Since my group was not traveling today, I was able to spend another free day in Tokyo with some friends. I decided to go in search of spotting a Sumo wrestler and see some of the sights that I still hadn’t seen. We began by taking the train to Ueno Park, the site of some historical temples, a number of art galleries, a beautify lotus pond and the Ueno Zoo. We began with a stroll through the National Tokyo Museum that included a visit to the second floor that featured Highlights of Japanese Art. It included artwork in chronological order beginning with clay figures from the Jomon period (ca. 10000 – 5thc. B.C.) to the famous ukiyo-e prints of the Edo period (1603-1868). It gave me a great opportunity to see the highlights of Japanese art and culture.
Enjoying another day of absolutely gorgeous weather, we took a walk through the park to Ueno Zoo. A friend of mine had promised her daughter photos of animals and we figured this was the only way we were going to find anything other than perhaps a squirrel (and we had only seen one of those ☺). The place was filled with so many families spending time together, looking at the animals and having a picnic. Everywhere you looked you saw children eating out of their bento boxes and enjoying themselves. We found the Panda relaxing in his spot and took our picture before heading out.
As we passed through the park again, we were in awe of some of the entertainers that we passed. There was one acrobat that decided he would stack chairs up and stand on top of them. At first it entertaining and then it became crazy! He continued to stack chairs until he was so high off of the round that you could see him from far away. To make matters worse, he then performed some acrobatic moves on top of it all, with nothing but cement under him!
I figured I needed to be daring as well and decided to try out the octopus from the local vender. It was made out of a batter that is cooked in the shape of a ball and filled with seafood (including the octopus) and then sprinkled with ginger and fish flakes. Although the octopus was kind of chewy it didn’t really have much flavor by itself. We each tried one and headed off to find something sweet… blue bananas anyone? The next vendor was selling bananas on a stick covered in blue, pink or chocolate yogurt with sprinkles. Although everyone else decided to get one, I waited knowing I wanted to try the ice-cream crepes that I had seen the day before.
Searching for Sumo wrestlers was the next thing on our agenda. According to our guidebook we took the train to Ryogoku. Although the sumo stables (places where they practice) were closed, we hoped to maybe see someone on the street. After finding the National Sumo Stadium we soon realized this was like going to a football stadium in the States and hoping to see an NFL player just walking around! Oh well, we got some shots of the area and visited one of the well-known restaurant gift shops.
Having walked for about 9 hours at this point I was beginning to feel tired but decided to stick it out for one more stop…Harajuku!! We boarded the train again and this time decided to get off at a different stop that looked like it was near Harajuka. Not so… we ended up walking an extra 40 minutes but got there before the shops closed. Not only does Harajuku have great shopping, it is known for its “Harajuka Girls”. In this youthful fashion district, teenagers dress in the latest trends and parade the streets showing off their wild outfits and posing for pictures. We visited some of the shops and went to get one of the long awaited ice-cream crepes. It was worth the wait…a hot crepe rolled with banana chocolate-chip ice cream, banana slices, whip cream and chocolate sauce! Now I was ready to head “home” for the night. Tomorrow will be leaving for Inagi, our "home" for the next week.
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