Getsuyoubi: Monday 1/11/10

We woke up to get our first glimpses of the view at daylight. What was just outside our window was fairly indicative of the rest of the city. The old and new architecture seem to exist harmoniously and every inch of space is efficiently used.

 The area we are staying in is Akasaka. It is a bit quieter than most other areas of Tokyo, with its main attraction being the Tokyo Broadcasting System building. Where Shibuya is a Time Square, the TBS center is a Rockefeller Center, ice-skating rink and all. We caught a subway and headed over to our first sight of the day, the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial Gardens exist as an ocean of gravel and grass within the city. We did a full walk of the historic areas, dating back to when this land was the Edo Castle. The Imperial Grounds are off limits to civilians on all but two days. New Years, and the Emperor's Birthday (December 23rd.)

By far the most beautiful view was of one of the guarded bridges leading to the Imperial Castle. After a quick visit to the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, we caught another train to Ryogoku to catch day 2 of the January Sumo Tournament

We had lunch at a restaurant attached to the Edo-Tokyo Museum (which we would return to later), only a few feet from the Sumo Stadium. I also had my first opportunity to test out my hiragana here. When you walk into the restaurant, you have to write your name on a sheet of paper to reserve your spot. After a moment of panic, I wrote the closest thing to my father's name that I could. When they called us, we stepped forward, slightly shocked that it even worked. The waiter immediately began speaking to us in Japanese. After only a moment with our mouths open and faces stunned, he said "Upstairs?"

The Sumo Stadium was already packed. It was only 2:30 and the highest ranked bouts didn't start until 4:00.

After struggling to find our seats, we watched a few of the earlier fights, then decided to head back to the Edo-Tokyo museum until the big fights started.

The intensity in the stadium was incredible. Fan were cheering loudly as their favorite wrestlers circled up around the ring before the next stage of fights. Each match had higher ranked sumo fighters than the last. Hakuho ended up being unbeaten in his 38th straight match. The stakes are high, there are almost eight hours of fight, and each fighter only gets one fight a day, lasting as short as ten seconds. With the highest ranking wrestlers, they will approach the starting line, step back to their corner, and approach the line again at least five times before starting the bout. They will grab salt and throw it into the ring as a sign of good luck. After a train back from Ryogoku, we were still jet-lagged, and ended up falling asleep right away. Plus, we needed to wake up early for the Tsujiki fish market tomorrow morning.