Nan ni?

There are no spiders in Japan

SUMO!

I saw Sumos!! They're big.

Tuesday I went down to Tokyo on the night bus. It left at 12:50am and got there at 6:00am. The ride was horrible, I only slept an hour or so out of the five hours it took to get there. I had quite a shocking awakening when I arrived as well. When I got on the bus it was dark, of course, and I took a seat next to this person wearing a red flowery top, long pointy white shoes, and long hair. I thought I was sitting next to a woman but when we got to the station at Tokyo I discovered it was a man, oops. Moral of the story: Japanese fashion is tricky.

After I got there I went straight to the fish market. It was crazy! Its so busy there, people everywhere, and if you don't get out of the way they will run you over and you'll end up face down in muddy fish gut muck. Lemme tell you, there is some strange stuff that comes out of the sea. Anyway, around 7:00, I had fresh fish for breakfast, oishii! and then headed to Ginza for a walk through one of the gardens across from the Imperial Palace. It was so beautiful. I got to see a turtle chase a cat, yes you read that right, but you can reread it if you want.

After that it was over to the Yebisu beer museum for a quick tour and refreshments. It was pretty cool there, they had this video about a beer fairy getting captured from a farmer by an evil jester, or at least that was my interpretation, it was all in Japanese, go figure. The beer was excellent. They have one called Black that tastes like coffee.

At about 1:00 I made it over to Sumo town. The whole area around the arena is everything Sumo. Its a really funky little area. Inside the stadium the first level is all "box" seating, which is just sitting on the floor on cushions surrounded by metal poles. Thats where we sat. On the second level there are chairs and its so so far away. Anyway, I was there for about four hours and... yeah... I saw sumo. Its very ceremonious and a lot of the wrestlers are pretty humorous. I took lots of pictures and they will be up soon. The best part was the very last match. Asa Shoru, the champion, was up and he and his opponent were dragging out the whole stretching and grunting and crowd working process when all of a sudden they collided and after a few seconds Asa was thrown out of the ring and the whole arena went insane. Everyone on the first level began flinging their cushions onto the dohyo (ring) where the winner stood and did his victory posing and flexing. Meanwhile, there is a mad wave of red cushions coming down over the crowd. Old ladies are getting knocked in the head and people are tripping and the ushers are going hectic trying to collect all the flying pillows. Apparently its tradition to throw your cushion if the champion is beaten. It was all a bit shocking really and then it was over and everyone was piling out.

Once that was over I ate traditional sumo food at a small Japanese restaurant near the station. It was seafood nabe (stew) and it was flipping fantastic. So good, and you cook it yourself at the table, fun and flavor, can't beat that.

All said, it was a great sumo adventure. Up next, hiking Mt. Bandai.

Tea Time!

So, last week I went to a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. It was at a friend of a friend's house just outside of the city. They have a beautiful garden that smelled so good. We actually had to postpone our visit by a week so that we could go when a particular flower was in bloom. They have a room just off the garden that we sat and chatted in. The weather was perfect so they opened up the doors to the outside and it was like we were inside sitting in the garden.


After a bit, they started the ceremony. The absolute worst thing is having to sit on your knees. The Japanese people here who can speak English describe it as "pins and needles," but its more like excruciating numbness that results in dagger sharp pains which causes light headedness and even a bit of nausea. Anyway, apart from that, it was fantastic. The host has to be so meticulous about every movement. There was a right way to hold the ladle and the bowls, a right place to put the lid and the handkerchief, a process to every movement, pouring the water and whisking the tea. The man who performed the ceremony wore traditional pants and kimono top and sat on his knees even longer than we had to. Very impressive. When we finally got to the drinking the tea part, it was delicious. Gone in about 60 seconds but it was good while it lasted. All in all, it was a pretty awesome experience.


As of late, I've been trying to cook Japanese style. I made tempura last week and miso soup. Tonight I made pumpkin soup, which might not be Japanese but I had never eaten pumpkin until I came to Japan so to my mind its Japanese. I'm not sure what next week's experiment will be, if you have any suggestions, let me know. I think I'll just make sushi again, it was good.

Congratulations to James and Deana who graduate this month! I'm so proud of you guys. I wish I were home to celebrate with you! Did you get the cards that I sent next week?

On Sunday, I will be performing a yosakoi dance at a festival in Koriyama. I'm a little nervous but mostly excited. I've never done anything like this before. There will be some people, mostly students, there taking photos so I might have some to post. It goes all day long and we perform four times, once in a parade and three times on stages. Afterward, the dancing team wants us to go to a drinking party with them. I'm not sure if any one realizes what a huge part drinking plays in their culture. They go out drinking all the time, for any and every occasion. Students come in hungover ALL the time. I don't think we could ever get away with this at home. Anyway, this will be a good opportunity to further my sake connoisseuring. Letcha know how that goes.

Live Broccoli

The weather is finally warmer. I've put away my winter coat for good now and even some of my sweaters. I've been able to wear shorts and t-shirts outside and have even been hiking in them a few times over the last couple days. Mount Shinobu (the one that looked like dead broccoli a few months ago) is alive again. Last month it was dotted with pink patches of cherry blossom trees and now its a bright fresh green from all the new budding leaves. It smells good and the only down side is number of bugs that woke up with the the sleeping trees. This morning is beautiful. The morning birds and the crows and singing (screeching) and I can see the mountains in the distance semi clearly. I use them now to determine how cloudy it is and how much precipitation is in the air. Last night, hiking up Shinobu, I heard some pretty strange birds (animals) in the trees. Maybe one was a whippoorwill, not sure. As long as they weren't those flying monkeys from the Wizard of OZ I'll be ok. Today I'm doing a special topic class at work about natural disasters. Because of the geography of the city, not many disasters have happened here or even have the possibility of happening. Its a nice change from the storm ridden coasts of home.

My green tea skills are improving. In fact, I'm going to be a guest at a traditional tea ceremony next week. I can't wait, it should be pretty fantastic. The festival that I am dancing in is coming up soon. I think I've got it down pretty well now, its only the matter of stage fright I have to conquer. I've discovered the secret to good sake: mixers. Sake cocktails are far better than trying to down the rubbing alcohol aftertaste. My kitchen is multicultural this week. I made both seven layer dip and sushi rolls. Sushi is surprisingly easy to make and its a fantastic snack or meal, easy to eat and travel to work with.



I went to a Samuri Festival this week in Yonezawa. It was good but because of my work schedule I couldn't go on the day they had the parade and reenactment so it was a bit quiet. The food was still good though.



Just kidding, this is more like it...


YUM

I did get to see (hear) traditional music while I was there though. That was pretty cool.


Thats all for this week. More events to come soon.

(Sneak preview... SUMO!!)