Japan: Sumo wrestling in Osaka

From Kyoto, we went for a day trip to Osaka, Japan's second city. It so happened that one of the 4 yearly Sumo tournaments was being held there at this time, so we decided to kill 2 birds with one stone.

The JR express train from Kyoto to Osaka took 30m, except, for the first time, there were significant delays on this line.

Osaka station is also pretty big, but weirdly less chaotic than Kyoto. The city itself is full of high-rises crossed by lines of highways, and we mean that literally for one of the buildings.

We had the feeling of walking in an American city like Chicago or Boston. From one of the buildings above the train station, we could see the surroundings and how much Osaka is changing, adding new towers around this main hub.

We had the chance to use the JR pass in the city as there was a JR loop train, which allowed us to quickly get to the Osaka Castle.

Going through the park that surrounds the castle, we thought twice we were at the castle when we had only reached one of the fortifications. The castle's grounds are huge with 2 sets of walls and 2 moats. The castle itself is a magnificent building with its blue and gold colors. It felt less authentic than Matsumoto as it was covered in plaster, but it was more spectacular.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to line up to visit the castle. We'll save it for next time!

We went back to the loop station to go to the Shinsekai neighborhood and see the Tsutenkaku tower. This area must have been a place to hang out in the past but it felt a little bit decadent nowadays. However, you could still appreciate the local food, the kushikatsu, which is panko-deep-fried vegetables, meat, fish, seafood, etc..

After lunch, we went to the highlight of the day, the Sumo tournament. The sumo wrestlers, those Japanese heavyweight half gods, were playing the March championship in the Osaka Edion Arena.

For 4000 JPY/pax, we were able to get some decent seats allowing us to watch the ceremonies and matches of sumo wrestling. It was frankly more the ceremonies than the fights, as these rarely last more than 15 seconds. But more than 200 sumo wrestlers (70 of which are in the 2 most senior leagues) were fighting each other that day to get to a better ranking and pay.

It was awesome to be able to watch a few hours of some of the best wrestlers compete in this fantastic arena full of passionate fans. Some of the fights were impressive and full of suspense, and we enjoyed them so much, we kept watching the best matches on TV the following days - Ines had her favorite, a lighter sumo called Midorifuji.

We noticed so many different techniques to beat the opponent, between (don't quote me on this, these names are made up!) the slapping, the push down, the boob push, the belt wedgie, and so many seemingly street fight techniques.

Fun fact: some sumo wrestlers can eat up to 10000 calories per day to maintain their weight of an average of 150kg, whereas the recommended daily average for a man is 2500 calories. That's a lot of sushi every day! 🤣

After watching the top ranked wrestler beat his opponent of the day and receiving a big stack of envelopes containing around 30000 JPY each (their extra daily earnings from sponsors), we went for a walk in the Dotonbori neighborhood.

Around the Dotonbori river is the neighborhood where you'll find all the restaurants with some very well designed storefronts, beautiful colors and lights to attract the moths that we are. There was even a big wheel on top of a building!

Other avenues in the area were covered pathways where you had access to stores or more restaurants.

Osaka is definitely a fun city to visit, if you like nightlife and original fancy restaurants. Or if you want to enjoy the sight of enormous guys slapping each other! 🤣