Days 8 & 9: Nagoya, Tokyo, Shibuya

Resting masterfully at the intersection of sport, ritual, and mass, sumo wrestling is entertainment at its finest. 

Two featherweights prepare to duel

Tournaments last 14 days with rookies squaring off in the mornings and the vets going later in the day. 

The Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium  was relatively empty when we arrived for the low-rank matches at 11am. We moved from our back row seats up to a set of four floor cushions that constituted ring-side box seats. From there we had quite the view of the wrestlers squashing into each other. It was awesome. We only half understood what was going on but between the cushion seating, noodles from the concession stand, and gnarly takedowns, it was an afternoon that couldn't be beat. 

Some big boys 

Afterwards we checked into our hostel in Tokyo, a run-down white building in the middle of nowhere. Inside the smelly entrance, an ugly smattering of men was making grunting noises and Dickie was headed to the couch to pass out. Tau Epsilon Phi, it appeared, was solvent and thriving. 

The beds made no sense. They were large cupboards that held a single mattress. 

Dick was wary of the fact that the lock was on the outside. We were sitting ducks for any deranged backpacker who wanted to lock us in our capsules. For safety's sake, we ran a couple of lock-in simulations before going to bed, but Dick was never able to escape. 

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Anyways, that's about it from Japan, folks. Tomorrow we'll so a little shopping in the Shibuya district before shipping back home to New York. Thanks to everyone for following along -- we'll try to do better next time!

 People are sometimes used as horses in Japan. Neat!

Day 7: Takayama

Long, tiring day so I'll be brief. 

Took an hour-long bus to Kamikochi today to go hiking. We were loading up on snacks at the bus stop when I saw a familiar sight. 

Milk from TEP

As we hiked along rivers and ponds high up in the mountains, we had lots of time to clear our minds. Towards the end of the hike we stopped at a small wooden tea stand. "I feel so zen right now, I wish I was a tree" remarked Dick over a cup of green tea. Another great day in the books. 

Great views, better company :)

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 7:

- There are no public trash cans on the streets anywhere. If you have a piece of garbage, you're stuck with it for the rest of the day.

- Found some look-alikes:

 Japanese Brett

 Japanese Green

Japanese Segal

5 Japanese Dickies

Day 6: Nagoya

We were walking through a park on the way to a sumo tournament when we heard hip hop blasting from behind some trees. The music led us to a group of kids who were trick slack-lining, which is when you bounce and do flips on an inch-wide rope tied between two trees. 

A small crowd had set up chairs/tents and was barbecuing on the sidelines. Between the music and the cheering crowd, the atmosphere was awesome. There was one grandmaster teaching the others how to do advanced stunts. He was sweating a lot, like Beispel on the bus to DMB except less tears. 

After watching for a bit we were invited to jump in. Dick was more of a liability than anything else. 

By the time we had our fun slackin' the string and made our way to the sumo gym, tickets for the day had sold out. We bought tickets for Tuesday instead and were on our way out when we met a sumo preparing for his next match.

Japanese Mike Green

Our next destination was Takayama, a small city located in the Japanese Alps. The receptionist at our hostel was very excited to tell us she had American treats in the communal snack bowl on her desk. We politely declined her offer with an "ugh!" when we saw that her idea of an American snack was half a Fruit by the Foot in a bowl of onion chips. 

An American classic

"I thought Americans loved this snack!" she exclaimed, surprised. 

After we checked in we settled in and enjoyed a little down time for the first time in our trip and went to bed early. Tomorrow we'd be hiking the Alps. 

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 6:

- 7/11 is on every corner, in every mall, at every train station, everywhere. It even has its brand of own ATM's in the local banks.

- Best Purchase: 88 cent half-gallon waters from 7/11. 

- Worst item brought from home: Pants. Heavy in the backpack, hot on the legs. We carry everything with us in one backpac each, so every pound counts and pants have no business in Japan.

- Biggest dupe: Cat toy at the morning market for ¥300. 

Nope, that's just some sticks you found on the ground.

Day 5: Hiroshima and Kyoto

Dick was a bit nervous when we stepped off the train at the Hiroshima station. Between the possibility of lingering radiation and/or lingering bad blood from WWII, Dick stressed that today was NOT a day you wanted to be caught sleeping. 

Not today

We headed for the WWII Peace Musuem and surrounding monuments for a look back to August 6, 1945. Not much to say other than the historic documents and graphic images make a strong case for peace.

A watch stopped at 8:15am -- the exact moment the atomic bomb exploded. 

The trees in the surrounding park did not ease Dickie's fear of radiation. In addition to growing branches, leaves, and other normal tree things, they were also sprouting grass. 

Yikes!

When we had seen all the sights in Hiroshima, we came back to Kyoto to our first Japanese-style hostel. It was a 100 year-old wooden house with small rooms.  Guests here are provided with some weird stuff: a tea set, the world's smallest toothpaste, pillows stuffed with beans instead of down/cotton, and a floor pad to sleep on. 

