Sarah and I arrived in Osaka sooner than we had planned. Chatting with a group of German travellers over breakfast in Hiroshima, they mentioned they were planning on going to the annual Sumo tournament in Osaka later that week. We checked the website and there were still some cheap tickets available for that day, so we packed our bags, hopped on the bullet train, and 2 hours later we were watching professional fat people slapping each other.

The tournament was fantastic to watch. It actually goes on for 15 days, with every wrestler fighting every other wrestler in his division. The bouts were awesome, but my favourite part was waiting outside the stadium for the sumo to arrive. For some reason they all turn up one-by-one in taxis, so it's almost like a red carpet procession. Crowds of people line each side of the pathway, taking photos and shouting encouragement to these giant men as they stride manfully into the stadium in their dressing gowns. Each wrestler is then followed by a couple of younger trainee sumo who act as their assistants – hustling after them with bags full of (I imagine) make-up and those nappies they wear.

So how to follow such an incredible event? Karaoke of course. After a lovely meal at Bali-Lax, and visiting a few old haunts such as The Hub, Balabushka, Blow Bar and Cinquecentos; Sarah and I managed to book a karaoke room in the aptly named 'Big Echo'. Sarah kicked off with an intimidating opener in 'Hot and Cold' by Katy Perry, which I parried with a lively a cappella version of 'Englishman in New York'. But then a whimsical one-two punch of 'Why do Birds Suddenly Appear', and 'Umbrella' by Rihanna had me on the ropes, and left me with little alternative but to shout along to Nirvana's 'Lithium' till I lost my voice and we had to leave.


















The morning after the night before we had a bit of a slow start, but perked up in time for lunch with my good friend Ken who lives in the area. He took us to a local's favourite yakiniku place in Namba, where we had a very leisurely lunch. Ken's lived in Osaka since we came out together as English teachers, so had lots of insider insights and anecdotes to share – some more unusual than others e.g. 'Have you noticed lots of blind people around recently? Where were they all before?'. (This is less strange than it sounds – Japan has a history of 'hiding' its less-abled citizens, and a recent government initiative is apparently seeking to address this issue).

He also had some great sightseeing tips for us. On his advice, we visited the Umeda Sky Building the following evening at dusk and from the roof watched the sun go down and the neon lights of Osaka switch on beneath us.