As mentioned earlier, I am in Japan for the last 3 days of Aki. While some kindly people have day 14/15 tickets for me, I am freelancing day 13.
Its raining this morning in Tokyo, but that has not stopped the hard-core fans from braving the rain to get tickets. I arrived at 5:36 AM to find myself about #15 in line. It has grown considerably since then.
15?! That’s amazing.
FYI, if you play to queue for Senshuraku then 5:36 is boarderline too late. I got to the Kokugikan just after 5 on Shonichi and I was #172!
I just remembered, last year I went to Senshuraku for the May tournament. I got there at about 5:30 I and I was about #350. I guess you gotta go early or go on weekdays!
Hello Bruce!
You know, you really do look like a Bruce.
No, he looks like Michael J Nelson.
If your 5’10” or above Bruce I hope you brought sunglasses or safety goggles to navigate the exiting crowd and the myriad umbrellas.
We were at the May Basho on a rainy day and it was a precarious exit. The view of the sea of umbrellas from above was quite pretty, but shuffling among them was rather nerve wracking.
Even if you line up this early, are some of the better seats still available or are you just shooting for the last row on the second floor seating?
Same Day Tickets are never in the “good seats”. They are unmarked seats somewhere in the rafters. The good seats are marked, and these days, are sold out on the very day ticket sales start, if not the very minute.
I know. I have been a few years ago and all I could get were some last-row seats even with a good queue position. Hard to see exactly what is going on from that far away, but the atmosphere is great.
We went through one of the online purchasing services (pricey) to secure seats and even they were unable to secure our first choice (we got tier two of the theater style seats up top as opposed to tier 1).
At least at the kokugikan, from I’ve been reading demand is high and rising.
It’s the last row, but to me it’s still a seat in the Kokugikan. Yesterday’s Kisenosato / Hakuho match was hugely different in the stadium as compared to TV. Yes, same fight, same outcome, but just had a different feel.