The Japanese Room is typical of what you would expect in a traditional Japanese Home. There is a tiled entry way where you take your shoes off. Then there is a small sitting room where you can serve tea. The adjoining room is a tatami room. In that room there is grass mats on the floor, a low table for eating and then you pull our flop beds each night. They are 2 queen size pallets. They are really comfy, we pushed them together so we had one giant bed. Just off the tatami room is a dressing room with a vanity. And then the bathroom. The bathtub is a typical Japanese size tub. It is a 1.5x2.5x3 ft deep. It is tiny but deep. Defiantly an experience.
Because we got in so late, we slept in a bit. We got up at 8:30, got dressed an headed out to hit the city. Our plan was to do sightseeing and sumo wrestling.
We took several trains out to the sumo arena. When we arrived we saw the tickets were SOLD OUT! We were so bummed. So we walked over to purchase tickets for tomorrow. But this plan would take time out of Disney and it was going to be a lot of traveling. But Bill really wanted to see the Sumo.
Then all of a sudden this American approaches us, adorned with a red jacket full of Boy Scout patches. She asked us if we were looking for tickets for the sumo tournament today. We are like yeah! In the back if my mind I am asking all these stranger danger questions: is this a scam? Can we trust her? Is she going to rob us? Man if this is a scam, she is committed, she is wearing a bear scarf tie.
Then I start asking her questions: 250 Boy Scouts are going to the sumo match, they bought too many tickets, she has lived in Tokyo for 10 years, she works at a local attorneys office. I think she's legit.
We paid her the money and walked away satisfied that this Tokyo trip is coming together very nicely. We would return to the arena at 3pm.
We grabbed a quick snack at McDonald's and hopped back on the train. We were headed to the Ueno Area. Time for some Japanese culture. We walked through the Ueno park, went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum and the Tokyo National Museum. It was nice going into the museums and seeing Japanese art. After the last museum we were on a hunt for food.
I am not real adventurous when it comes to food. Tokyo has fewer English menus, so you go by pictures. We ate in the subway and had a Japanese version of grilled cheese. Very good.
We got back onto the train/subway station to go to the Sumo Tournament.
Watching sumo was truly an experience. We sat way at the top, but it was fun! I googled rules and history so I could properly enjoy the wrestling. Amazing things is the wrestlers live in a communal stall and follow strict traditions. The loin cloth they wear weighs 7-11lbs. And is 30ft long wrapped around. The final match there was lots of pomp and buildup and the actual fight lasted less than 6 sec.
After the sumo wrestling match we caught a train to head to Tokyo Skytree. We had dinner at a nice worldly restaurant and took some picture of the Skytree. We were too late to go to the top, but no big deal. We were tired and ready to go home. We hopped back on the subway and headed back to the New Sanno. Today was a great day!
Tomorrow Disney Sea!!
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