We finally had students! We just completed our first program. Intensive Course lasted 2 weeks and we had 80 students who slept at the school for 5 night stretches. We were camp counselors/teachers/entertainers for 10 days and we were exhausted, but it was fun to finally begin teaching after 6 weeks of seat warming in the office.
What a weekend we had!!! It was a quick trip (Jan 20-24), but we did so much while in Tokyo with friends Andrew & Daphne from North Carolina. We arrived late on Friday night and took our first subway ride to our hotel in Asakusa, a district about an hour from the airport. At one point, we looked around and noticed everyone had left the subway and we were being kicked out as well. We blindly followed the other passengers into another train and somehow ended up at the right stop. We owe much of our trip’s success to the many people that acted as unsuspecting tour guides and direction givers along the way. Even if they the most they could do was point, most of the Japanese people we came across wanted to help and we are very grateful for that!
SATURDAY was the day of S. We watched SUMO, went SHOPPING, bought SOUVENIRS and a SHOT glass for Luke’s collection, we ate SUSHI and we went SIGHT-SEEING at a SHRINE.
We woke up early and hit the ground running. We took the subway one stop to Ryogoku and bought tickets to a SUMO tournament. They’re all day events so we watched a few matches until about 11:00am and then planned to return for the big matches toward the end of the day. Leaving the arena, we watched a number of sumo wrestlers get out of cabs (poor cabs!) before we got the courage to ask for pictures with them. Turns out, they were very happy to oblige J I didn’t know whether to smile or put on a serious sumo face…my American tendencies won over and I smiled, but the sumo guys looked pretty intense.
From Ryogoku, we took the SUBWAY to Ueno Park where we visited the Sensoji Shrine and shopped at a street market. We were still learning about walking in Japan and it was a struggle until we realized they walk on the left side of the street, just like they drive. All of a sudden, we were moving with the flow of traffic instead of against it and it got a whole lot easier. However, it was raining and that added a whole new level of difficulty in navigating the streets: umbrellas. They are wide, bulky and everyone carries one. PLUS, we are taller than the average Japanese person…so their umbrella corners hit at about neck/eye level. I am happy to report that we all still have vision…in at least one eye… ;)
After a quick sushi snack at a conveyer belt sushi restaurant, we headed back to the sumo tournament and watched the best of the best of Japanese sumo wrestlers. Saturday was the day before the final day of a major tournament so we watched some pretty good bouts. We sat in the upper level, but I’m not going to call them nose-bleeds because I’m pretty sure the nose-bleed section was the one right in front where wrestlers were occasionally thrown from the ring, onto spectators! Those with front row seats sat on mats mere feet from the central arena. Picture this: HUGE sumo wrestlers wearing large man-thongs right in front of you. They stretch and lift their legs and do deep knee bends lifting their larger than life rear-ends right into the faces of the front-rowers. It was the one time I think I’ll be grateful for back row seats! We could only barely make out the man-boobs and body hair…I think I’ll stop there. But you’ve got a picture.
There’s a beautifully dressed referee who stands in the circle with the competitors and announces the progress with a continuous “Do do do do do do…” as they wrestle. Bouts lasted anywhere from 4 seconds to 15 seconds as the wrestlers tried to get their opponents to step outside of the ring or put a hand/knee down on the ground. When the finish, they help each other up, stand at opposite ends of the ring and bow. The winner is given a bow and an exclamation by the referee and applause from the audience. We felt very accomplished after having watched a truly Japanese tradition IN Japan so we didn’t feel bad eating some pizza for dinner. We rested our feet after a long day of walking at enjoyed each other’s company. We slept in our 8 x 8 foot hotel room and got ready in our 3 x 3 foot bathroom. It was a tight squeeze, but we spent most of our time outside exploring so it wasn’t a big deal.
SUNDAY
On Sunday, we ventured far from our hotel and found ourselves on the west side of Tokyo in a district called Shinjuku. We exchanged some money (because we had spent the majority of our yen on Saturday) and found a delicious burger joint for lunch. The next hour was spent walking 3.5 kms to Yoyogi Park. We were given some wrong information so “just walk 20 minutes in that direction” became an hour. Oh well, it was nicer on Sunday and not rainy so the walk was more enjoyable. Once we arrived, we soon saw what all the hype was about: weirdly-dressed people would be an understatement. It’s a place where all fashion statements converge. We saw one girl decked out in every color under the sun, boys in tights and skirts, and old men in strange jackets. Girls in hoop skirts and multi colored hair-dye jobs completed the whole thing for us. We gawked, shopped and took some pictures, and then we walked to Meiji Shrine, an Imperial Shrine next to the shops.
Tired from our epic walk, we went back to the hotel for a quick nap and then next door to a Nepalese restaurant for dinner. We jumped on the subway again and ended in Shibuya where in the busiest intersection in the world lies. When the crosswalk signs come on, they’re on all ways and it’s a pedestrian’s paradise. They get a minute to walk in all directions to cross the street.
We took some pictures and shopped a bit before heading back to Asakusa for the night. It was here where all the rumors we had heard about the expense of Tokyo came true for us. We found a cantaloupe at a small fruit shop that cost more than 12,000 yen, which translates to over $150 USD!
It’s official, Tokyo is the most expensive place I’ve ever visited! Even more so than Disney World, and that’s a challenge.
MONDAY
It was raining again for our last day, but we charged forward in our rain coats and umbrellas.
We took a quick stop by Sky Tree, the tallest tower in the world and made our way to the Tsukiji fish market to check out the massive fish for sale. We had some fresh sushi for breakfast. The salmon was so fresh; the consistency was like biting into a warm marshmallow. I barely had to chew! After all the fishy smells had completely soaked into our clothes, we rode the subway to the Imperial Palace to check it out. We took some pictures and explored the gardens surrounding the palace.
We made a critical error here. We could see Tokyo Tower from the palace so we assumed it was a short walk away. 3 kilometers later, we were sore, cranky and tired, so we took some pictures and headed back to Shibuya for some lunch. We had a lazy pizza slice in Sbarro and warmed up in the second floor eating area. We had a nice view of the Shibuya intersection and it was fun to watch the hundreds of umbrellas bouncing across the intersection. We started out on a quick walk in the rain and ended up buying some cute clothes in a shop. We went back to Shinjuku for round two of JS burgers and then we made our way to our new hotel in Kamata, a district closer to the airport. I have to say, we became pros at the subway station. We carried around a printed map of the different trains and stops and looked like such dorky tourists, but we never got lost!
After dinner, we got to our hotel and played Quiddler and ate grocery store snacks with Andrew and Daphne until midnight. At 7:30am, we found ourselves on a bus headed to Haneda International Airport. We left a sunny Japan after 3 days of rain and overcast weather. Oh well, I’m sure it was not as congested because of the weather. We were glad to be headed home to Korea because we were tired and out of yen (!) but it was a wonderful trip. We saw what we wanted to see and ate sushi twice, so we were satisfied.
Thanks for reading. We hope you enjoyed hearing about the trip, picturing the Sumo wrestlers in their thongs J and seeing the pictures. We’d love to hear from all of you…we miss you!
Rachel & Luke
