Osaka weekend - part 2

Monday was SUMO DAY!! Whooohooo! Alex arrived at the hotel on sunday night, and we were all ready for the exciting day ahead! We decided to go to the sumo in the early afternoon, leaving the morning free for us to explore new bits of Osaka. It was a beautiful day..gorgeous blue skies, and we planned to go to Osaka Castle. Perfect weather for picture taking, and the plum blossoms in the park next to the castle, were in full, spectacular bloom. I love love love cherry blossoms, but I will admit that plum blossoms are almost as pretty, as their colour is so vibrant and cheerful. I loved the bright pink kind, set against the perfect blue sky, and took lots of photos, whilst Alex and Ellen searched for the rare 'halfu' (half pink, half white) kind. There are, however, only so many pictures you can take of blossoms (plum or cherry!), and so we headed up to the castle. We decided not to pay and go inside, as we have all been to a few castles in Japan..and you know, seen one seen em all! haha! But it was a very beatiful castle, and I was very impressed...but then again I was impressed by everything on that Monday, as the great weather and the holiday feeling had put me in a positive 'i love Japan' mood! Osaka castle probably ranks number 3 in my 'Japan Castles Top 100' (although I've only actually seen about 7!), being pipped to the 2 top spots by Himeji, and Nijo. There you go, castle fans...now you know where to head!!


After the castle, and a nice spot of lunch, followed by a divine bakery, we made our way to the SUMO!!!! You will have noticed that I have to write SUMO in capital letters! Apologies..I just get really excited when I think about it. I loved it...it was so much fun! We waited outside the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, with the other 'fans', and watched and clapped as the SUMO wrestlers arrived in their cars. I had no clue who any of them were, but it was exciting nonetheless! After many photos, much clapping and speculation, and a crazy psychotic woman (eek! she was mad!), we decided to head inside to take our seats ready for the afternoon of SUMO fun. Our seats weren't too bad....quite far back, but certainly not the worst. I still managed to get some great SUMO shots, so I was happy! After some souvenir purchasing (sumo chopsticks, sumo poster, and sumo programme), and munching on our bakery treats, we started to really get into the SUMO action. Highlights of the afternoon were ; watching all the wrestlers filing in , and aranging themselves in a circle in their posh 'apron' type thigies...great colours, and I always like a bit of pomp and ceremony! ; running up and down to the lower level to get better shots of the wrestlers despite the sign telling us not to wait and loiter there! ; capturing a great picture (as Ellen pointed out to me) of SUMO scandal, as one guy is cupping another's boob (haha!) as they waited to enter the arena ; having the guts to bellow out 'Kotooshhu' as our favourite Bulgarian guy entered for his match ; watching various wrestlers falling virtually on top of people in the front seats, as they were forced out of the ring. Overall a fabulous afternoon, and we were all pretty sad that it had to come to an end. SUMO rocks, and I wish I had the chance to go again!