Toothbrush and toothpaste for Japanese ants

The only truly odd part of the hostel was that there were no toilets, only footbaths where one would expect the toilet to be. At first, the footbaths were too cold for us to keep our feet in for more than 3 or 4 minutes. But by the end of our stay Dickie was able to submerge for 15 minutes, easy.  

Frigid foot bath

Anyways, after a bit of rest we got into the vodka that Dickie had been hauling around since we picked it up at Duty Free in Canada. We got good and liquored up and headed out for the  clubs the hostel recommended. 

Kyoto at night looks nearly the same as it does during the day, except the night is lit by flashing neon signs and the streets are absolutely SOAKED in puke. 

We arrived downtown to a complete zoo -- kids booting in the middle of sidewalk, rolling their unconscious friends through the streets, and passing out in parking lots. Those who were still conscious passed the time by pulling trig into the river. I checked my watch -- it was 11pm. Needless to say, Japan is home to some of the sweetest bros on earth. 

Oddest part of all of this was that, as much of a madhouse the streets were, the bars were super tame. All of the places we went to held about 30 people max, and consisted of small groups sitting around tables with music softly playing in the background. How and why did these kids get so wasted, we wondered. 

Eventually we found a bar that was a bit more what we were used to. We spent the night there before going home, taking a nice long footbath, and called it a night. 

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 5:

- Jaywalking is completely non-existant here. Even on narrow backroads void of any traffic, nobody budges until the light shows the blinking green man. Dick thinks this is how pedestrians display their respect for drivers -- I don't know what to think. It's a huge inconvenience. 

- Whenever anybody walks into a store/restaurant, all of the workers scream Japanese greetings at you. It's startling and we have no idea what they're yelling at us. Not wanting to be disrespectful we just shout back. 

Day 4: Kyoto

"If you want to feel Japanese, you have to look Japanese" 

"Mom," I would reply, "go away I'm in the bathroom"

My mother's words were not lost on me. Like Jackson at a buffet, I recognize something good when I see it! If we wanted to make good on our vows to assimilate (see post from Days 1 & 2) we would need to change our appearance. Our fourth day thusly begins at a barber shop called QB's House, stationed snugly between the Gap and Auntie Anne's at the Aeon Mall. 

All of the hair cutters were playing dress up doctor. "I hope they just cut our hair and don't remove our spleens!" Dickie joked. I sat down in the chair and asked the kind gentleman to give me the cut that the Japanese tweens were rocking. He said back to me something in Japanese that seemed like "I'm so sorry -- I hate to be a bother but what?" And so began the lengthy process of describing a hair cut using hand motions. 

He cut me pretty short but very Japanese, then vacuumed the extra hair clippings off of my head using a vacuum that was attached to the ceiling before sending me on my way. Premium service for a small fee of ¥1000 ($10). 

When I got up, it was clear as day that Dickie was unable to communicate "Japanese hair cut" to the non-English-speaking barber. I should have known -- the whole while that I was getting my cut I heard him behind me saying to his barber/doctor "Number 5 buzz over here, 7 over here. No... 7 there, 5 here" over and over, which manifested itself in a semi-Japanese mohawk. 

Looking more Japanese already!

We were groovin' the Japanese vibe and rented bikes for a 10-mile bike ride around Kyoto. We spent the day touring the back alleys of the city visiting the Golden Temple, Rock Garden, and other historic sites. 

Golden Temple 

Rock Garden

Inside the gardens of the Golden Palace, visitors can purchase a prayer candle, light it, and ring in the prayer with a ceremonial bell. There are specific candles for specific prayers that cover all of the basics -- schoolwork achievement, traffic in safety, a got of marriage, and so on. Dick opted for the classic be in safe and sound and I picked safety in family. The most popular candle by far was the find employment that was absolutely flying off the shelves. Not sure if it gets you a random job or a job that you want, but in today's economy it's well worth the risk at just fifty cents (¥50).

Not sure what the big candles on the right do, but for ¥200 they must be powerful. 

After a long day we returned to our hostel, a six-story building that boasted multiple lounge areas, kitchens, and movie screening rooms in addition to the spacious and modern living quarters. The only negative was the razor-thin mattress that barely covered the hard wooden bed frame. Only by observing the more experienced and elderly hostel-goers with a keen eye did we discover how to properly sleep on such a Japanese mattress. Crisis averted!

Japanese sleeping style 

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 4:

- When getting a hair cut, a #4 buzz is shorter in Japan than it is in America. Way shorter.  

- K's House Hostels are unreal. Highly recommended. 

- It appears that only major streets are marked with street signs, and often times they are only in Japanese. This provides an enhanced traveling experience for travelers. 

Transit directions to lord knows where

- Biking and walking directions provide an even more enhanced traveling experience, and are only comprehensible by those able to navigate based on pure intuition. 

Day 3: Tokyo

Welp we missed the tuna auction. 

By the time we got to the fish market at 5:30am, seats for the auction had all been reserved. But they have a saying here:

"When life hands you adversity, get over it and get AMPED"

(More here: http://youtu.be/11quU3nqkVE)

So, with tears in our eyes but excitement in our hearts, we explored the rest of the bustling market.  

