[RD] Exploring Japan

Yomiuri Giants Baseball (continued)

The stadium offers food options such as sushi (although I ate that before the game started)



Other food options



I was able to get a seat with a great view of the action for about $50 CAD



There are home and away supporter sections in the stadium

Home support:



Away support:



The home and away supporter sections take turns cheering singing and chanting in unison when their team is up at bat. They have drums and trumpets and make the atmosphere in the stadium really lively. From what I could tell they even had different songs for different players.

The rest of the stadium is of course full of home fans too, and they join in the chants, but the supporters sections are really organized, and if you get a ticket there you would be expected to join in.
 
I prefered smoked salmon myself
Looking at the food choices I would have gone with curry that stuff is like Crack cocine
 
I prefered smoked salmon myself
Looking at the food choices I would have gone with curry that stuff is like Crack cocine

I really liked Japanese curry! I had my first taste a bit later on my trip. I've even made it back home after returning from my trip. And it seems wrong to eat your first sushi in the country at a baseball stadium, but it was actually pretty good
 
Yomiuri Giants Baseball (continued)

I have two clips for you of the away supporters section. These are the organized fans who made the trip from Yokohama (1 hr or so by train)

The away section is in blue in the distance and you can see the home support there as well


This is the really short clip:


I was very impressed with the atmosphere and crowd participation at the game. It made everything really lively and made it much easier to get into the game. It seemed to me that each player had their own song and chant, and the supporters would take turns standing up and sitting down depending on who was batting.. And everybody else in the stadium follows their lead, depending on allegiance...

There were a couple BayStars (away) fans sitting to my left. They were cheering on their team the whole game.. but in the 9th inning their team was getting destroyed by home runs and then a grand slam (4 points).. which is when they stood up and started applauding as well, and then started hi-fiving Yomiuri fans... and shortly thereafter departed the stadium bowing towards Yomiuri fans as they did so

On the right I made some friends from New Zealand, who were able to explain some things to me that they had learned previously at a baseball game in Osaka.

Overall it was a very fun evening out at the baseball park, and I don't even remember the score
 
Dark Alley Sushi

It took a while for the tens of thousands of fans to make their way out of the stadium. I had a restaurant picked out I wanted to try, but it was in the same general direction as a major transit hub.. This is where a lot of people were headed, so it took me a while to pull free from the crowds

Eventually I was able to go in a different direction and ended up following my trusty google maps until I got to this dark alley, well out of the way of the hustle & bustle of the strip of restaurants and bars nearby...



I was looking for a well rated sushi restaurant. This did not at all look like a place where I would find such a thing.. and yet google maps was insistent that a very good sushi restaurant was here.

The last time this happened to me I had to look around and eventually found an elevator. In this case I was a bit suspicious because I expected a grand entrance for such a good restaurant and not a dimly lit back alley... That sign also looks more like a construction sign and not a "Welcome to our restaurant!" sign

It also did not match the name of the restaurant in any way that I could see

So I walked by this once or twice and eventually ended back here and figured.. I might as well go in and see if it's inside



This did not look very inviting, but I was hungry.

I walked into the elevator and looked on the buttons for a name I could try to match to the restaurant name I could see on my phone. I can't remember what happened next, but eventually I ended up on the right floor. The elevator opened and things were a bit more presentable inside... I walked out and forward a bit and turned to the right. I saw a restaurant setting with a very nice bar in the back, nice decor throughout, a well dressed waiter/chef/sort of person, and maybe 7-10 people sitting at various tables over food and drink.

When I turned that corner and walked in the room it was like the record scratch thing happened and everyone looked at me.

I sat at the bar and negotiated with the chef type guy who was also sort of the waiter and bartender. I call him chef, because I am pretty sure I saw him cutting up fish.. And either way, all I knew at the time was that he was the guy to talk to. And he did not speak a word of English, nor did anybody else who seemed to want to help. And I spoke no Japanese at all, aside from being able to (badly) say hello, thank you, and goodbye

He ended up finding a menu for me that had one side of english translations of all the fish. I looked at it and instead showed him a translation on my phone (from English to Japanese) that said: "Please serve me your recommendation".. or something similar. Then I tried to explain that I was trying to also get some sort of a sample of different types of sushi and maybe some other things.

