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Ben: Ayako, (1) have you ever been to see sumo?
Ayako: Nope. Why are you asking?
Ben: Well, I'm planning on going to the New Year Grand Sumo Tournament in January and (2) I was hoping you could show me around if you've been before. ...How come you haven't been to one? Sumo is supposed to be popular in Japan right?
Ayako: My grandad digs it, but I don't. Personally speaking, I think (3) it's probably less popular here than it is outside of Japan.
Ben: Really? I've always wanted to go and see sumo ever since I came to Japan four years ago. But you always take me to ball games and (4) I've kind of had enough of that.
Ayako: Yeah, well, tough. Baseball and soccer are Japan's two most popular sports. Sumo is definitely not on my top 10 list of must-sees.
Ben: Huh, is that so. (5) Back in the States, (6) soccer was like the last thing that my friends and I would wanna watch.
Ayako: WHAT?! You mean you've never seen Beckham play live?
Ben: No, and I don't plan to unless someone pays me. My obvious favorite would be football. That's a no-brainer. Hey, did you know that the winning team of the Super Bowl gets a congratulatory phone call from the president?
Ayako: Nope.
Ben: So when Obama moves into the White House in January one of his first tasks will be to call up that lucky team. So it just goes to show that (7) football is more important than any other sport in the U.S. There's a bit of trivia for you.
Ayako: Great, and did you know the trophy of the basho is called the Emperer's Cup. But just because I'm Japanese that doesn't mean I have to like sumo more than soccer. Sorry. (8) That's just the way it is.
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