Japan - Day 3

I would love to report that I awoke this morning feeling refreshed, well rested and in the comfort of my own bed. Sadly none of this was true. Snorlax's snoring was so unbearable I had decided enough was enough and ended up heading downstairs in the empty bar area where there was fortunately and strangely, an empty bed area. Bish woke me up and waited for me in the common room for me to get showered and changed.

Our first spot of day was to visit Yoyogi Park and the Meiji Shrine. My friend at work had told me that it was a hipster place to be on a Sunday so naturally I thought we would fit in! We exited Yoyogi station and made our way up a small hill towards the park area. The weather today was gloriously sunny and warm, a fine day for sightseeing in Japan! We somehow took a wrong turn and ended up at the entrance to the Meiji Shrine instead of the park. We were greeted by a huge wooden Torii gate at the beginning of a wide gravel

pathway, lined with tall green forest trees. The sunlight filtered through the cracks made by the trees and I took the opportunity to take a few good photos!

Bish and I made our way down the gravel track. This may seem odd to comment on but I couldn't help notice how immaculate the path was. No leaves, no rubbish and perfectly swept. I later learned that this was because the area employed a worker who's sole job was to ensure the pathway was kept free of leaves and rubbish. Commitment! We walked along the pathway and up to the Meiji Shrine which opened out into a large courtyard space where the temple sat. It was here Dan and I were taught the proper Japanese ritual when entering a temple space, which was to remove our shoes, face the temple throw coins into the big offering grate, bow, clap twice and bow again. We paid our respects and turned around to realise we were fortunate enough to witness a Japanese wedding ceremony taking place. There was a slow procession led by a priest in white and purple robes in heavy clog shoes to which the wedding party followed. They even had someone holding out an umbrella to shield the groom from the sun. I stood and took many photos here, before realising I was being politely ushered out of the way as I would be in the way of the procession.

Upon leaving the shrine area we discovered an entrance to the shrines surrounding ponds and gardens. It cost 500 yen but many people were paying so we thought we'd give it a go. We walked through a spider infested forest where huge webs were spun across the walkways, trees and bushes lining the pathway. I decided to let Bish go first. At the end of the pathway we reached an idyllic traditional Japanese garden with a tea house at the top of it and paths winding down to an lily filled pond. Koi fish swam peacefully through it and dragonflies danced amongst the flowers. We stayed here a while to soak up the warm sun and peaceful atmosphere before braving the spider infested pathways once more out of the gardens.

Upon exiting the gardens Dan and I made a pit stop in a nearby cafe in the park area that served up a popular dish that I'd read about during my research for the holiday, Takoyaki. This is essentially deep fried octopus balls where small chunks of octopus are coated in flour, cabbage and egg, deep friend and served with a sweet sauce called, imaginatively "Takoyaki sauce" which is then topped with pink shavings of dried bonito and mayonnaise. Bish for some reason didn't look too keen! However he did try a couple and said they weren't bad. I on the other hand loved them! Dan quickly proceeded to purchase a banana and ice cream in an effort to reassure his stomach that he would be ok.

Our next stop would be something the inner child in me had been

looking forward to since we landed in Japan.. the Tokyo Pokemon Center. Before this we walked through Harajuku, which is the place to go in Tokyo if you are into fashion. All the big names are here (Prada, Gucci etc etc) as well as alternative fashion/cosplay stores. We didn't stay here long as clothes were not really our interests and also it looked an expensive place to shop! Onward to the Pokemon Center! The center itself was so famous it was signposted from the subway station we got off at, and it was only a short walk away up some steps into the base of a skyscraper which contained several shops (including the pokemon center) on the ground floor. Many kids were hanging around outside of the store and had also formed a long queue. Fortunately, we had arrived on a competition day where kids battled their pokemon card decks against each other and this queue was for the competition and not the store itself. A store assistant ushered us inside past the queue and we walked inside. The shop itself was pretty cheesy to be honest. Hundreds of pokemon dolls (aka plushes) filled the shelf, along with cups, socks, straws and just about every other merch type item you'd expect to find, plastered with pokemon animations. To my disappointment, many of the dolls were not from the original 151 so I didn't recognise/care about most of the dolls.. although there were some cool Charizards! The music in the shop was quite hilarious.. it was a high pitched pikachu type voice shouting stuff in Japanese followed by cheesy midi melodies and kids shouting in unison. It got rather irritating after a

while so we didn't spend long here! I bought some Charmander socks for my sister and left.

The next part of our trip was something we'd booked in advance of arriving in Japan and something we'd both been looking forward to seeing.. the Tokyo Sumo Tournament!!! This was held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan and was part of the September 2014 Grand Tournament Schedule. Our tickets permitted us to arrive for the whole day but Dan and I decided to make it to the finale tournament which was the one where the elite sumo wrestled. As we walked into the venue we saw the wrestlers in large colorful kimonos walking in with us, surrounded by fans and women.. these guys were literally the rockstars of Japan. We made our way into the main room where the action was to take place. The stage/ring was in the very center of the room. Surrounding it were two levels of ringside seating called "boxes" which were literally boxes of space with cushions that you had to kneel on. Above this were two balcony levels which consisted of normal western style seats. This was where Dan and I had booked our seats as the boxes were all sold out when we bought our tickets. We also didn't fancy the risk of getting flattened by falling Sumo! Upon sitting down we were handed a schedule of all the fights to take place that evening.. there were around 17 different matchups all together which sounds like alot but each match rarely lasts more than a few minutes as I will explain.

The evenings wrestling began with a ceremony from the Sumo where some of them stomped about in the ring, followed by a procession of the referees dressed in elaborate colourful robes holding coloured flags. They moved around the whole ring and dropped their flags to reveal all of the colors in perfect synchronization. After this was over the evenings matches began. Dan and I had never seen Sumo before, nor did we know the rules apart from that you have to either push

your opponent out of the ring or make them fall on their back. However it seemed there was more to it than this! Each Sumo began the match by facing each other in a squatted position. To officially start the match one had to lunge towards the other Sumo. However at this stage the Sumo could choose to unsquat and walk back to his side of the ring, followed by throwing talcon powder all over the floor. They could do this up to three times before choosing to actually fight. When the Sumo finally did blast into each other, fights rarely lasted more than 30 seconds. Dan and I decided to make it more exciting by each choosing a fighter to win (alternating who gets first pick). Naturally we started off choosing the biggest fighter.. however it turned out that biggest was not always best! After the first 8 fights or so Dan was up 5 fights to my 3. I decided to offer Dan the chance to bet 100 yen on each match. He obviously agreed. The best part was I proceeded to win every fight after this, cashing in about 900 yen or so! Dan was not pleased! It was an incredible evening nonetheless and the crowds were going wild for the Sumo, screaming their names before the fights. At the end of the last fight the crowds erupted and proceeded to lob their pillows all over the arena. It was quite funny watching hundreds of red cushions fly everywhere. All in all a good spot of entertainment and cultural experience!

We left the stadium with food on the brain and walked into a Japanese looking restaurant.. it actually turned out to be Chinese. The food was ok but nothing special. We ate and decided to call it day. After so much walking we couldn't be bothered with the long journey home so we opted for a taxi home.. we piled into the first taxi we saw and made the journey home for rest and bed.