Hello Ozzies!
Back in track, with a new episode of my personal wacky wheels adventure in Japan. As usual, late. But I'm not hunting Alice's white rabbit, so I'm afraid you'll have to read old crappy entries until I catch up. I hope you'll enjoy it, at least as much as I do!
Today I'm going to talk our lovely visit to Edo-Tokyo museum...but don't worry, pain will not last for long. Ok, let's get serious!
So back to last last Wednesday. Vulcanus organization had prepared for us a tight schedule: morning at the Edo-Tokyo Museum, then tasting the omnipresent diet of anyone who calls himself a real sumo. And last, but not least...rumble, rumble, rumble (this onomatopeyic words are supposed to represent the sound of a drum before the great the great revelation) ...WATCH A SUMO TOURNAMENT, ON LIVE! Really, really good stuff. As Auntie says, "kick them with your best shot, so hard they don't know where they are" (well, maybe that sounded more like a Rocky Balboa's sentence…).
But I'm getting myself lost again. The Tokyo-Edo museum tells the story of Tokyo (the former Edo) since it became the political capital of Japan during the Edo Period (the emperor moved relatively recently here, since originally its residence was set in Kyoto). Beautiful paintings, carvings, manuscripts and objects of that time, plus some amazing reconstructions of some buildings of the Edo period and the Meiji restoration. It is definitely a good spot to introduce oneself to the city of , since much of the original stuff was destroyed during the Allied bombings in WWII. Of course, going there is quite useless if you don't have a guide explaining the basic historic line of Tokyo. For those who don't, no worries! The museum also offers free tour guides (in English) with Japanese guides. I don't know if they have to be booked in advanced. The thing is, they were waiting for us when we arrived.
This is a photo of a reproduction of a Kabuki theater (a typical type of Japanese theater). And here's myself, trying to test a sedan chair (this is the Word Reference translation for palanquin!):
Somebody should put a sign saying "Mind the roof"...
Edo-Tokyo Museum was nice, but Ryogoku is best known for this...
...this...
... (of course, I'm not talking about the guy with the suit!) and this:
You guessed right: Sumo! Ryogaku is where the Sumo Arena of Tokyo is situated. There are 6 Sumo tournaments during the year, and 3 of them take place in here. Do you know how they manage to be sooooo fat? They eat twice a day a super proteinic, hyper caloric meal called Chanko nabe (nabe is a generic term used for all the dishes cooked in a special pot called nabe). They also sleep something like 12 hours a day, just to make sure that all those meals become fat. I cannot tell you how it tastes, but I can say that is really good. The normal Chanko nabe has meat, eggs, fish and vegetables, all in the same dish. Some Vulcanus are "semi vegetarians" (which means they don't eat meat), so our chanko nabe didn't have meat. But it was delicious, that's for sure! Here are some pics:
This is the entrance of the restaurant (don't tell me how to go here, I'm afraid I wasn't paying much attention when they guided us here).
When we arrived, the food was already awaiting for us. Ñami! All the hours of museum left us with a big empty in the stomach. Just take a look at Stefano and Davide (the two Italians who will be going with me to Schlumberger).
And the round dish is the chanko nabe! Here's another pic, with all the Vulcanus sitting in my table:
The Japanese lady is Sato-san: she's our "mother" here in Japan, and keeps an eye on all of us.
Now that our stomach is full, the show begins: Next stop, the Sumo Arena of Tokyo!
Before the fights begin, the flag of each sumo is hanged outside the arena. You can smell tradition from a hundred yards:
And here's me and Laura, with the tickets and the fan gently provided by the guys at the entrance:
The long sheet contains the order of the fights: we got inside just in time to see the two most important categories of sumos: the Oozekis (the 1st category) and the Sekiwakes (2nd best). These are the only two categories in which sumos get paid for fighting. There is another title above the Oozekis, reserved for the "living gods of Sumo". They are called the Yokozunas. Once a sumo has been awarded with this title, he owns it for life. Now there are only two and, you know what? none of them is Japanese! They are Hakuho and Asashoryu. And both were fighting this day! Lucky me!
Ok, this was a stupid picture, Pepe and I were kind of forced to do it...
Bong!
The battle begins!
This is a photo of a reproduction of a Kabuki theater (a typical type of Japanese theater). And here's myself, trying to test a sedan chair (this is the Word Reference translation for palanquin!):
Edo-Tokyo Museum was nice, but Ryogoku is best known for this...
...this...
... (of course, I'm not talking about the guy with the suit!) and this:
You guessed right: Sumo! Ryogaku is where the Sumo Arena of Tokyo is situated. There are 6 Sumo tournaments during the year, and 3 of them take place in here. Do you know how they manage to be sooooo fat? They eat twice a day a super proteinic, hyper caloric meal called Chanko nabe (nabe is a generic term used for all the dishes cooked in a special pot called nabe). They also sleep something like 12 hours a day, just to make sure that all those meals become fat. I cannot tell you how it tastes, but I can say that is really good. The normal Chanko nabe has meat, eggs, fish and vegetables, all in the same dish. Some Vulcanus are "semi vegetarians" (which means they don't eat meat), so our chanko nabe didn't have meat. But it was delicious, that's for sure! Here are some pics:
This is the entrance of the restaurant (don't tell me how to go here, I'm afraid I wasn't paying much attention when they guided us here).
When we arrived, the food was already awaiting for us. Ñami! All the hours of museum left us with a big empty in the stomach. Just take a look at Stefano and Davide (the two Italians who will be going with me to Schlumberger).
And the round dish is the chanko nabe! Here's another pic, with all the Vulcanus sitting in my table:
The Japanese lady is Sato-san: she's our "mother" here in Japan, and keeps an eye on all of us.
Now that our stomach is full, the show begins: Next stop, the Sumo Arena of Tokyo!
Before the fights begin, the flag of each sumo is hanged outside the arena. You can smell tradition from a hundred yards:
And here's me and Laura, with the tickets and the fan gently provided by the guys at the entrance:
The long sheet contains the order of the fights: we got inside just in time to see the two most important categories of sumos: the Oozekis (the 1st category) and the Sekiwakes (2nd best). These are the only two categories in which sumos get paid for fighting. There is another title above the Oozekis, reserved for the "living gods of Sumo". They are called the Yokozunas. Once a sumo has been awarded with this title, he owns it for life. Now there are only two and, you know what? none of them is Japanese! They are Hakuho and Asashoryu. And both were fighting this day! Lucky me!
Ok, this was a stupid picture, Pepe and I were kind of forced to do it...
Bong!
The battle begins!
The origins of sumo fight are very much related with shintoism, so there's a ritual which takes place avery time there's a fight. For example, they raise the hands in the air in order to show the opponent they are not carrying weapons. They also spread salt in the arena to attract good luck for them during the battle.
One by one, all the sumos climb to the arena, and make a tour around it. The exception are the Yokozunas, whose status of "sumo gods" means that they came one by one after, and they perform a ceremony. Here are some pics!
See you in the next post Ozzies!
2 comments:
guillermo !! c'mon feed us with some news!!! i am starving to learn more =)))
Sorry for the delay...In fact, I'm having some problems with my computer. That's the reason why I'm taking all this time to post. But don't worry, I'll try to have something for the next days!
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