Hi All

Im off to Japan November 2 - 18, and would love to see a game of baseball or sumo wrestling. Ive done a fair bit of research, but it seems that both seasons would have finished by the time I get to Japan - Im gutted about this, and was wondering if anyone knew of any post season matches or tournaments? Ill be in Tokyo, Kyoto and Kanazawa mainly.

Thanks in advance!!

It looks like the Konami Cup will on on at this time:

http://www.konami.co.jp/press/2007/0...9.04.16-e.html

Does anyone know if this is any good? Also, how would I go about buying tickets?

You'll need to be in Fukuoka, then, too. Because that is the location of the Kyushu Bassho in November. It is a grand sumo tournament. Great stuff.

http://www.sumo.or.jp/

It's Nov 11-26

Here is the English link:
http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng

ok, one more post:
The konami thing looks interesting. Not sure what it is exactly but I'd go. It's baseball.

Wanted to mention that I heard that college ball is big there (at least in Tokyo) and that they have game in November (actually I heard this when talking to some Aussies on the bus to the airport in late Nov a few years ago. They said there were "matches" the night before).

thanks! I'll check it out.

Getting to the Fukuoka Kokusai Senta is easy to do when the tournament is on. There are buses that go from Hakata station (the shinkansen station) nonstop to the arena. You can see some of the wrestlers up close as they enter the center and as they go out to their match. This is unlike the Tokyo tournaments.

Fukuoka has a good airport with a very short subway ride to Hakata station. So it would be very convenient to fly and get from the airport to the tournament (again unlike Tokyo).

I will be in Kyoto on the day that the sumo tournament is on (my hotel is booked already). Do you think it's possible top get a train or fly there for the day?

Also, I want to buy tickets to the Konami Cup - does anyone know how I can buy these in advance? I am extending my stay in Tokyo for this, and would be really disappointed to miss out.

Thanks so much for your help so far!

There are some Hikari shinkansen thru trains from Kyoto to Hakata that make the trip in about three hours (dep 7:42 arr 10:37). You could use those, or the Hikari connections at Shin Osaka, with a regular JR Pass.

Some Nozomi trains (non-JR Pass) can shave 25 minutes off of the trip. One-way ticket would cost 15,810 yen.

There is a JR Sanyo Area Pass that gives you access to the Nozomi shinkansen from Shin Osaka to Hakata. That pass is good for four days and is 20,000. You'd have to take a train from Kyoto to Shin Osaka to use it (540 yen, 25 minutes).

The Sanyo Area Pass is also good on the Sanyo line and the airport line to Kansai airport.
http://www.japanrail.com/JR_regionalrailpass.html

Am guessing that flying would cost about 20,000 roundtrip, minimum, plus transfers between Kyoto and the airport. So the train would be the way to go from Kyoto.

I think that you don't need a JR Pass for your trip (i.e. not the 7-day or 14-day all-Japan JR Pass). If you were to depart Tokyo and visit Kanazawa and Kyoto and return to Tokyo all in 7 days then a JR Pass would be economical. But not otherwise.

Well a 14-day pass would make sense if you did all of it Tokyo- Kanazawa- Kyoto- Hakata - Kyoto- Tokyo in 14 days.

13000 for Tokyo- Kanazawa
6000 for Kanazawa- Kyoto
13000 for Kyoto- Tokyo
20000 for Sanyo Area Pass
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52000 which is more than the 14-day pass.