SUMO - September 26, 2009

Another fun experience in Japan - SUMO WRESTLING!!!

Sumo is the national sport of Japan and it is taken very seriously here! Tournaments are held 6 times a year and last about 2 weeks. The tournament we attended was at Ryogoku Kokugikan Hall in Toyko. The bouts begin with lower division wrestlers at 8:30am and continue until the highest division, Makuuchi, start around 3:30. (We didn't go for the entire day, just for the Makuuchi division.)

Getting set...or are they? One of the #1 things I learned about sumo is that it's verrrry ceremonial and bouts don't last very long. Soooo, wrestlers set up a MINIMUM of 3 times before they actually wrestle. There is lots of thigh slapping, salt throwing(to purify the ring), leg raising, stomping and going back to their corners to start all over again!

On the left is one of the Yokozuna's (grand champion) - making his ceremonial entrance with two attendants and the gyoji (referee). At right - dohyo-iri(entering the ring) ceremony in kesho-mawashi(ceremonial aprons).

All I can say about the actual wrestling - just picture 2 trains colliding. Two 300 pound men hitting full force is no joke...and just imagine what it's like for the little photographer sitting in the front row who gets crumpled when one of them goes flying off the platform!

Fuji pictures

I just found out that I can share pictures from facebook!!! Sooo, if you' like to see all the pictures (hundreds, literally!) from our Fuji trip, click here!

Mount Fuji - September 12, 2009

One of the #1 things on our to do list in Japan has always been to hike Mt. Fuji. We weren't sure if it was going to happen though, because the hiking season is from July to August and Shane will be at sea every summer. When we found out you can hike in September even though it's technically "closed" - we decided to go with an open mind, plenty of warm clothes, and the option of turning back if the weather got too bad.

It was a BEAUTIFUL day and great for hiking! About 200,000 people climb Fuji-san each year and the majority of them do so during the climbing season which makes it very crowded - 2000+ people per day. On our day the hikers were probably in the 100s - as you'll see it wasn't crowded at all!

Wow was it tough though...by far the hardest hike I've ever done! The summit is at 12,388 ft so the air gets very thin. The temperature is 40 degrees or colder at the top. The wind made it feel even colder (and is the reason for the bandana - my hair was everywhere!) Oh and the terrain was pretty crazy too...stairs, and rocks, and slippery dirt oh my!

Fortunately it didn't rain and we just paced ourselves and took lots of breaks! The pictures just don't do it justice, but you can see on the left the switchbacks that we weaved alllll the way up to reach the summit. Along the path are a number of huts with food, bathrooms, lodging, and STAMPS for your hiking stick!

This guy is burning a stamp into our sticks at one of the huts. The room also happens to be a "lodging" area - for a fee you can pay to sleep on the tatami mat floor. Many people choose to start hiking in the evening, sleep for a few hours, and then hike to the summit to watch the sunrise. We weren't sure if the huts would be open though, so we chose to get up really early and hike during the day.

It took us 6 1/2 hours to climb to the summit and 2 1/2 to come down. Believe me, it was a verrry long day! Fortunately there were plenty of photo ops - great pictures AND a good excuse to take a break!!!

Oh and in case you were wondering how cold it really was....that's snow on the left and icicles on the right!!!!

Once we made it to the top it was all worth it though!!!! We might have been just a little bit happy....

It's such a great feeling to accomplish something this difficult...and to share the experience with the love of my life...words just can't describe how amazing it feels!

Mt. Fuji Teaser

I'm a little overwhelmed with the mass number of pictures we took while hiking Mount Fuji, soooo, until I can sort thru them I thought I'd post a few of the pre-hike pictures. The 2 1/2 hour drive was an experience in itself since we had never driven out of our town or on a Japanese toll road before. Fortunately, our directions were good and we made it with no major problems!

Loving both of these signs (you can click on them to zoom in closer). If you're wondering, the sign on the right is NOT another parking sign. Is it scary that I can't tell you exactly what it is? :)

I was told by a Japanese lady that rest stop food is really good and she was absolutely right! They had two fast food choices: a burger place (looked really similar to mcdonalds or burger king) and the place we picked. You order and pay at a machine and then they call your number when the food is ready. Using the machine was a little tricky but we eventually matched up the Japanese characters on the picture with the characters on the machine. We were very happy that our food came and we made the right selection! Didn't know it, but we were eating our first plate of Japanese curry with pork that day - very tasty!

How can I possibly share rest stop pictures without showing the bathroom!?! A Japanese lady giggled when she saw me taking a picture of the squatty potty. If you've ever wondered why Japanese people in the states take soooo many pictures and don't seem to mind if people laugh, it's probably because they're laughing at themselves!! I CERTAINLY never thought I would be compelled to take toilet pictures! So, the pic on the left is the western toilet with your traditional noise making, water shooting, heated seat business going on. On the right is the Japanese style toilet. In some ways it's a lot less intimidating - okay, maybe it's not less intimidating, but it's DEFINATELY less complicated. At least it's pretty obvious how to flush it since there's only one button/handle! The "wash button" in the picture on the left was a little unclear to me...fortunately it was for flushing.

No exciting stories here, just a pretty picture on our drive!

Last but not least, an A-mazing picture of Shane trying on his rain gear!! Luckily it was a beautiful day and we didn't use it, but I'm oh so glad he tried it on and I got this picture!!