Sumo!

You might be surprised that after all these years I had never been to a sumo tournament. I don't know why really. I guess I just didn't find the time to go. But right now I'm getting my culture on and checking it out!

I watched a Youtube video of a recent match and found myself laughing. Near naked fat dudes pushing their weight onto each other to either knock the other out of the circle, or on the ground.

The place to see sumo is at Ryōgoku Kokugi-kan in Tokyo. (Sobu line, Ryōgoku station) Seeing it live was pretty cool. In my haste to get there, I forgot to load my charging battery in my camera, but she was using my old camera so not all bad.

I never realised how short each match is. There's quite a build up as the wrestlers psyche themselves up with some salt throwing, false starts, and butt and stomach slapping. Once the fists touch the ground the fight is often over within seconds.

The sumo hall isn't that large. I think every seat in the house will get you a good view of the action. The cheapest seats are less than 4,000 yen. I paid the second "worst" seat price of around 5,000 yen but I was happy where I was. Sure, closer is always better, unless a sumo wrestler falls on you of course.

This is my video of the final fight of the day. They go a bit longer than usual, so it was a good match.  Stay watching for the pillow throwing!

Cats And Lions

I saw the Neko! exhibition recently and mentioned the Cats and Lions that was also by the same photographer.

Today I went to have a look. It was interesting how the photos were juxtaposed with similar poses between the animals. If you enjoyed the Neko exhibition or if you're a fan of cats (and/or lions), I think there's much to like here.

It is being held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography in Ebisu until October 20th.

Morito Beach

I didn't get to go the beach as often as my record high last year. I went "only" eight times this year.  At least I didn't get the massive jellyfish stings from the previous Summer season.

I got a tipoff about a picturesque place located not too far from my favourite beach.

This one's called Morito beach. Because it requires a bus from the train station, it's a much more relaxed affair than Zushi's crowds. Being past the end of "swimming season" (end of August),  is another reason the beach was practically deserted. Except for a photo shoot that was a nice extra surprise. Thank you..  really.

There are two parts to the beach split by a shrine. The first part is a fairly small patch of beach with a nice little man-made "jetty" made of blocks. The water was pretty clear. I could see quite a lot of fish and baby crabs scurrying along the wet blocks.

Just around the corner I was surprised by a nice stone beach which looked even better. In the distance there's a "floating" torii gate. Here the water was clear enough for some decent snorkeling. I wish I'd brought my mask!

With a slight fear brought on by last year's "attack" I stayed close to the shallows in my inflatable ring with a nicely balanced chu-hi to relax comfortably.

This is definitely one secret beach worth coming back to. I hope it stays this way. In the evening it was possible to see Mt Fuji.

Wonderful.

American Pop Art

It was an awful rainy day so a good time as any to check out the American Pop Art at the National Art Center in Roppongi.

I'm a bit divided on the merits of this art movement. Jasper Johns works left me unimpressed. Nothing that a school student couldn't do on any other day. Andy Warhol has his fans, but he just copied existing works (Campbell's cans) and photocopied prints. He had a good sense of colour though. I'll give him props for that.

I'm a big fan of Lichtenstein. His comic book style really does pop. I like someone that can really draw or paint. THAT is an artist.

 I really liked Claes Oldenburg's Giant soft vinyl drum set. I was thinking it would look great in a living room to lie on while watching TV.

The exhibition is on till the 21st of October.

Akasaka Palace State Guesthouse

The closest station to the Akasaka guesthouse is Yotsuya station. Usually you can only see it from afar behind the gates, but on occasion it's possible to not only go a little bit closer but also inside.

I'd been inside the gates before on the 3rd of November last year, but was only allowed outside the front of the main building. If you make bookings in advance it is possible to be chosen to go on a tour of the rooms inside as well as viewing a limited fountain area behind the building.

Originally built as the Imperial Palace for the Crown Prince, now it is used as the official accomodation for visiting state dignitaries.

As you'd expect, security is quite high. They had set up airport style walk-through scanners. I brought my camera with my nice ultra-wide angle lens to take in the opulence of the rooms, but I was quite dismayed to soon find out that they didn't allow photos.

Why do they do this? I find out later they sell photo cards at the end of the tour. How convenient. I did manage to take a photo of the stairwell but sad to say it's not worth putting up here. If you'd like to see what you missed look here for a description of the rooms and their photos.

Tours inside are limited to 10 days a year and guests are chosen by lottery, so good luck if you get in. While it was kind of interesting to see what most people won't, you shouldn't lose too much sleep if you don't. From the first to the third of November there will be another open day. It is only outside, but pre-registration is not required.

Onjuku Beach

There are quite a few "juku" in Tokyo. You might have heard of some, Harajuku, Shinjuku for instance. How about Onjuku?

Onjuku Beach is about two hours from central Tokyo on the Chiba peninsula. Usual way is the JR Sobu line, which continues on the Sotobo line to Kazusa-Ichinomiya, then you take the local service to Onjuku station. The cost is 1,890 yen from the Shinjuku area.

Some friends wanted to go somewhere different, so it was decided to come here.

The weather was nice and there were a few waves, although quite lame. While you could do some simple bodysurfing, I'd be a little embarrassed bringing a surfboard here. Chiba faces the open sea so it is possible. (Kujikurihama comes to mind)

Instead of a surfboard, I brought along a floatie ring that I "found" in Enoshima. It was left behind before we left that day. I got a 105 yen air pump to blow it up but it was pretty useless. One of the beach hut guys inflated it for "free" seeing that we rented an umbrella (1,500 yen). Not very manly (especially in pink), but it did the job nicely allowing me to zone out a bit

.

The beach is a similar shape to Zushi. On arrival there are two camel statues greeting us at the entry. Strange. The sand is perhaps relatively cleaner, but the sea is much the same. Quite a lot of people with tats and tans around. I saw a girl with a butterfly tattoo on her chest. Not pretty.

If I lived in Chiba I'd frequent this beach more often, but for the time and money getting here, I'd say Kanagawa beaches are more worthwhile, as long as it's not loud and dirty Enoshima.

Sompo Building

One of the interesting building that you see in the west Skyscraper district of Shinjuku (Nishishinjuku) is the Sompo Building. It looks like this:

You'll notice the possibly even more interesting Mode Gakuen cocoon building on the right.

One reason you might like to go up the Sompo building is that there is an art museum on the 42nd floor. While I was there I saw the Jeux Surrealism exhibition. It is also possible to see one of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" paintings here. Another good reason is the view.

Pretty damn fine.

You may recognise the intersection on the left as the same as the background of my blog. If you look closely you can see Tokyo Tower, and even more closely the Tokyo Skytree.