Ok, I know I've gotten behind on my Blog so what I'm going to do now to not get too far behind is I'm going to update now on recent events and catch-up at the same time. Hopefully it works out. Oh and I added pics of my host family and of our place.
So now, on May 23, I had received tickets to see sumo wrestling. The original plan was for me to go with my host family, but my imouto (younger sister) got sick, and with the flu thing going around they didn't want to take any chances, so I was to go and meet up with Mayumi's mother at the stadium. After eating lunch and doing some other things, I set off around 3 for the hour long train ride. I tried to contact a friend since their was an extra ticket, but the only one to reply didn't wake up till really late, like 3, so she couldn't go. I had never gone to the station before, but was able to recognize it one getting on the Sobu line. I arrived and easily spooted the collosiem, but it was on the other side of the station, and with my luch I went the long way to arrive there. It's ok though, I saw an awesome mural along the stone wall were it elevated to the train tracks, and the whole wall was lined up with jitensha (bicycles). I knew I was at the right spot since I saw little sumo references everywhere, especially at the restaurants along the way, like the drawings on the signs or the little sumo ceramic figurines. Along the way I saw the Tokyo-Edo Museum which looked very interesting architectually, and a giant statue of monk ontop of a turtle.
I finally walked to the entrance of the stadium, and it was grand. There where flags everywhere and the building had some murals of sumo wrestlers. The tickets were all sold for the day, and I go in and am shown where my section is. I arrive and have trouble finding my seat, but Mayumi's mother was already there and lead me to my seat. They gave me a beer, they insisted on it, and everyone was chairing. I ended up in the nosebleed seats, right along the back and the tickets were still expensive. Luckily they had binoculars, but you could still see fine without them. The place was massive, like a basketball stadium. giants pictures of past sumo lined the back walls, the top seats where chairs, but the bottom section was all pillows that you could lay on. The Ring was in the center with a giant roof and Japanese Flag ontop. The sumo were so big and massive, and the fighting was fierce, but short like most matches were done in less than 30 sec. They would take forever prepping though, constantly returning to their corners and doing the sumo raising one leg and dropping back down, and throwing the salt. It was fun to watch, and during the final battles against the top players, two of the lower ranked sumos beat their Superior, and this is responded by the crowd with everyone throwing their pillows towards the stadium, I kid you not, it was hilarious. This happened during the final match and was a big upset.
After Sumo, I went out with her and some other relative friend, not really sure what he is, out to dinner. We ate Tempura at Shinjuku Eki. I had Sashimi (the raw fish without the rice) and tempura. We tried to talk, but ti was very difficult with me speaking little Japanese and barely able to understand them. I know a lot of words but grammar is my issue. They spoke very little English. Kinda makes me happy I can communicate with my host family though I would learn faster if I was absolutely forced to, but I told my family, I need to communicate. I came back home and my family was already in bed. They came out to say goodnight to me, and I soon went to bed myself.
It's late so pics to come tomorrow, just wanted to post for now :)
