FINALLY... the sumo tournament.
I love this shot. Steve looks like a gigantic kid on the Japanese subway.
Steve having a beer at a 'skybar' in Ebisu (as the brewery itself was closed)
So sadly Steve left just a few days ago, but I haven't had the chance to put up any Tokyo pictures. I'd say we had a great time in Tokyo because we did, however, we ran into some interesting challenges. The first one was completely my mistake and I made us miss our Sumo tour on the 12th. The tour company was not very accommodating at all and we were unable to arrange another tour. We did, however, make it to the Sumo stadium on our own and enjoyed some traditional Sumo Wrestling (English commentary radios available after 1600 made it a bit more exciting). We also shared some traditional Sumo stew called Chanko. The second day we were in Tokyo was a Monday. For those of you reading this who I'm sure are soon to visit Tokyo yourselves, nothing is open on a Monday. We first tried the Ebisu brewery, then the photography museum. We called the aquarium which was going through renovations. We again tried to rebook the sumo tour, then ended up heading to the Kabuki theater (the only one in Tokyo I knew of). When we arrived we discovered the theater to be torn down to rubble to make room for the new one. Steve took a picture. All we could do was laugh. Another interesting adventure we had was on Steve's last night. All we wanted to do was have a drink at a bar with some ambience. The first one we chose in Shibuya had a large cover fee and the music was so loud conversation was not an option. We then decided to move the party to Shinjuku to the New York Bar and Grill on the 52nd floor of the Tokyo Hyatt. This bar was made famous in the movie "Lost in Translation" (which I don't recommend). Nonetheless, by the map we had, we had a bit of a walk from the subway station. How we missed a 52 story building I'm still not sure, but we passed it up and had to turn around. We finally found the building which was actually more than just a hotel, but an office building as well. The Hyatt was only floors 39-52. The entrance to the hotel from street level (i.e. entrance to the elevator) was by no means obvious and we had to ask a poor security guard to point us in the right direction. And of course we couldn't go right to the 52nd floor, but had to get off at the 41st I think, walk from one side of the building to the other, through a restaurant and library to get to the elevator to take us to the 52nd floor. The drinks were highway robbery by American standards, but by that time I really didn't care. The live band was jazz and the view great. Steve and I noted that probably half the buildings were tall enough to require the blinking red lights to avoid planes running into them. That's Tokyo.
Below is Mt. Fuji sunrise.
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