Arviat (Jan 26/05) - Four Arviat youth paid a visit to the land of the rising sun this past month.

Christopher Shamee, Shelton Nipisar, David Muckpah and Joe Karetak were selected by a Japanese television network to take part in a cultural exchange program focusing on sumo wrestling.

Arviat recreation co-ordinator John Main accompanied the youth on their journey and says the trip was nothing short of phenomenal.

After a close call with beating an incoming blizzard in Arviat, Main says the rest of the trip to Japan was tiring, but uneventful.

He says once the group arrived in Japan, staff from the Asahi Broadcasting Corp. (ABC), which was sponsoring the event, took extra-good care of them.

"They looked after our every need and really catered to the fact the kids were kind of shocked by the food over there," says Main.

"They really went out of their way to make them as comfortable as possible."

The Arviat youth trained with a professional coach at the Takasago Beya professional sumo wrestling club before locking up against four kids from Zimbabwe.

Main says while the kids were kept busy with the filming of the event, their hosts made sure they had plenty of free time for shopping and sightseeing.

"Tokyo is a vast city that's hard to describe with words because it's so massive.

"It makes Winnipeg look like Whale Cove."

The hectic schedule and dazzling display of sights and sounds kept the Arviat kids from getting too homesick during their visit to Japan.

And when it came time to actually get down to the wrestling, they put on a solid display.

Main says the Japanese were quite impressed by how quickly the kids picked up the sumo techniques.

"Sumo wrestling is not as simple as some people might think, just to throw another wrestler out of the ring.

"There's a lot of complicated techniques the wrestlers use and the kids really impressed us by how hard they worked during practice.

"Even when they weren't practising, they talked about the wrestling constantly." When the time came for the Arviat kids to match up with their counterparts from Zimbabwe, it became obvious the event wasn't exactly a true competition.

Main chooses his words carefully when he says the Canadian team lost for the purpose of the TV program.

"It seemed like they had the outcome already planned out, which isn't too surprising considering it's television.

"The coach for the African team was a Japanese rock star and the coach for the Canadian team was a famous Japanese TV personality.

"But we didn't focus on who won or lost the competition.

"The kids were treated like celebrities, had a blast and learned a lot from the experience, and that's what it's all about," said Main.

Main says it was flattering to be treated as well as they were in Japan.

He says the Japanese were truly gracious hosts to their guests.

"We should keep that in mind when Japanese people come here to work or visit and show them the same level of hospitality they show us when we're in their country."

Main says a large crowd was waiting at the Arviat airport to welcome the group home.

He says it was easy to see how proud the entire community was of its returning sumo wrestlers.

"The kids were treated like royalty in Tokyo and then got to enjoy being local celebrities when they returned to Arviat."