East Coast Maori
TRAVEL BLOG,

Was the best time ever,,,,,buggar, I’m having trouble with the photos,,,I’ll put the writing and see what I can do later on with the photos…

12^th August:

Hey all, this JR Japan rail pass is like gold, or like you are holding gold. You rock up to the station show them the pass and they can’t do enough for you.  I’ve been into places with this card I’m sure no one else gets to go to and when I mention the green card which is Garu sha, they do the opened eyed thing and slap me. Not sure why but something tells me it is a friendly slap to say I’m special.   The seats on the train were great, all electric you could lay back fully, with lights and all air conditioned.   The little Japanese ladies serving drinks and bringing food around and don’t forget the slippers you get when you sit down in your seat.  I had a little trouble finding Mr Miyagies hostel, but after stopping at another fancy hotel to get directions I found out the hostel was across the road, so no dramas.  I’ve put some photos up of the hostel, it was really great and as I settled in and was walking past the common room, I hear this, “Kia ora”. And you guessed it another kiwi from Christchurch so we are all over the place.  Had a catch with Caleb who had been working in Japan for 5 years and spoke the lingo so we chatted about rugby of course and how my mighty Chiefs kicked his Crusaders arse…..haha it was good to see a kiwi face.

I meet a number of different people at the hostel and I must say that the cubicle bed I had was great, I had to walk sideways down the room to get to it, but it had everything I needed and the ladder entry was ok so long as you didn’t want to walk past at the same time hahah.  I slept well and was up at 5 the next morning to catch my shinkansen to Shi Hanamaki.  Easiest trip ever, no issues I just followed Ryojis directions, got off and grabbed another train to Hanamaki, then out the door turn right, #7 bus lane, jump on the bus 100 Yen in the box and 10 minutes later dropped at the front door to the Sumo camp.

Now I’m sure you all think this Sumo thing is just a bunch of blubbery guys hitting each other, but I will never say that again.  It was the most awesome thing I’ve seen, these guys are athletes, they are agile, flexible and strong as mules. I was in awe of the way they would through themselves around this little ring.  I had one of the best seats in the house sitting behind one of the camp owners crew.  The only problem was that when Ryoji told me that I had the best seats I was thinking they were chairs, oh no, you were sitting on the floor in your little squared off Japanese sized area with your sumo cushion.  I could not keep my legs inside my square and knew I would not be able to last from 8 to 3.p.m sitting on the floor so sought out a change.  Which worked out well as I got a chair only a few rows back with the commoners, hhahaha.  I love this first class stuff, I could get very used to this.  Anyways, these sumo guys are big, I’ve taken loads of photos and videos and I’ll see if I can get them up on the site.  There were a number of non Japanese sumo’s there as well and they are very popular and bloody good at what they do.  I see why they stay in Japan as they would only be ridiculed if they went back to their own countries as being fat, but they are talented and its abit like boxing, you have to be clever as well to sumo.  I had the best time ever and did not leave this place until the very end.  And right on 3 oclock, straight after the grand champion finished, everyone got up and left in an orderly fashion.  The Japanese people love their sumo heroes, one of the non Japanese guys came out and sat on a chair, within seconds he was mobbed, people with babies wanting him to hold so they could take photos, everyone wanting to shake his hand, they just went mental and it continued for as long as he wanted it to.

I did try and get a photo with one of the non-japanese sumos, but it was like fighting a war to get to him.

I had the best time ever here, it was amazing and how all these Japanese people just stayed sitting in their little squares the whole time it was on.  Man our kids would be kicking up merry hell if we told them to sit in a square taped off area for more than 10 minutes.

When it all finished I just did the opposite travel back to sendai without any problems.

One thing I can say about the Japanese is that they know how to do food. Food is everywhere and any time, yet for the population you don’t see too many over weight Japanese people, funny I’ve just come from a sumo camp where they are all over 160 kilos and I’m telling you there are not too many fat Japanese.  But food is something they do very well, all sorts western style, eastern eroupean, Arab they do it all and they do it well.  I started taking pictures of some of the food I’ve been trying and I now know why one of my Chinese staff members takes photos of her food when she goes out.  She sends the pictures to her family in china, where I’m taking photos in case I don’t like it  and know what not to order next time.  I had noodles ginger, sea weed with steamed squid dumplings balls for lunch today, it was fantastic.  The squid in the dumpling caught me by surprise, and you order off all the pictures they have in the windows.  I’ve grown quite accustomed to cold green tea so long as it’s not the one you buy in the shop as I’m sure they have put coal dust in it as it takes like crap.  So now off toNagoyato my RCI hotel where I’ll have to do some planning of my next couple of trips.  I don’t want a day to go by with out planning things.  I do know that the green card for the shinkansens work well, but you have to book your seats in advance so you have to be on your game.  I’d hate to go economy that just would not do,,,,hahahahah.  Anyways, I’ll just sign off now, I’m about to change trains at Tokyo so have to get my stuff together.  I was sort of thinking due to my tight schedule whether I was going to go toSendai, but it would have been a mistake to not go, I loved every minute of it. I’ve made a couple of friends, a Japanese guy called Oku who is a nurse who volunteered at fukochima to help out there after the tsunami and came from the southern part of Japan.  A guy from the Netherlands called Byorn and a couple from the states.  So Mr Miyargies Hostel was a blast.

Tomorrow I think I’ll be heading to  Kyoto and see the old japan, I’ll have another onsen somewhere close and do some serious site seeing.  I’ve got Hiroshima down for Tuesday and will need to consult my goals for Japan book before I do any more planning. when I head back toTokyoI’m going up to the Guman area where there is the most famous Japanese onsen ever.  I’ve seen the photos and it looks very relaxing.  until later ECM