May 27, 2019

It was a day of sumo-sized diplomacy.

Plenty of world leaders have tried to butter up President Donald Trump with flattery and favors. Japan's Shinzo Abe on Sunday raised the bar for all of them.

First Abe treated his friend to a round of golf (with tweeted selfie). Then the prime minister allowed Trump to take center stage at a sumo wrestling match, where he spent the better part of the day watching large men in loin cloths and bare feet brawl inside a ring.

When it was over, Trump did what no other American president has done. Climbing into the elevated dirt ring, or "dohyo," in ceremonial slippers, Trump presented a hulking 60-pound (27-kilogram) trophy to the tournament champion--a cup that Trump said he hoped would be used for "many hundreds of years."

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