The Return of Kotooshu

The two best things about July in Japan (in this order):
The return of Kotooshu, our favorite 340lb Bulgarian sumo wrestler, to late afternoon television and the colorful festivities of the Gion Matsuri Festival in downtown Kyoto.

The Nagoya Grand Sumo Tournament began just two days ago and our Bulgarian boy got off to a rocky start. The gods did not favor him on Day One (Skylar thinks it's because Kotooshu did not throw enough salt into the dohyo and didn't look fiercely enough into his opponent's eyes during the "cold warrior" stare-down before they smashed into one another). At any rate, before you could blink, Kotooshu was tossed out. But yesterday, was a different story. Yesterday, he was, according to Skylar, "in the zone" and was able to use the classic sumo wrestler move "oshidashi" and pushed his hefty opponet Hokutoriki right out of the ring. If Kotooshu can remain focused, and if he can keep the evil spirits away, he has a shot at reaching the title of Yokozuna--which is a Japanese way of saying the "Big Kahuna" of Sumo. To us though, whether or not he wins in Nagoya, he is just a hunka hunka burning Bulgarian love.