near as large as I had though they'd be. So many people in North American could easily pass for a sumo player……

The actions they do before beginning a bout seemed funny to me, probably due to the fact that I don’t understand the meaning behind them. The fight itself is so short that if you drop something and bend down to pick it up, you may miss the entire sparring episode (which is what happened to me).
During a break, while walking down the hallways, we could see many sumo players / trainees wandering around amongst the masses of people.

At one point, there was one sumo player walking around with what looked to be his bodyguard (though why he would need a bodyguard is beyond me…) who was about the same size as him, as well as maybe an apprentice sumo player? Anyways, as they were walking by, everyone was pointing at them and whispering to each other. We figured he might be someone famous, so we asked to take a picture of him. He asked his bodyguard to take the picture for us.

Although he looks very upset in this picture, he smiled at us when we asked if we could take a picture together. Maybe it’s just the ‘sumo picture face’.

It turns out he is Kitazakura san! (who is somewhat famous, or so I’ve been told)

We went out for dinner, and came back in time to see the last 30 minutes of the games. We were told that towards the end of the day, the audience gets more into the games, or something like that. Maybe it’s because one of the last players was from Fukuoka, so it attracted many fukuoka fans. Though, I think it’s more likely to be all the sake that people have been drinking during the day.

After the 2.5 hour bus ride back to Nagasaki, we walked to the dark, deserted-of-people parking lot where my car was...only to find that I had left the keys in the ignition!!! I seem to have become so absent-minded when it comes to car related things. Luckily, there was a teacher who was with us, and he was able to call a Japanese version of CAA to help. The whole thing took about 30 minutes of waiting out side in the cold for help to arrive.

It took less than 2 minutes for the man to get my key out, and I’m thankful that my battery was still ok. Good little purple car.

What a way to end the evening..!

Japanese Speech Contest

So the dreaded speech contest day finally arrived. Iwata san and Roxy came for moral support, which was very much appreciated. There were also 3 other teachers from my school who came to support...what a surprise it was to see them! It was nice that they took time out of their very busy schedules to come, but it made me feel that much more pressure..!

All the correspondence for this speech contest has been in Japanese, but I was able to pick out the most important information (ie place and time). The speech contestants arrived about 2 hours before the speech began in order to receive instructions on how the day would proceed. Once I heard the other contestants speaking to the Japanese staff, I felt very out of place. They are mostly exchange students, fully fluent and able to take classes conducted completely in Japanese..I usually get my point across with key Japanese words used in tarzan-like speech while using over-exaggerated facial expressions and gestures. I felt way out of my league amongst the other contestants. All instructions for the day were in Japanese, and I found it a little overwhelming. I figured I would just follow what everyone else was doing.. I was the last of the 12 contestants to speak.

Other than having a blank right before beginning my speech (the number of people in the audience seemed to have suddenly doubled..), the speech went as well as I could have hoped for. I felt good enough at the end of the speech to think that maybe I might be given a prize like ‘best effort’, if such an award was being given.

Once all the speeches were done, a taiko group entertained us while the judges convened to decide the winner. The taiko group invited the speech contestants on stage to bang on some of the drums, which I’m sure was very amusing for the audience….

Finally, the awards were handed out. I didn’t receive a prize, but it felt like having participated in this event was an accomplishment all on its own! I wish I could have understood what the other contestants were talking about to get ideas for next year, if I’m still around to participate.

I’m glad it’s done!!

(5 days later)

Included in a letter from the Japanese speech contest committee which I received this evening was a very beautiful envelope containing a 5,000 yen consolation prize. They had probably mentioned during the instruction time that everyone would get a gift for participating, but I didn’t understand half of what was being said. So it came as a nice surprise!