When: November 11 - 25
What: Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka
Where: Fukuoka Kokusai Center
Cost: ¥7000/person for a D-section box seating 2 people OR ¥3100 for arena seating

Yellie in Saiki, your resident sumo expert, has been kind enough to arrange the yearly sumo event again this year. That’s right, Sumo comes to Kyushu only once a year and the date is coming up!

You can find official information on the Nihon Sumo Kyokai Home Page.

This tournament is already guarenteed to be full of drama! Yokozuna Asashoryu will be out of the tournament due to his suspension so it means it will be anybody’s game! Sumo is Japan’s national sport, and yet for the past five years it has been dominated by foreign-born rikishi (wrestlers). Will this be the tourney when one of the native sons - new Sekiwake AMINISHIKI, late bloomer HOMASHO, or young upstart GOEDO - finally take that step towards reclaiming the sport for Japan? Hometown hero and long time top-ranked wrestler KAIO will be coming back after an injury. He’s been saying for years he wants to end his career in front of his hometown crowd at the age of 36. He’s 35 now, but if he doesn’t win at least 8 matches he will be demoted and he is already starting to throw around the big “R” word. Will this be his last tournament before he retires? This is not a tournament to be missed!!!

Here are the details:

We will be planning a trip on SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17th. This is an all day event. You will be responsible for getting yourself to Fukuoka, but we will be sitting together as a group which makes it really fun! There are two prices:

• ¥7000 per person for a D-section box seating 2 people
• ¥3100 for arena seating

The venue is rather small, so no matter where you sit you will be able to see fine. Unfortunately if you want to sit closer, you’re going to have to get your own tickets, but we sat in D section last year and everyone could see just fine and had a great time. For those of you who have never seen sumo before, the D-section Box Seats I’m talking about are actually built for four people sitting on cushions, but we can get the same boxes for two people, so you have a bit of room to stretch out.

You should have already contacted Yellie (saiki_needs_starbucks@yahoo.com) if you wanted tickets with the group. The money will be collected on the first day of the mid-year conference November 6th. She will give you your ticket when you pay. However, and this is important, if you sign up for sumo before Oct. 8th and then change your mind after that date, you STILL NEED TO PAY for the ticket or find someone to buy the ticket off of you because Yellie will be paying for the tickets Oct. 8th from her own pocket.

We had a LOT of fun last year and it will be a blast again this year! I really hope you all sign up because its going to be great! If you have any friends please let them know too!