A Couple Days in Tokyo (Part Two)

Right now I'm sitting at the free computer terminal at my capsule hotel.  This place is actually pretty nice...its like a 6 story spa with different things on each floor.  More on that later.

Full photo album - click here

Day Two
Started the day by going to Asakusa, which is the historic Buddhist area of Tokyo.  The main draw here is the Senso-ji Temple.  Apparently this was a very old temple that was destroyed during WW2, and the current version is a restoration of the original.  When you get there, you go through the Kaminarimon Gate and then walk through a long row of little shops.  It was extremely busy here.  You can buy little trinkets, temple cakes, etc.

There were burning cauldrons of incense, and people would walk up to them and waft the smoke all over their face and clothes.  I also noticed people shaking these containers and pulling out chopsticks.  I learned this was a game where you draw a numbered stick, and then open the drawer with the corresponding number to get a fortune.  I decided to play this game myself and drew the dreaded "Bad Fortune" card.  A helpful guide insisted that it's not so bad, since "bad fortune is beginning of good fortune, so OK."  After getting bad fortune, you are supposed to tie it to these wires to essentially give it back and reject the bad luck.  I made sure to do this since the last thing I need is bad luck at a time like this.

The inside of the main Senso-ji temple had a beautiful arrangement that was fenced in

I stopped into the Tourist Center in Asakusa and grabbed some great high altitude shots from the top floor.  Drank some lemon tea and then made my way to the Tokyo Sky Tree.  I believe this is the largest structure in Tokyo...it's really quite massive.  You can go up to the top of it, but there was a craaazy line so I skipped it.  While there I tried the local McDonald's.  Everyone has insisted it's better here in Japan, but I honestly thought it was the same as American McD's.

  

My last stop for the day was Ryogukan, where I heard there is a Sumo wrestling arena.  After a little internet research I discovered, by pure chance, there is a tournament going on right now.  These tournaments last only two weeks, and are only held six times per year.  How lucky!  (Take that, bad fortune card!) Not only that, but I was able to get a ticket...the only affordable tickets were total nosebleed seats, but I didn't care.  The tourney is an all day long event...you can stay all day long if you want (once you have a ticket) but most people don't stay more than a few hours.  There are bouts happening nonstop (maybe every 3-5 minutes), with brief ceremonies taking place occasionally.  

The bouts are pretty short...they end when one of the wrestlers can push the other guy out of the ring.  Most bouts only last about 10 seconds or less.  Occasionally something really crazy happens.  One guy was about to get pushed out and then spun around and threw the other guy out instead...the crowd went nuts.  While I was watching, some old Japanese guy approached me and asked if he could sit down next to me.  I was just like "sure, why not."  He wanted to talk about baseball.  He was a big baseball fan, and said his favorite team was the Osaka Tigers.  He also rattled off a bunch of American baseball players he liked.  His English was pretty bad, but I was just humoring him so I did my best to make conversation.  Then he tried explaining that he had an extra ticket to a different section and he wanted me to join him.  He flashed the ticket stub and I could immediately tell it was different from my stub...his looked...expensive.  He gestured for me to follow him and pointed down towards the ring..  He was like "Ring side seat.  You come with me."  My reaction was basically one of disbelief but I just said "screw it" and followed him.  We walked for what seemed like forever, and then entered the ring side seating area.  As we kept walking closer to the ring, I kept wondering how nice these seats were actually going to be.  Each row I passed gave me a feeling of euphoric disbelief.  It finally hit me - this guy was a total VIP.  How on earth is this happening?  Our seats were within 10 rows of the actual ring....these are like $1000 seats.

He was with a group of friends, and they all wanted to talk to me and find out more.  I chatted them up about Chicago, and how my trip was so far.  Each sentence required me to rapidly flip through my phrase book.  There was a big communication barrier, but it didn't really matter.  His friends-

Once again - take that, bad luck fortune card.  They gave me tea and teriyaki chicken kebabs, refusing to let me pay for anything.  I decided that I simply must do something nice for them.  I managed a phrase "let me buy you a drink."  I walked around and found a waiter.  I asked for "ocha" which is Japanese green tea, served "atsui" (hot).  The waiter asked to see my ticket stub, and I showed him the new one I got.  The waiter asks "You know Mr. Maruyama?"  I respond "Hai" and he says "Tea is free.  Everything is free for Mr. Maruyama.  No charge." 

Whoa.

After watching the fights from the VIP section for a bit, I decided it was time to go.  The woman on the right in the above picture wrote down her address and insisted I mail her pictures.  Mr. Maruyama gave me his business card, but it's all Japanese so I can't really read it.  I still don't know just who this man is, but clearly he is "kind of a big deal around here."  What a day.  .