Sumo is the quintessential Japanese sport. So when I heard the big fellas were rolling into Nagoya I asked Naomi to see what she could do to nab some tickets. Its origins go back some 1500 years and recently it has benefited from a revival of interest, apparently because it’s fiercely competitive at the top right now. Tanoshikatta.

The best seats were little boxes with cushions to sit cross-legged on. I’m not the richest man in Japan so we sat back a bit but had a good view of the sacred clay Dohyo (ring) above which hangs a cabled Shinto shrine dangling coloured tassels representing the 4 seasons. The lower grade fighters whet our appetite for the real thing.
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