Sumo!
What a great weekend! Friday was the hail and farewell, which turned out to be so not worth worrying about. Everyone came, ate and drank, visited, did their official hailing and left. I barely had to clean up after them! We were thrilled that many of the younger, single guys stuck around later than usual. According to XO, that right there was a sign that they are happy with their new(ish) CO.
The kids stayed upstairs with their devices and strict orders not to appear downstairs unless they were bleeding or in imminent danger. Will popped in once in three hours, but we didn't see the other two the entire time. It probably didn't hurt that we bribed them each with a crisp five dollar bill and a cookie...
Lord, the food was good! We did potluck...there was chili. Sushi made by one of our Japanese spouses and her mother. Chicken, veggies, pies, puddings, cookies, more cookies. I had a little sushi and that was about it. And lo, it was as Hans promised: I didn't have to do anything but clean pre-party. The ensigns brought everything else in. It was very low key, but I'm glad we've got it under our belt. I'm looking forward to having the wardroom come over when it warms up a little. One of the nice things about our townhome opposed to others is that it has a high, solid fence, so it's nice and private. It was crowded in the house, but we all squeezed together. It will be nice to have parties when it warms up and have chairs outside and flow inside and out.
Saturday we recovered from hail and farewell, did our shopping, etc. It was a quiet day.
Sunday we got on the ITT bus at 8:30. Had a nice, uneventful ride up to Tokyo, first stop: New Sanno Hotel. I think I've written about New Sanno before. It's our equivalent to Edelweiss, but more cosmopolitan, less lederhosen. Our tickets for the day included New Sanno's famous brunch...mmm, unlimited bacon and champagne. What a way to start the day. We all stuffed ourselves full of omelettes, mac-n-cheese, shrimp cocktail, bacon, cupcakes, crepes, cheesecake and again, the ubiquitous sushi. I think there may have been some fruit in there somewhere.
A quick visit to the New Sanno's excellent gift shop and we were on our way to the Tokyo Edo Museum...bonus stop! The museum is located right across from the Ryokogan, the Sumo stadium. What a great museum! Before it was called Tokyo, it was Edo. As you can see from the pictures, there were lots of models of the early city up to the 1950s. There were exhibits to keep the kids busy. One of the beauties of Japan is how safe it is. I feel completely comfortable going to a place like the Edo Museum and turning Josiah and Annika loose on their own to explore. I took William and we all went different directions. Cutest moment of the visit: William playing a dice/board game on a giant mat with a little Japanese boy about his age. They were both counting in Japanese and English and having a high old time together...so cute!
After the Edo Museum, we walked over to the Ryokogan to see the beginning of the 2:30 Sumo match. They had been fighting since 8:00 in the morning. I liken it to high school athletics. The "C" squad started early. We got there for the "B" squad and then varsity came on around 4:45.
How to describe sumo? Hmmm. These two big guys, scantily clad, come out and stomp around, throw salt to purify the ring, slap their bodies repeatedly, then crouch and face their opponent. Annnd then they get up, walk away, throw some more salt, slap themselves, then squat and face each other. Repeat about four times. Every time, you sit there, holding your breath thinking "Is this the time they're going to engage?". And then they stand up and return to psyching each other out.
But at last, they crouch for the last time and boom, Clash of Titans! Slapping is allowed, but the main goal is to get your opponent to touch the ground with something other than their feet OR drive them out of the ring. I enjoyed the bouts when they slapped each other a lot...kind of like a fight in hockey. Most of the time, the bout was over within seconds. I would say that the longest bout we watched was maybe about one minute. Short, very short.
Hopefully the pictures will do it justice. We were up fairly high, but still had a great vantage point. You will see people on mats on the floor surrounding the ring--those are the most expensive seats.
Enjoy!
The kids stayed upstairs with their devices and strict orders not to appear downstairs unless they were bleeding or in imminent danger. Will popped in once in three hours, but we didn't see the other two the entire time. It probably didn't hurt that we bribed them each with a crisp five dollar bill and a cookie...
