Miko was never the greatest fan of Sumo wrestling. It wasn't that she didn't like the sport or didn't respect the athletes that participated in it. But in the course of her life as a wife and mother and then as a grandmother, she'd often found she hadn't had the time for following many sports closely. Children had to be raised and fed and by the time Miko's grandchildren were born and began to grow up, many of their interests weren't focused on wrestling of any kind. And being a loving grandmother had meant that she often indulged her grandsons' interests, which had proven to be dinosaurs. That had been one of, if not the reason she became a Gigantoraptor when she converted.
With work lined up for her at the Tokyo Museum of Natural History, Miko had gotten a fair amount of congratulations from her children practically ecstatic cheers from her grandsons. Though, Miko privately figured that they probably wanted to see her as a Dinotopian, but that wasn't too bad. The real thing was waiting for Tokyo to at least get one building that would be able structurally accommodate her size. That was presently something that was taking some time, mostly because of all the logistics that went into moving a large number of people to hotels and other places while one old apartment building was then to be demolished and replaced. Which had meant that Miko had to stay in Animalia until that was done.
That in turn gave her some free time, and many of the events of Lunar New Year had their fair share of exciting pieces of enjoyment. She'd seen some of the fireworks, but with some of the cold temperatures, she figured being inside would be better. The Sumo wrestling tournament just happened to be one the things thrown in as part of the Lunar New Year for the "Year of the Pig" that fit and was actually something she could recognize. It wasn't her favorite sport, but she did understand it to a degree.
"Um... excuse me," a male voice said from beside her, making Miko turn to the aisle where she could see Manfred standing there quietly. The Wooly Mammoth Animalian pointed with his trunk to the seat to Miko's right. "Is that seat taken?"
"No, I only had one ticket," Miko answered, "you enjoy Sumo wrestling?"
Miko then gestured with one hand to matt below them where the two wrestlers were engaged in tremendous contest of will and strength. Manfred shrugged a bit as he sat down and looked down to the ring where the two combatants were engaged in the match. It was something different from what he was used to, and he had some private questions, but he couldn't deny that there was interesting.
"Well... it's actually rather new to me," Manfred admitted, "but there is some curiosity about it... in that you could have people of such size show such strength..."
"Ah... the concept of thinking that Sumo wrestlers are just fat," Miko gave a chuckle, "that is merely their outer covering. Underneath it is a lot of muscle. And they will put a lot of work into maintaining that muscle. Think of it more like blubber on an Orca. The whale is kept warm, but is still well muscled and highly athletic."
"Interesting..." Manfred slowly, "Do you follow the sport..."
"Not particularly closely," Miko admitted with a small chuckle, "most what I know comes from some understanding of my culture... But beyond that, I cannot say precisely on the training regimen that the wrestlers perform."
There was a bit of a silence as Manfred nervously scratched one shoulder with his hand. He guessed that meant he wouldn't get too many answers on some of the ins and outs of the sport. Which was too bad, because there were some things that he was curious on, and much of what he saw only made him more curious.
"But it was a bit cold outside for me to keep watching some of the outdoor celebrations," Miko then continued, "So I came inside to follow one of the indoor events. Though... I suppose the cold isn't a problem for you?"
Manfred gave a small laugh and a nod. Some Humans that visited Lyre/Animalia from outside the area, and particularly from the warmer climates to the south, were always surprised Manfred wasn't bundled up the way they were. It was something that gave him a bit of a chuckle and made him fairly pleased with being a Wooly Mammoth Animalian.
"No, it isn't a problem," Manfred said with a nod, "and, so far, while it has been cold, we haven't gotten some of the huge snow storms that went through last year. Meant for a lot of shoveling with regard to the sidewalks around the buildings that belong to Animalia directly... Like the Great Hall and so on."
"So... what do you do when it doesn't snow that much?" Miko asked.
"There are often other things to check," Manfred gave a small shrug, "window screens and things like that. There's always something to do. Not to mention that Horizon has asked for consultation with regards to some of their ideas to actually bring back the Wooly Mammoth... the actual animal, not an Animalian. I don't know the full details... but I think Horizon has some ideas for me to be there to help keep control of the animals... at least as far as control goes with multi-ton animals from the Pleistocene."
"Might be easier than having escape a Tarbosaurus," Miko quipped.
"Wait didn't the Animalia Ambassadoria interview you were on say you were a Gigantoraptor?" Manfred asked slowly.
"That is what I am," Miko nodded, "but Gigantoraptor shared Cretaceous Asia with Tarbosaurus, a relative of Tyrannosaurus... though lighter than its American relative and there are also some differences in the skull as well. A lot of this is in relation to the work and things I've been studying... to ultimately work with museum for natural history in Tokyo."
Manfred only nodded while looking down to the battle on the mat. There was one human referee who maneuvered around edge as the two Animalians went through the match. The present match actually had two pig Animalians, who according to what had been announced had pet pigs who were then uplifted after Animalia had come into being. From the reports, they had been near the end of their natural lives and uplifting was something to save their pets. Now they were in a Sumo wrestling match to celebrate the year of the pig. It was in that moment when one of the two actually managed lift the other into air before moving his opponent out of the wing.
"Holy..." Manfred began, "he just lifted the guy he was against!"
"As said before... Sumo wrestlers are far stronger and athletic than many in the West would think them to be," Miko answered.
"I've never seen anything like that in Western wrestling... not in High School... not even in professional wrestling on TV," Manfred spoke, the latter part of the statement more to the fact that he didn't watch pro wrestling on TV.
"They are different styles," Miko commented, "what your high school and college wrestlers participate in has its origins in ancient Greece and Rome... and your professionals... are simply performance artists from many of the critiques that I've stumbled onto."
"Yeah... just about everyone knows that Pro Wrestling is fake," Manfred gave a chuckle, "but I must say... while I'm not personally the sort to get into this... it is interesting to watch."
"And for many, it is," Miko agreed.