Monday, October 23, 2006

Part II

This weekend was full of entertainment.
First of all, I went to my 6th live sumo event.
Kirsten and I jumped in her car Saturday morning and spent the day at Ariso Dome in Uozu city watching our favorite sumo wrestlers, or better yet, sumo stars. They really are celebrities, just as hockey players and ball players are back home.


This guys's waiting for the bus. No, seriously, he is.

The official name for a sumo wrestler is 'rishiki'. There are various ranks of rikishi and that rank determines the order they will fight in any given match or tournament. Lower levels go first. These are usually the younger athletes whose size and strength might dominate even some of the higher level rikishi, yet sit at the bottom while they strive to acquire the technical skills needed for sumo.


These guys are helping the Yokozuna (the highest ranked rikishi) tie a huge white cord around his waist.



Here's the result.


I have been up close to some of my favorites in the past, and this year was no exception. I still have a hard time pushing my way through a crowd to get a good photo, I see these guys first as athletes and don't want bother them by asking for a photo. However the temptation is pretty strong at times and Kirsten and I managed to get a few shots of ourselves with some of the high level rikishi.

After the sumo exhibition we went to Toyama, had a great dinner at Santoshi, an Indian restaurant I really enjoy, and then went to a live theatre production to watch my friend Lee's puppet performance.

Lee is a 4th year JET like me, and a good friend. He came to Toyama years before becoming a JET with a puppet production company and then ended up here again when he applied for the JET Programme. In his spare time he works with theatre groups to produce some amazing puppetry.

This latest endeavor involved a group of musicians and throat singers from Mongolia! Together they retold the popular children's story "Suho's White Horse".

The music on it's own was beautiful -especially the vocals. But combined with the visuals created by a wonderful variety of puppets -marionettes, shadow puppets and even life sized puppets, it was truly a wonderful evening of entertainment.

Outside the theatre a traditional Mongolian house had been erected for people to enter, view some photographs, and try a type of milk tea common to Mongolia.

So a very special congratulations to Lee for a great performance!

Next on the entertainment list was Kirsten's swim meet on Sunday. I got up and drove to Toyama to watch (with some envy) as she swam her events for the Master's Swim Meet.
Great job Sista K, I really enjoyed watching your swims.

Lastly, the icing on the cake was that my FAVORITE AUNT sent me season two of "Corner Gas". I've almost finished watching all 18 episodes...in less than a week. Oh, come on, you all know they're addicting!!! Thank you M for spoiling me to death (that included the stickers and Wee Sing book too!!!)

A great weekend of entertainment, don't you think?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

why are they putting the cord on that guy? doesn't he have people who do that? or can't he do it himself?

the puppet show sounds great...i have been looking at Citadel listings for something that i can take Noah to...i have decided to wait one more year so that i can take the other ones too...they just aren't doing anything i think they will be interested in this year. We are taking the boys to the hockey game this saturday though! Go Oilers. The boys got more interested last year with the playoffs. Noah also likes football, but he Esks are done, no playoffs for them this year.

glad you are enjoying the dvds...season 3 has just been released...maybe you'll find it in your stocking if you have been a good girl...
hugs
-M

OH! Noah is reading books! He has been bringing home readers for a couple of weeks now! okay, this is turning into an email, so i will quit now and write more in a letter, sorry..

Kirsten said...

hurray....thanks for coming to the swim meet. it was nice to have my own personal cheering section! if you get a chance...i'd LOVE the videos!

i wish we could go to more puppet shows and sumo events! last weekend was AWESOME!!!

Linea said...

trade ya for some pictures of me and the big guys!!

;)

Linea said...

fav aunt:

haha, those are his people!

the cord is pretty much just for show. he doesn't wear it when he fights.

have fun at the game, i'm going to check the sched and see if they're playing while i'm home!

what can I say about the Esks. their playoff run had to end sometime. oh, wait a minute, it's the CFL, no it didn't...

Kirsten said...

yep of course!!! i'll send them to you soon!!!