Chronicles of Rick: The All Japan Open at the Budokan

The next day was the All Japan Open at the Budokan in Kyudanshita which is inside the old Imperial Place and was built for the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

Now these All Japans are run with judoka coming from each different prefectures of Japan so that standard of Judo varies according to each prefecture.  

On the way in through the beautiful moat ticket touts were selling tickets saying that no tickets were available from the ticket box. Fortunately all those who enter the high masters get a free ticket for the event. It was packed , and…yes most fights were boring. After watching a few more rounds it was evident why Japanese male judo no longer dominates international judo. It was almost like a “what am I doing here?” feeling. Gone are the judoka like Inoue, Fujii, Yamashita, Okano and Yoshida etc… who had "yamato damashi" Japanese fighting spirit.

We left before the end as it was boring and we needed to catch the bullet express to Kyoto. The end result was a surprise as Takahashi 100kg plus by Yuseigashi in the final.