Taking a child to see Santa will frighten them too but at least one isn't trying to make them cry-this contest seems pretty mean to me! However, it is a cultural thing so maybe they don't view the crying as being so traumatic to the infant??

Man, if I'd known about this contest, I would have flown to Tokyo with my oldest. Her cry was so loud, it would scare other infants into silence. And if crying is a sign of health, that would explain why the kid has had 2 colds in 4 years.

"Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" conjectures that a colicy baby gets fed more often to shut it up, so more colicy babies survive, therefore crying babies are in better health, at least in countries going through famine.

I can't help it - I kind of find it funny.

I so love it when you people take one tiny little news story off the internet and then run away with it without really knowing anything about it at all.

First of all, I am not sure about this year, but this particular baby sumo contest you are writing about had only about 84 babies participate last year.  Do you know how many babies there are in Japan?  84 babies and their parents are hardly representative of what the entire country is doing. YOu make it sound like every parent in Japan spent the weekend making their kids scream.

Secondly, this is part of a religious festival that I believe is over 400 years old.  Although is has been labeled as "entertainment" it is in fact based in religious belief.  

The way it actually works is sumo wrestlers each hold a baby, face each other and wait to see which baby will cry first.  If they start to cry at the same time, the winner is the one with the loudest cry.  If neither cries then they make faces and do things to try to get them to cry.

A Japanese proverb says tht 'crying babies grow fast' and they believe that the louder an infant cries, the more the  gods have blessed it.

Is it is "disturbing?" Guess it is your right to think so.  I hardly think having a baby cry for a few minutes is as "disturbing" as some of the  things that are done in the name of religion in America - mutilating a boy's penis, refusing to take a kid to a doctor because you prefer to pray, etc.    

I can't imagine any parent actually wanting their child to cry in fear. I think it's pretty awful. I also don't understand why we have to worry about being culturally tolerant in cases like this. Just because something happens somewhere else, we have to be tolerant of it?

Oh, and now that I've read Sherry's comment, I think she has some good points.

Asians are funny.

I'm kind of lost on this one. What's the big deal, so the kids cry, now it's abuse every time someone makes their kids cry? You ought to see my daughter howl when I take away the Play Doh and tell her it's time for bed. This seems a lot more defensible than all of the families piercing their newborn daughter's ears.