Sumo Wrestling and Melancholy Whores

Good evening everyone, and welcome to this evenings cabaret. I have just returned from a brilliant 4 day trip on the pacific ocean, travelling from Nagoya to Tomakomai in Hokkaido and back again. All 2200km of open ocean and nothing but the wind and the sound of the sea stimulating my aurical senses. Wonderful. Did I pass the 300 species mark on this grand adventure? I'll leave that for another day...On with the show!!

Last Saturday was St. Patrick's Day. Ireland showed England that it is better at two sports which they invented oh so many years ago...Ruby and, yes folks, Cricket. The victorous boys in green whooped the asses of Italy and, surprsingly, Pakistan (ranked 4th in the world in one-day international cricket). Although the French, yet again, beat us on points scored, we really should have taken the b*tards in Crokers. Choke Park they may have called it that day, but we certainly showed Engerland how to play the game the following week. Glorious. Meanwhile, as Ireland was wowing the world of sport with their magnanimous displays on that auspiscious of days, I attended that most traditional of Japanese sports...Sumo wrestling.

The Grand Sumo Tournament was held being held in Osaka this season so after much painful and disappointing moments, we finally got some tickets for Saturday's event, the half way stage of the two week tournament. The earlier bouts begin at 9am or some such hour, and it is not until 4.30pm that the big guns come out to play. The guys who appear on all the talk shows, get paid a fortune to advertise products, and are generally held in such high esteem in Japan that the most beautiful women in the country want to have their babies (politely put as the Grandmother may read this....Hi Gran!!). Can you imagine bedding down with this fine specimen of a man ladies (see left)?? Hhhhmmmmm, I didn't think so. However, this guy is just an amateur and wouldn't even be looked at by the common folk...but as my old lady (hi Mum!!) would say, somebody loves him. And I am sure they do Mum.

A bunch of us from the gulag, as I fondly call the office these days, went along, some earlier than others. As I was at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium at 10am to get the tickets, I had some time to kill so I took a wander around Namba Parks (affluent shopping area...Brook Brothers is here you know) and had quite a delictable luncheon in a Japanese Organic food shop sampling some quite equisite miso soup, rice balls with smoked salmon and walnuts, and a lovely cup of organic soy chai (can you make that for me Master Daly??!!). So, while munching down on that fine cuisine, I decided to finish off that Melancholy Whore which had captivated me the night before. No, not that kind of melacholy whore, but a feast of masterly writing by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. His book "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" is well worth a read if anybody is interested. The man is simply a genius, even at his ripe old age of 80.

Anyway, we went to the sumo tournament at about 12.30 and stayed until 6pm when it finished. Some beer, lots of fat men pushing and bitch slapping each other around a tiny ring, and plenty of shouting made for a brilliant day. The customs and traditions that accompany the sport are amazing. The colourful attire of the referrees, the singing of the names of the combatants before each fight (in the junior events) and the intense rivalry of the opposing fighters always evident. The grand finale of the day's fighting saw a packed house cheer on their favourite fighters. It was brilliant to see them give it their all and watch the crowd beam with delight as their man won. This tournament was broadcast nationwide and is only a few of such high standing held each year so I was really excited to have seen it. A brilliant day out.

Sunday was spent with Kazu walking the hills and forest parks around Mt. Rokko near Kobe. A beautiful place with incredible scenery and some pretty cool birds too. I managed to notch up my 299th species that day, finally catching up with a species that had eluded me all winter...Long-tailed Rosefinch. Fabulous. The days other birds included a fine flock of Yellow-throated buntings (photo above) and a resplendid male Red-flanked Blutail that posed by a small river (see below). The walk down the mountain took about 2 hours and it was called "20 crossings" in Japanese as one crosses the river 20 times while going down the moutain. What suprised Kazu and I the most was snow!! It snowed quite hard during the early part of the morning but thankfully didn't snow very much while we were walking down. The bullfinches and siskins didn't seem to mind the snow too much, but the Japanese Accentor took cover in the dense undergrowth. A good day and a pleasant way to finish off a good weekend.

Following that, I just couldn't wait to get on the ferry in Nagoya and make our way up to Tomakomai in Hokkaido and the possiblity of my 300th species in Japan...

Carmo's Diet: This week, I have mostly been eating Viking buffet

Carmo's Birds: Yellow-throated buntings, LONG-TAILED ROSEFINCH, Dusky Thrush, Pale Thrush, Bullfinch, Jay, Red-flanked Bluetails, Daurian Redstart, Siskin, Willow Tit, Green Woodpecker...pre-ferry trip...299 species in Japan

Carmo's Birds for Byrdy: All that talk of melancholy whores and whatnot....not that the chick I name is a whore...it's just the talk of women etc... I knew it wouldn't last...me giving up women??? As much chance as GWB aka The Gimp getting voted in for a 3rd term in office...the chick this week for Byrdy is...Jennifer Morrison