The man smiled and went back in the kitchen, probably bowing at some point in the process. I got a beer and waited for my food, and eventually I got this:



The third one from the left is sea urchin, which I would not recommend. It wasn't that horrible, but it wasn't very good. I didn't like the octopus either, I think it's the 5th one from the left. Everything else was delicious though, and very fresh. There's some salmon there, and probably some tuna, and several I can't identify

Eventually it occurred to me that maybe the dark alley and construction sign welcoming people to the restaurant might have been set up that way as a way to not draw in any tourists.. But I was treated very well inside the restaurant by everyone, and people were maybe surprised for me to walk in, but after that I felt like the special guest of the evening. It could have been all in my head, but I felt like I had a great evening, and tried to thank my host as such before leaving
 
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There's some salmon there, and probably some tuna, and several I can't identify

Mackerel, Egg, Uni, Prawn, Octopus?, fatty tuna, tuna, squid
I have a feeling that you crashed someones reservation, Iam also guessing you also didnt follow the proper edicate for eating sushi either. You have brought great shame onto Canada and Poland. :p
 
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Mackerel, Egg, Uni, Prawn, Octopus?, fatty tuna, tuna, squid
I have a feeling that you crashed someones reservation, Iam also guessing you also didnt follow the proper edicate for eating sushi either. You have brought great shame onto Canada and Poland. :p

Doubtful, as many seats were empty and I sat at the bar. Nobody seemed upset either, just reacted as though they did not expect a tourist to randomly waltz in. I would guess that it's a rare occurence

I actually got "mad props" from a lady sitting nearby for using my chopsticks properly. I think that's what happened anyway. She was watching me eat, then smiled, and made motions with her chopsticks. I bowed and smiled back

Thanks for helping decipher what the individual pieces of sushi might have been!
 
Unfortunately the drive with all this media on it is in the process of dying.

It is backed up though. Restoration would take a while, but I think I can maybe save the data myself in about a week or so. Either way my apologies for the delays, but we are experiencing technical difficulties

edit: The drive is dead. Thankfully it's not my OS drive and just a storage drive. A new drive is otw and I am trying to figure out how to best restore 700gb of data. In the meantime it might be possible to restore individual days of photos so I can post something here. Stay tuned

edit2: Well, I finally have everything back where it's supposed to be. Sorry about the delays, my December was kind of crazy too
 
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Day 5 - Sumo Wrestling at the Ryogoku Kokugikan

I was lucky to eventually get a ticket to the second last honbasho of the year, held at the Ryogoku Kokugikan, which was originally built in 1909. A honbasho is a major sumo tournament, of which there are 6 held in Japan every year. It is only at these honbasho tournaments that sumo wrestlers can advance (or fall) in rank.

Not knowing much about the sport at all, I opted to rent a portable radio and tuned to the frequency of an Australian commentary broadcast of the event, delayed by several seconds. But before any of the action began I had a bit of time, so I walked around the building a bit and had a look around





Even got my picture taken with these guys



I bought my ticket to this event about a week ahead of time, but all the official tickets were already gone. This is common in Japan, you usually have to book things well ahead of time, especially if you aren't going alone. I ended up going through a reseller, who at first seemed a bit sketchy, but ended up working out



The event was fascinating, but unfortunately I can't really tell you much more about it. The Australian commentators helped, but a lot of the context was lost on me.
 
Sumo Wrestling at the Ryogoku Kokugikan (Continued)

I saved the best for last. Photos from my camera, which has a superior optical zoom lens

Below you see the practice of Shubatsu, the purification of the ring by throwing salt on it. The banners are just an announcement of the next set of fighters, I think



Everything done by the fighters and officials is rooted in ritual



Action shot FTW

 
Day 6 - Sensō-ji Temple

Sensō-ji Temple is Tokyo's oldest temple and the most visited spiritual site in the world. It is dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of compassion. Legend says that two brothers found a statue of Kannon in the nearby Sumida river in 628, leading to the construction of the first temple in 645.

The temple was destroyed in WW2 and has been rebuilt. It has since been a symbol of rebirth and peace for the Japanese people.



Above you can see the Kaminarimon, the Thunder Gate.



These pictures don't really convey very well how busy this place was. I had no idea this was the most visited religious site in the world at the time, but it sure was packed with people. The surrounding temple grounds & walkways have tiny shops set up on both sides, with hundreds of people walking through.. Video coming later

After exploring the temple grounds, I started walking towards my next destination.

 
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Day 6 - Sensō-ji Temple
The temple was destroyed in WW2 and has been rebuilt. It has since been a symbol of rebirth and peace for the Japanese people.

Did you try any of the special snacks ?
They are famous for their Melonpan.
 
The baseball concession prices are higher than your regular outside food stands but sure a lot better than American prices!

Yeah, the prices seemed reasonable overall, from what I remember. Having said that, the sushi I had before the game began was in the stadium complex, but outside of the gates. I did not eat during the game, but I did wait in line to buy a beer. It seemed to me at the time that I made the right call to eat early, because the seats were small and people were tightly packed.. It would have been cumbersome to look after a bowl full of food and a drink and try to follow the action at the same time.
 
Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo Skytree is the tallest structure in Japan, the tallest tower in the world, and the second tallest structure in the world. It acts as the primary broadcast site for television and radio signals for Kantō region and its 40 million inhabitants. The Tokyo tower (reminiscent of the Eiffel tower) was used for this purpose in the past, but is now surrounded by skyscrapers that block some of the signals.

It was about a half an hour walk to the base of the tower from the temple. On the way there I had to cross the Sumida river.







 
I think it looks better as scenery than it does architecture, as its frame is rather uninspiring to look at.
 
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