Skipped blogging this week as I was in San Francisco with 90,000 other people attending Dreamforce which was flat out amazing. There is a world of change happening and it is very exciting times in our industry.

Before I flew out we knocked another one off the ‘Tokyo Top 10’ and went out to a Sumo match at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, the sumo hall.

We were in a box about 6 rows up in the 2nd section which were spectacular seats. Now the definition of a box is very different in Japan than in Canada, where a box is a huge space with a bar and food. A box in Japan is a small area about 1Mx1M with 4 mats and a fellow pops in and out serving you food (bento boxes, etc.), green tea and beer, etc. This was definitely a time where being a bit smaller would have helped.

The seats were spectacular and the whole Sumo process was fascinating, steeped in history, tradition and well defined process. The match is fought in a dohyo, which is the sumo ring. The dohyo is 18 feet square and 2 feet high and is constructed of a special form of clay. Over the dohyo is a roof resembling a Shinto shrine with four giant tassels in each corner signifying the seasons of the year.

Play the “3 of these are not like the others” game and spot my family (smile).

A sumo match at the core is pretty simple, you win by forcing your opponent out of the inner circle or making something other than the flat of the foot touch the dohyo.

However getting to this point is far from simple …