The Japan Times Online

The Japan Times Online The soft-spoken grandmother who took our bath tickets with a lilting "oide yasu" kept an eye on us from her perch that looked down on both the women's and men's changing rooms. After getting used to conversing with this lady while completely naked and dripping wet, I soon felt part of the community she watched over. She treated us all like family. On sumo days she would even bring in hand-formed onigiri rice balls, filled with sansho pepper-seasoned little jako fish for the starving students. She taught us that sumo is really just another excuse to get together with friends and eat.