Ventura Visits Japan

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura participated in a purification ritual Wednesday during a visit to a Tokyo shrine dedicated to the god of war and Japan's ancient sport of sumo wrestling.

The former professional wrestler, who arrived Tuesday on a 10-day mission to promote trade, visited Tomioka Hachiman Shrine in the eastern part of the city. Ventura bowed during the rite, in which the shrine's priest waved a sacred stick covered with white paper believed to ward off evil.

Also attending was Masa Â"Mr. TortureÂ" Saito, Ventura's old tag-team wrestling partner. Saito is now president of New Japan Wrestling, a major pro wrestling organization. In the early 1980s, Ventura competed as a professional wrestler here.

The Shinto shrine, originally built in 1627, is dedicated to Hachiman, the war god, and to sumo. Shinto is Japan's indigenous religion.

A group of area residents carried a portable shrine to welcome Ventura. He also saw monuments inscribed with names of past sumo wrestlers.

During his 10-day visit, Ventura will meet with the U.S. Ambassador to Tokyo, Thomas Foley, visit a Tokyo supermarket to view Minnesota products and take in the season opener of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves. The team plays the Sacramento Kings at the Tokyo dome on Saturday and Sunday.

On Nov. 9, the governor will leave Tokyo on a "bullet train" (high-speed express) to Osaka, a major commercial city in western Japan, to meet with Japanese travel media and tour operators before returning to Minnesota on Nov. 10.

By Kozo Mizoguchi
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