Sumo Wrestling

November has been a busy month with a 2-week work audit (which went well) followed by a week business trip to Yokosuka for a Leadership Conference, and then Thanksgiving, and a mini-sprint Triathlon where I came in 1st and won a plaque (it's proudly displayed in my office).  Highlights of November were certainly going to the Sumo Finals Tournament in Fukuoka!  The girls thought fat man wrestling in diapers and the pre-theatrics of sizing each other was very entertaining.  I was amazed by how small the stage is and elevated that when they push each other out of bounds, they usually then slide off it and fall on top of each other (ouch!).  We also learned some interesting facts like costume malfunctions fortunately are very rare and the only time that happened is apparently in 2004.  There are a lot of spiritual and religious symbolic gestures in the pre-sizing warm up - and salt is thrown for purity.  During the show each wrestler wears their apron from their home Region and these are laden with jewels and gold threads and cost upward of 2M Yen!  And it was quite obvious when the Kyushu favorite came out as everyone got really excited.