Are you ready for some SUMO ?!?!

Today started with a special stop at a small shrine directly next door to our hotel.  We passed right by it yesterday, but this morning Will suggested we stop in.  It turned out to be a beautiful little place, complete with a small Buddha just for kids.  We lit a candle and some incense and then said a short prayer for all the kids we know. From there it was off to watch sumo.

On our way to the sumo stadium we walked into the middle of a manga fair, which consists mainly of teenagers dressing up like their favorite manga (comic book) character.  The pictures tell the story.

Then we entered the sumo stadium.  What an experience!  A huge arena full of thousands of crazed fans screaming to watch massive, nearly naked men knock each ore off a two-foot high mound of clay.  Most matches last 15-20 seconds anew are preceded by 4-5 minutes of leg stomping, thigh slapping, glaring, and throwing salt into the ring to ward off evil spirits.  We watched about 50 matches over the course of 7 hours and it was AWESOME! The grand champion received 15-20 trophies ranging from a 5 foot high cup, to a 3-foot high silver Coke bottle.  He seemed more exhausted from the trophy ceremony than from his match.

The little shrine

Manga, manga, manga

Boys will be boys...or girls in this case

Cute, but they didn't talk much

Day 2 in Osaka

One week into the trip and I think we are all adjusted to Japan time.  We are sleeping through the night (sounds like a newborn!) and no longer completely dependent upon caffeine.  That said, we still love being able to get a can of  hot tea or coffee out of a vending machine!

Exploring downtown Osaka is kind of like walking down an alley that has a shop set up in every garage, and the garages are right next to each other, and the alley is covered by a three-story roof.  On one block it's all electronics, the next housewares, then restaurants on the next, etc.   Many of the shopkeepers shout a greeting and beckons you in to see the amazing items in his/her store.  On the street side there are some huge stores which I would compare in their layout to a Macy's, with many floors stacked up and full of everything from sushi to vacuum cleaners.  In one store we lost track of Will and spent 20 minutes frantically looking for him, going up and down the escallators SeRching floor by floor.  We found him. In the electronics department, glued to an iPod Mini and playing a game.  He of course announced that he was fine nd we shouldn't get so freaked out.

After lunch Will and I headed back to the hotel for a nap and Matthew and Ann went to the Osaka Castle, home of one of the ruling shoguns back in the 1600's.  After a full week of being together 24/7 it was nice to have some downtime.  After our nap we watched sumo on TV and Will taught me a new term, "moobs", which stands for "man boobs."  Watch some sumo and you'll know what I'm talking about.

We headed out later determined to find a mexican restaurant we had read about.  Why mexican when there is so much amazing Japanese food here?  Because being gluten free in Japan is kind of like trying to go out to eat in the US and telling the waiter you can't eat anything with even a trace of salt in it.  Soy sauce  and wheat are in nearly everything except for sashimi and you just can't eat raw fish every meal every day.  And restaurants here tend to specialize, so if you find good sushi it's not likely to also have something the kids will like.  So, we thought mexican would do the trick.  After an hour of walking around we realized the mexican place had either moved or gone out of business so we settled on rice porridge and gyoza in a restaurant in the train station.  For dessert the boys had pastries from a bakery and I had "new spring peach" (my new favorite flavor) ice cream from Baskin Robbins.  All in all the food part of the trip has been a real adventure.  I give the boys a ton of credit for trying new foods, some of which they like and some of which they don't.

Phil makes friends wherever he goes

A quiet stroll through Osaka at night

Osaka restaurants have the coolest signs ever!

And on to Osaka

On Friday morning we left our cozy little apartment and headed for Osaka.  The highlight of the day was the bullet train, which carried us 300 miles in a little over 2 1/2 hours, reaching speeds of 165mph.  We saw big cities, coastline, and rural areas along the way.  We also passed by Mt Fuji, which was truly magnificent.

