Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Stadium

Ryōgoku Kokugikan

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 easy
 9/10
best: afternoon
social, adventurous

A local would say...

The basement cafeteria serves chanko-nabe, the exact protein-rich stew the wrestlers eat to gain weight.

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The national sumo stadium hosts three grand tournaments a year — January, May, and September — each lasting 15 days. The ancient ritual is mesmerizing: salt flies into the air, two enormous wrestlers crouch, then slam together in a flurry of slapping and heaving that's over in seconds. Rent an English commentary radio, grab a bowl of chanko-nabe (the protein-rich stew eaten by wrestlers) in the basement cafeteria, and settle in for an afternoon of Japan's most viscerally thrilling traditional spectacle.

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