Monday was another early morning, as Jen, Miho and I woke up, ate, and left the hotel by 7am. We took the train to Ryogoku Station, where the last functioning Sumo stadium is. We waited in line for about 30 minutes, and bought tickets to watch a full day of the tournament! Usually tickets are ￥10,000 (about $100 and up!), but we only paid ￥2,150. What a bargain! The seats were in the nosebleed section, but beggars can't be choosers...
Miho and I practice our technique outside in line.
There is a drummer at the top of this stand, inviting everyone to come watch sumo.
This is the line we waited in. The banners on the right have sumo wrestler's names on them.
Asashoryu - a former champion.
Stitched together photo of the interior.
It was about 8:30 am, that's why it's so empty.
Each seat has it's own bottle opener. Genius.
Practicing my moves.
One of the first matches, between two jo-no-kuchi. Chiri-o-kiru, Sumo respects fair-play.
We took a break and went to Akihabara, the electronic center of Japan. It's also famous for Maid Cafes. I think you can understand what that means.
She was handing out flyers for a cafe.
"No pictures, please." Too late, sucker.
Took a photo with two junior wrestlers on the way back to the stadium.
Headed back to the stadium. It filled up fast. It was a sold out tournament day.
The guy on the right is huge...
... but the guy on the left was victorious.
This is called dohyo-iri, a ceremony preformed by the maku-uchi rikishi, the highest level of wrestlers.
Lunch time! This is chanko - a stew that's super delicious. Sumo wrestlers eat it. I love it.
I asked them to look mean. They're so cute.
Takamisakari! He's my favorite wrestler. He's funny. He gets very emotional when he wrestles.
One of the Yokozuna (highest ranks) goes through the traditional dohyo-iri ceremony with his tachimochi (sword-bearer) and tsuyuharai (attendent). The referee is called a gyoji.
Advertisement for fudikake during the match.
In the station on the way to Tokyo Tower.
In front of Tokyo Tower!
All the gas stations in Japan have the pumps hanging from the ceiling. I like it.
View from the tower.
Tokyo subway map. Very confusing.
We had Pizza Hut (thanks Tim) pizza for dinner. Jen was beyond excited. It was pretty damn tasty.
1 comment:
Pretty sure it says Pizza Hut (aka The Hut) on the box. Plus dominoes corporate color is blue. Pizzafail.
ps: Tokyo tower is on my Japan webcam so i know when the sun is up in Japan.
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