Lord, the food was good! We did potluck...there was chili. Sushi made by one of our Japanese spouses and her mother. Chicken, veggies, pies, puddings, cookies, more cookies. I had a little sushi and that was about it. And lo, it was as Hans promised: I didn't have to do anything but clean pre-party. The ensigns brought everything else in. It was very low key, but I'm glad we've got it under our belt. I'm looking forward to having the wardroom come over when it warms up a little. One of the nice things about our townhome opposed to others is that it has a high, solid fence, so it's nice and private. It was crowded in the house, but we all squeezed together. It will be nice to have parties when it warms up and have chairs outside and flow inside and out.
Saturday we recovered from hail and farewell, did our shopping, etc. It was a quiet day.
Sunday we got on the ITT bus at 8:30. Had a nice, uneventful ride up to Tokyo, first stop: New Sanno Hotel. I think I've written about New Sanno before. It's our equivalent to Edelweiss, but more cosmopolitan, less lederhosen. Our tickets for the day included New Sanno's famous brunch...mmm, unlimited bacon and champagne. What a way to start the day. We all stuffed ourselves full of omelettes, mac-n-cheese, shrimp cocktail, bacon, cupcakes, crepes, cheesecake and again, the ubiquitous sushi. I think there may have been some fruit in there somewhere.
A quick visit to the New Sanno's excellent gift shop and we were on our way to the Tokyo Edo Museum...bonus stop! The museum is located right across from the Ryokogan, the Sumo stadium. What a great museum! Before it was called Tokyo, it was Edo. As you can see from the pictures, there were lots of models of the early city up to the 1950s. There were exhibits to keep the kids busy. One of the beauties of Japan is how safe it is. I feel completely comfortable going to a place like the Edo Museum and turning Josiah and Annika loose on their own to explore. I took William and we all went different directions. Cutest moment of the visit: William playing a dice/board game on a giant mat with a little Japanese boy about his age. They were both counting in Japanese and English and having a high old time together...so cute!
After the Edo Museum, we walked over to the Ryokogan to see the beginning of the 2:30 Sumo match. They had been fighting since 8:00 in the morning. I liken it to high school athletics. The "C" squad started early. We got there for the "B" squad and then varsity came on around 4:45.
How to describe sumo? Hmmm. These two big guys, scantily clad, come out and stomp around, throw salt to purify the ring, slap their bodies repeatedly, then crouch and face their opponent. Annnd then they get up, walk away, throw some more salt, slap themselves, then squat and face each other. Repeat about four times. Every time, you sit there, holding your breath thinking "Is this the time they're going to engage?". And then they stand up and return to psyching each other out.
But at last, they crouch for the last time and boom, Clash of Titans! Slapping is allowed, but the main goal is to get your opponent to touch the ground with something other than their feet OR drive them out of the ring. I enjoyed the bouts when they slapped each other a lot...kind of like a fight in hockey. Most of the time, the bout was over within seconds. I would say that the longest bout we watched was maybe about one minute. Short, very short.
Hopefully the pictures will do it justice. We were up fairly high, but still had a great vantage point. You will see people on mats on the floor surrounding the ring--those are the most expensive seats.
Enjoy!
Crossing the bridge into the museum
Detail of one of the city models
Josiah in the palanquin
Noh Theater
Will in the rickshaw
Will on the velocipede
Model of the first moving-picture theater in Tokyo--a little over the top, no?
Hello? Pete?
Playing dice with his Japanese friend
Walking to see sumo (the green-roofed building)
My thumb (ugh) and the different banners for each sumo stable
Sumo mural
They're not all huge--check it out. One of these things is not like the other...I kind of enjoyed looking at his nearly naked bum!
Overview of the stadium--notice the green mats around the ring.
Psyching each other out
Going to go for it this time?
Nope, going to get up and throw some more salt...
And then there was this guy, between B squad and varsity. He did some sort of elaborate dance, shimmying and stomping along the match lines. And the crowd went wild!
End of match bow twirling.
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