A couple weeks ago, I found myself standing in the cold, in the dark, and on a sheet of ice. I was surrounded by smoke, chanting, fireworks, and a frankly alarming amount of fire. This isn’t a typical travel experience for me. And yet, there I was, watching the Dōsojin […]
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I arrived at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo about half an hour early, which is how I accidentally became part of a very specific pre-sumo ritual: standing around outside the arena with a crowd of people who did not have tickets. That’s also where I saw my first sumo wrestlers. […]
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