After a couple of weeks exploring Kyoto, Osaka, and Takayama, we headed to our final destination in Japan: Tokyo! One of the highlights was attending a grand sumo tournament. Held only during certain times of the year, it can be very expensive to go to one of these multi-day tournaments at Tokyo's famous Ryōgoku Kokugikan arena. However, Chris read online about same-day tickets and we decided to give it a shot.

We woke up VERY early, hopped on the Tokyo Metro, and got in line around 6 AM -- and we weren't the first ones there (we were actually numbers 83, 84, and 85!). We waited in the cold, watching the line grow behind us, until ticket sales officially began around 8 AM. We got our tickets and followed the hard core fans into the arena. The first matches started around 8:30 AM, but we were just about the only ones there -- and matches would be happening continuously until the evening.

We decided to exercise our single re-entry later that day and left, heading back home for a nap and some food. We returned in the afternoon and caught a few hours of the biggest, most exciting matches! The energy in the arena was high as fans cheered on the well-known wrestlers. Matches last only a few seconds but the rituals leading up to each match can extend multiple minute. The fans LOVE it -- and so did we! An amazing experience and totally worth the early wake-up call.

Chris and Michelle Go Places is a series of vlogs documenting our travels across the world. We're on a six month sabbatical from work and intend to soak up every minute. Subscribe to follow our adventures!

Filmed on a G7x Mark ii
Audio provided by Epidemic Sound

WHAT WE DID:
Grand Tournament Sumo: [ Ссылка ]

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