August 6, 2008
Japan Experience! 2008 - Day 10 - Sumo Museum, chanko-nabe, Edo-Tokyo Museum, & Ginza
(L to R) France, Xenia (her face is in the face hole of sumo's head), Shirlene, Claudia, and Richard Sensei may not weigh as much as sumo wrestlers, but they sure got the pose right!
The 10th day of the Japan Experience! was a great day out. The activities for the day included a Japanese class, a visit to the Sumo Museum, a delicious lunch at a local chanko-nabe (Japanese stew) restaurant, a tour of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, and a visit to Ginza.
The Sumo Museum is located in the Ryogoku Kokugikan, an indoor sumo sports arena located in the Ryogoku district of Tokyo. The arena hosts 3 of the 6 major sumo tournaments throughout the year and the museum holds lots photos and memorabilia documenting the history of sumo.
In keeping with the sumo theme, we headed across the street to a chanko-nabe restaurant. Chanko-nabe is a type of Japanese stew which cooks all the food items in one pot. Sumo wrestlers usually eat large helpings of chanko-nabe to gain weight.
After that, just next door to the Sumo Museum was the Edo-Tokyo Museum which is a large building housing many exhibits of historic Edo (old Tokyo). Everything from a recreation of a traditional Japanese kabuki theatre to artifacts recovered from World War II can be found.
With the visit to the two museums over, the last stop was Ginza, a high-end shopping district in Tokyo known for glamorous store displays and extraordinary price tags.
Check back soon to see what we've got in store for the final stretch of the Japan Experience! 2008.
Sumo Museum
1, 2, 3, SUMO!!
Chanko-nabe
Shirlene with her lunch.
(L to R) France, Jocelyn, and Karen eating their "non-sumo-sized" chanko-nabe.
Edo-Tokyo Museum
(L to R) Victor and Claudia exploring the museum.
"Night soil" was an oft used fertilizer and farmers collected it in buckets. This is Nicholas showing his muscles by lifting a pair of buckets (with weights in them...)
Ginza
Bryce holding a square watermelon. Square watermelons are grown in glass boxes that force the watermelon to grow into a cube shape so that while they are easier to stack, the true purpose is to be used a present wrapped like a cake. They cost about ￥10,000, around $92US!
-Lawrence