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Published: October 2nd 2005
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Big Lantern
Here is a big huge lantern at the entrance to the of the Asakusa temples (I forgot the real name of it but it's super touristy). Ok, so I have a lot to update on, and I hopefully I will be able to do it slowly but surely. There is really just so much that happens every minute of every day that I have no idea how I can adequately keep up. Fortunatley, I've been taking pictures almost everyday (except for those few scary days when I thought I had lost my camera), so when I come home I could give you a pretty good (and infinitely long) slide show of all the experiences in Tokyo. Taking pictures is actually kind of a weird thing... sometimes I don't like taking pictures when I am by myself because I feel like I am awkwardly drawing attention to myself or something. And when I am in a big group, I do not feel embarrassed to take pictures, but I feel like my shots become a lot more generic... like I notice what other people notice and therefore my photographs are a little more typical.
ANYWAY, a few weekends ago we all got to go to Asakusa for a Sumo Wrestling tournament. It's really fun to go with the whole group of IES students because it gives us a chance
Food Stall
Here is a typical food stall in Asakusa. to talk to and socialize with people that we don't always see... for being such a small group (only 65 kids), I only interact with a small percentage of them. So we all met in Asakusa which is an extremely touristy place (Annie, Jenny, and Family, I will take you here because they have a lot of "typically" Japanese things to do and buy and see). We walked around a kind of outdoor market with tons and tons of little souvenir shops. I have plans to go back there and buy people lots of Japanese memoribilia. Then I went with Sam into some of the side-streets and we tried on silk shirts and kimonos and stuff. It would be cool to have a genuinely Japanese piece of clothing, but I'm not sure when or to what occaision I would wear it. Sam is a very funny kid, I have a lot of stories about ridiculous things he's done, but maybe I will have to save those stories for a more private forum. Or he might not really want me sharing his ridiculousness... but in any case, we had a good time walking around. We got snow cones and sat in
Trying on Clothes
Sam, putting on a silk komono. this park area. There were some incredible shrines and a seven story pagoda, so it was pretty cool to see such traditional and extravagant architecture.
The whole group then took a water taxi from Asakusa to Ryokogo where the main sumo stable (the place where sumos train is called a "stable") is located. The water taxi was super fun. I felt like a little kid, I am so easily amused by boats. I just leaned out over the side and looked at everything that we passed. We saw the Asahi headquarters and there was a giant golden sperm on the top of the building. Asahi is a beer company and I cannot for the life of me understand why they would want a huge gold sperm as their mascot. Maybe it has something with men. There were also a lot of squatter settlements set up along the edges of the river (I think that Second Harvest actually distributes food to the tents along side the river). It was a super hot day and everyone was kind of melting, but being on the boat definitely cooled everyone down. I love boats.
When we got to Ryokogo, the IES staff took us
Asakusa Park
A little park area in front of a shrine. to a restaurant where we had an entire dining room to ourselves. We sat on the traditional tatami mats. It's pretty uncomfortable after while, I don't think American bodies are really used to sitting on themselves in quite the same way. I cannot imagine how uncomfortable it must have been for the big huge guys. Anyway, we at the food that sumo wrestlers eat. I forget what the name of the dish is, but is like a hot pot... there is just a huge pot of vegetables and meat and spices and noodles and things and you boil it in the middle of the table and then everyone gets lots of the soup and everything. Yum, it was sooooo good. Like one of the best dishes that I have had here. But I don't want to be as huge as a sumo, so I probably won't eat it frequently. After eating, they IES staff gave us tickets and we got to go see a match! It's pretty nice that the IES program paid for this outing... although I guess when it comes down to it, they're just redistributing our own money in entertaining ways.
The tournament was super cool. We
Boob Door
This door has like a million metal boobs on it. of course were located in the nosebleed section and so my pictures are kind of at a distance, but it was still just so awesome. These guys really are big! And it was hilarious because you could tell when a hairy one went into the ring because he was just covered in this layer of dark fur. The sport is very fast-paced and everything happens in extremely short intervals. The two sumos who are wrestling each other will prepare (stamp their feet, throw salt into the ring, look at each other in the eye, squat down, do the splits, etc. etc.) for several minutes and then the actual wrestling lasts for only a few seconds. I have a movie of one of the fights, so you will all have to see it when I get back. Or maybe you've seen it on TV, I remember someone back home saw it on ESPN or some channel once. We were allowed to drink beer in the seats (not that I would, mom and dad and grandma), have snacks, etc. and people really make an afternoon out of the event and kind of just hang out for the whole tournament. It reminded me
Huge architectural thing
7 story pagoda... i'm pretty sure that this structure was made with no nails... Japanese joinery. a lot of going to a baseball game or other sports event. The wrestlers get better and bigger as the night goes on. We stayed until the very end so that we could watch the champion-level wrestlers. They were enormous.
After the sumo tournament, we all went out to dinner because it was Carrie's 25th birthday. It's pretty crazy that some of the people here are so much older than me. I feel like such a baby! It was really fun, we went to an Indian restaurant and I had chicken curry. YUM YUM. But it was pretty expensive and no where near as good as Diamonds in Ithaca (sorry Aneesha, I know you hate Diamonds). Carrie is vegan, so it's pretty rare that she is able to find an actual restaurant where she can eat. Usually she buys enari from the convenie.
Ok, so that's all for the sumo story.
Love Molly
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Anne Luner
non-member comment
Hi Molly, I was searching the internet for IES, Chiba, etc and ran across this site and your blog. My son is with the IES group studying at Kanda this fall. It was a pleasant surprise to look at your photos and see Justin in your group shot at the sumo dinner. I've enjoyed reading your blog about your travels! Hope you contiue to have a wonderful year full of memories to last a lifetime!