While in Japan I got tickets for the Sumo Grand Tournament. Luckily I had a Japanese friend who was able to buy our tickets.

My Advice

There are some options for purchasing tickets on English websites or through tour groups, but those tickets are very very overpriced; Some prices I saw were over 10x what I paid to see the fights. The normal way to buy them is to enter a lottery and if you are chosen then you can buy the tickets. This sounds like a very new idea to my American brain, but the Japanese use it to prevent scalping.

If you plan on doing this while visiting Japan I would recommend planning it well in advance and if you know someone who speaks Japanese then get their help purchasing the tickets.

Ending Thoughts

It was in no way life changing, but it was a very unique experience that I’m extremely glad I got the chance to participate in. If you are in Japan and have the opportunity to go to then I would highly recommend it.