Grand Sumo Tournament Tokyo - Osaka - Nagoya

Posted By : Heather_F
I live in Japan and wanted to purchase Sumo Tournament tickets as an anniversary gift for my partner. Online, there were many $250 (USD) tickets available for good box seats. Not knowing anything about sumo, however, I opted to purchase two of these $495 tours ($990 total) from Viator assuming that we would have decent seats and a guide to stay with us throughout the matches to explain what was going on. Boy, was I mistaken. What the tour actually included was a meetup where the guide (very nice guy) talked to us (nine participants total) outside the stadium during the first hour of the tournament. He discussed sumo and had a couple people play-fight in a circle on the ground as other reviews have mentioned. Then we went in to the stadium where he handed each of us the $16 (2,500 yen) tickets and advised us that we could scatter into the better seats until we were kicked out and then would have to move to our assigned seats in the very top row of the top balcony. Then he was gone and we never saw him again. So if you have difficulty with the website or just want someone to actually buy your tickets for you and walk you into the stadium, then by all means go for this tour because watching sumo was fun! Just know that you may be paying nearly $500 per person for a $16 ticket and an hour of sumo chat outside the stadium. I’ve done many Viator tours over the years and this is the first one in which I’ve been disappointed by what I perceive to be a gross cost v. value discrepancy.
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Posted On : 2024-06-22 23:45:10

Posted By : 314rosemariem
Magnificent show, great atmosphere.
You can spend the day drinking and eating in the reserved squares.
The best fights are around 2:30 p.m.
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Posted On : 2024-06-07 05:23:13

Posted By : Eve_S
Ken was enthusiastic and friendly and practices sumo himself. He was the perfect tour guide. We toured around the area where we were given great stories and history lessons. He then gave us tickets to go into the stadium to watch the matches. We had a great time!
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Posted On : 2024-05-26 15:03:43

Posted By : Charles_B
Kenneth is very knowledgeable. He is also known to the locals and sometimes they jump in to participate. The tour before going to the national Tournament took about an hour. The guides explanation of the rituals and the rules made watching the tournament enjoyable. Otherwise we would have be lost.

The temple we visited with him was probably the most enjoyable temple we visited. Nothing fancy, no tourist, just a very solemn experience right in the middle of town and he explanations were very good.

We went to the Sumo Tournament before lunch. As you can see by the pictures, the place was basically empty and the lack of a crowd made it sorta of boring. We left for lunch and came back later and as you can see in the pictures, the place was packed. This created a very different experience than the morning experience.

Unless you want to sit on the floor, ask for seats on the second level. Real chairs. Finding your seat is probably the most challenging task.

If you are willing to sit on a pillow/mat, I would suggest those not right next to the ring. No wrestlers will fall on you and there is a metal bar defining your box space that you can lean against giving your back a rest.

I am not sure what this experience would be like if the national tournament was happening at the time, but the tournament made it a great experience.

Kenneth contacted us while we were still in the United States to make sure everything was arranged. That was a very nice touch and one less thing to worry about
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Posted On : 2024-05-25 20:39:24

Posted By : Sascha_S
Of course the Sumo Tournament and if you get Kenneh Miller as you Tour guy you will have a good time and fun.
Aloha
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Posted On : 2024-05-21 13:52:28

Posted By : CCausey
We had a great day with Ken at the sumo tournament. If you've tried to find tickets to the tournament you know how difficult it is. Not only did Ken get us great seats, the pre-tournament tour of the Ryogoku sumo town area was wonderful. If you are visiting Japan and want to learn about this wonderful sport and it's culture then you need to check this out!
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Posted On : 2024-05-20 11:10:55

Posted By : Extraordinary592340
We had a great time. Meeting was easy, introduction to sumo very nice and well made. Tickets were ok. We say thank you and ca recoomand this tour
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Posted On : 2024-05-12 23:44:40

Posted By : Raquel_Z
Great experience! Difficult to find seats at first but we were able to find them after some time.
Ticket detail was incorrect for Osaka tournament
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Posted On : 2024-04-26 08:58:48

Posted By : Tracy_F
Learning all about the traditions of Sumo was an incredible highlight of our trip and I would highly recommend taking the opportunity to delve into the world of Sumo
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Posted On : 2024-03-23 06:33:03

Posted By : fde_teresa
Finding the tickets was truly impossible for us, being abroad and not knowing the language very well, Ken helped us out tremendously and sent the tickets to our first hotel arriving in Japan. Thank you so much!!
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Posted On : 2024-03-17 15:54:09