We headed for a tiny sushi bar in the middle of the market, which was widely regarded as the best in the area. Someone would later tell us that the line to be seated was already several hours long by the time we had gotten there (6:30am).  However, we were seated in under 30 minutes by using the ol' American shortcut --being unable to read the Japanese signs about where the line starts.

Edit: Found the sushi place in this CNN article. 

Outside the sushi bar

We took our seats at one of the 12 stools and our personal sushi chef got right to it. We never ordered anything, we just ate whatever the chef put on our trays. The food was exquisite -- might as well have been Chef The Habe (#sadie) behind the bar, slicin' the wheesh. Fortunately it was not. 

After we finished eating, they pushed us out the back exit into an alleyway of the busy market and it was like nothing happened. We headed home for a well deserved nap, then took a short ride to the touted high-tech district of Akibaraha. 

Akibaraha did not meet our expectations of a futuristic city that is packed with modern electronics. Street vendors there were pedaling corded landlines and kids crammed into the Sega stores to blast boges and play the crane game for stuffed Pokemon. If this is the future then keep the sardine sushi coming cause I don't wanna see tomorrow. 

The future. -___-

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 3:

- We think you're not supposed to hand money directly to cashiers. They sometimes look down at a tray when you try to pay and wait for you to drop money there, but other times become upset if you slam money into the tray while they're holding their hand out. This has caused confusion. 

- Re: doctors masks from previous post. We now suspect the masks are a form of dress-up, as we have encountered other dress-up costumes as well such as our waitresses dressing in hee-larious maid costumes. 

I'll have the steak please!

Days 1 & 2: Tokyo

Dear readers,

Konichiwa from Japan!

Dick and I are on our third day here in Japan and, like a good episode of Family Feud, much has happened. Allow me to fill you in...

Our 15 hour flight to Japan started at the crack of dawn at 7am on Monday. When we landed in Tokyo, the clock read 2pm Tuesday -- it was already the next day. By using science, Dick and I had watched 31 hours elapse in just 15 hours, a feat of high-efficiency that one would expect of this duo. 

An hour on the train and short walk in the sweltering summer humidity would find us at our hostel in the neighborhood called Nakano. We checked in and followed the Japanese tradition of taking off your shoes as you enter the building and tossing them into a festering heap of other strangers' shoes. Taking a page out of Hochberg's book, we took it easy that first night after a grueling day of travel and hit the sack after exploring the neighborhood. 

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 1:

- Tons of locals wear doctors masks when roaming about. Unsure if its because they're sick or they're afraid of getting sick. Will report back. 

- People are short here.

- Cars do NOT drive on the right side of the road like in the States. 

- Waiters do not accept tips. 

- About one in four people speak English. 

Day 2: Tokyo

By the time Dick convinced me to get up at 4:30 am, he had been up for 3 hours. He said he couldn't sleep partly due to jet lag and partly due to the snoring monster in the adjacent bunk. When we saw later that the monster was a girl, we laughed hee-lariously and congratulated her on a well executed fake-snoring prank, since any girl snoring that loudly for real would surely be in a hospital by now. 

As we were walking about at 5am, the funny signs, mysterious doctor masks, and men stuck in their childhood (see below) kept making us lol!

Why were they playing Pokemon on the TVs on the train? How come people had such funny hairdos? We vowed to become more assimilated and to take in the local culture during our time here, a promise we would make good on in the coming days. 

On this day though, after a fresh sushi breakfast, we accidentally visited the Tokyo Tower. Dickie, who was leading the way, had made the classic blunder of mistaking the Tokyo Tower (below) for the Sony building we wanted to visit. 

(Copyright: Sony Electronics)

The Tokyo Tower was as boring as it was tall so, no sooner than we had arrived, we were on our way to the real Sony building in Ginza to demo some of their latest products. Mostly, though, we ended up snoozing in their theater room for a good while -- me getting some shut eye in the Lazy Boy while Dick passed out next to me, drooling on every couch Sony owns. 

Later, we visited the Imperial Palace,

walking the grounds and picking grapefruits from the forbidden trees of one of the gardens. 

On the way home, we caught a Yokohama Baystars baseball game.

It was unreal. The fans were absolutely bonkers, whooping and hollering different songs the entire 9 innings. The mascots, which were two power rangers and a giant kitty, kept us hyped the whole game, while the announcer/DJ bumped all of the hits. 

 By the time we got back to the hostel we were absolutely wiped (see: Shelman's backside) and went to bed early. We needed sleep like Dickie needs a haircut, and sleep we got. The Tsukiji fish market opened at 5am the next day after all, and we didn't wanna miss the tuna auction!

TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM DAY 2:

- Not a single person drinks coffee on the commute to work, even at 6am

- Sardine sushi, even in Japan, well... it ain't great. 

- The second piece of sardine sushi... it ain't any better. 

- Definitely check out a baseball game if ever in Japan.