My Introduction to Sumo

My introduction to sumo was twofold. When I was a kid in Honolulu, the Japanese superhero shows were super popular. Before the show started, if it was basho time, there would be sumo highlights. I wasn't interested but I had a glimmer of what it was about from KIKU TV, channel 13. Then in 1990, I left America to work in Japan. My homestay family helped me find a job. My flatmate introduced me to foreign friends, that circle of friends grew and I meet an American on a 1-year assignment, Andy. Andy was a sports freak, he wanted to see every sport live. He asked me about sumo. I had no clue. We started getting in line for tickets and kept failing. Finally, we got in line before the JR trains started running, and landed last row tickets. That first time sealed it, I was hooked. The atmosphere of a basho, the bouts, the people meeting and people watching. It turns out my neighborhood in Koto-Ku was near many stables. So we would write a letter, asking if we could visit morning practice. A couple of times we got a reply. It was a blast. Later on, I had lady friends who dated junior sumo wrestlers from Hawaii. That got me into the inner circle, all the Hawaiian wrestlers called me Kawika and I started to hang out with the lower-ranked Hawaiian wrestlers. That got me the opportunity to show Konishiki how to use the laptop he got for his birthday. I also went to Akihabara with Akebono's tsubeito and brought his first laptop. Later I took Yamato and his tsubeito to Akihabara to buy his first laptop. I was lucky to have been from Hawaii. I was lucky to have lived in Koto-ku. I was lucky that I had friends that wanted to go to sumo and would wait in line with me from 4:45 am to get tickets. As time went by, I would organize groups of 10-20 or more to see sumo. I learned to buy from the box office, if you buy more than 20 you get a discount, after filling out some paperwork, which I couldn't really read 100%, but they helped me fill out anyway. I was able to watch sumo practice at Musashigawa beya, and with his manager's help, get box seat tickets. I have attended the big stable party on senshuraku. Sumo is a big part of my life. Not to mention, in the late 90s, I decided that I could do the play-by-play on the foreign channel of NHK for sumo. I approached the writers of Sumo World for an introduction. I get one, but I became a columnist for Sumo World. I have a regular column that reviews the newly promote or returning rikishiki to sekitori. So that is a summary of my introduction to sumo. Please reach out to me with any feedback or questions. Mahalo, Kawika