Once in Osaka we checked into our Japanese-style hotel and then headed out to the dotombori, which can best be described as Osaka's version of Times Square crossed with the Mall of America.  It was huge, lit up like a Christmas tree, and full of thousands of people.  On Friday nights the local teenagers dress up and "cruise" the main thoroughfares.  It was some awesome people watching, indeed.  We ate Syabu-syabu (meat cooked in water at your table) and then headed back to the hotel.

Mt Fuji from the bullet train

Dotombori shopping district

Paper lanterns outside a tavern

Of course I did!

Laundry day in our traditional hotel room

It's all about the Buddha

Kotokuin Temple, home of the Great Buddha.   This is one big dude!

Today we traveled to Yokohama and Kamakura and visited two shrines and a temple.  They were all built in the 12th century.  They are truly beautiful places, and the cherry blossoms made them all the more so.  We were able to hike through the woods from one shrine/temple to another, which provided a nice break from the crowds.  Kamakura is a small oceanside town with a bit of a tourist feel.  The Yokohama Naval base is less than a half hour away so we saw quite a few servicemen and servicewomen takin gin the sights.  Generally speaking the residents of kamakura were a bit cooler toward us than in Tokyo, which might have something to do with the fact that Americans have had a persistent and forceful presence there since US naval forces landed near there more than 150 years ago.   Oh, and don't forget that in WWII we bombed Yokohama back into the Stone Age.  It was a manufacturing center for Japanese war planes and tanks, and 500 or so of our bombers took it out in May 1945.  I think knowing that bit of history made our peaceful visit to the 37-ft tall Great Buddha at the end of the day even more meaningful.

On a lighter note, at one of the teles we entered a small tunnel that the monks had bored into the rock wall and about 25 feet inside we came the the end of the tunnel we came to the end.  Watch this video Creepy crawlers in a cave for the rest of the story!

Engaku-Ji Shrine, home of the Buddha's tooth

Seminarian Benzaiten Shrine, where you could bath your money in the spring water for good luck and financial success!

More adventures

Today's highlight was a visit to the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka.  We are huge fans of these movies and enjoyed seeing the film clips, drawings, and of course the gift shop, in the museum.

We also visited a huge indoor shopping center (covered street,  really) that housed hundreds of small shops selling everything from clothes to food to souvenirs.  The boys found the Mecca of manga stores (Japanese cartoon books - think Archie and Jughead), and were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of books.  Much of it is pretty racey, so as soon as I saw Will's eyes get bigger than saucers I knew it was time to leave!

Matthew doing the morning laundry

Mr.Independent (front left) on the bus

Sun Mall

Arisugawa Park

Ann took us to the park where she and randy played as kids.  There was a stream, a small pond, many trails and a lot of trees.  Will's favorite part was feeding the pigeons, crows and finches all around us. We stopped at the market and picked up food and had a wonderful picnic lunch.  The boys also played on the very same jungle gym that Ann played on as a kid.

A walk down memory lane

Hanezawa Terrace, the old Tennant homestead

Today we visited Ann's old hood.  We started at Nishimachi Internatonal School, where she was a student for five years.  According to her , the campus has changed a lot except for the original building.  They gave us the royal treatment ith a tour of the entire place.  I was thrilled to meet their director of development (also named Phil,also taught economics, also spent time in business before development!) and swap stories and tricks with him.  We also found Ann's. childhood apartment!

Nishimachi International School

The original building at Nishimachi

From there we set out to find the apartment where she lived.  About an hour later we  sat  down, totally lost, trying to figure out what to do.  A nice Swedish gentleman asked us if we needed halo finding something, and 15 minutes later we arrived at Hanezawa Terrace.  Wow, amazing to see a place where Ann. Lived when she was six!

Our day also included several more subways.  Matthew and Will are seasoned pros at this point, jumping on and off without hesitation.

We finished the day with dinner at a "Samuri" restaurant, which was totally campy but so much fun.