Our day started out with a quick trip to Don Quijote (or Donki for short). What is Donki you are wondering? Well, it’s great is what it is! It’s like a mix between a Marc’s and a Publix/Giant Eagle (and apparently Marc’s are not in Columbus and I know they aren’t in Tampa, so it’s like a much smaller Walmart) now keep that in mind and add in a Spencer’s Gifts with a dollar store. That’s what Donki is. So, needless to say we got some souvenirs for them and what we really went for which was water proof shoes, since rain is still in the forcast. However, we did not find water shoes until the fourth day at a different Donki. Here are some pics from Donki:
But when in Japan…… do as the japanese do!
There it is, throw up the peace sign.
A quick side note too, I’m going to drop the image quality a bit and not edit many of the pictures for now as I don’t have enough time to get it all done and stay current with the data. Upon my return to the States I will re-upload in higher resolution.
Onward to more Donki, time to get your cupcake on:
And lastly, some costume of who knows what:
I wonder which sucker one of you is getting this for a souvenir… Just kidding we didn’t waste any money on that, well maybe we did.
After Donki, we headed out to sumo which is in Sumida, Tokyo, Japan. The arena’s name is Ryogoku Kokugikan. Here is a pano of one of the train platforms we were at to get to the arena:
Our tickets were in will-call, which was easy to find with some help. We met an employee there and I asked if he spoke any english, as I had no idea how to try to say will-call, but he said he knew very little. I just said, “will-call” then and he pointed us to the pick-up area. It was an automated machine and simple to follow, much like getting your boarding pass at the airport. Once, we got our tickets we headed into the arena:
Down this corridor, were many old painting of sumo wrestlers competing in front of Daimyos. At the end of the corridor were old artifacts from over the years of sumo including a giant trophy. I finally got to use my line to ask a lady walking by, “Suimasen, shashin o totte morae masu ka?” meaning, “Excuse, me can you take a picture?” To which she gladly obliged and took our picture with the trophy behind us:
After this we went to our sheets on the second floor. We also, passed some concession stands, but first we wanted to find our seats. We were given a small map, printed on the same paper the tickets were on, just like a ticket to a Lightning game, and it pointed to our side of the arena, as it is four-sided. The sides each have a japanese kanji character, which we don’t know what it said. We then located our row and seats. We were in awe at how amazing the arena was. We got there early around 1:00 pm so most people weren’t there yet. The earlier in the day the lower ranked wrestlers compete. Around 3:00 – 5:30 are the main wrestlers. Before I show you a video of a match, you may wonder what one eats at a sumo match… bento would be the answer!
This was yakitori which was pork and the balls tasted like a mild meatball and a hot dog, totally yummy. I almost ordered another bento with beef…tongue, but fortunately Sara saved me haha.
We are getting to the video of the sumo match, but one more thing. Here’s the entrance ceremony as the wrestler’s for that “division” (I put that in quotes because a group of wrestlers have their bouts and then a new group comes out, however there are no weight classes, so the advantage is to be bigger and stronger of course. We saw a couple matches where the smaller wrestler one as you can tell there’s technique and leverage at play.)
After sumo we decided to headed back to Asakusa to look for some souvenirs. Asakusa, was where the Senso-ji Temple was and Hiroki the ninja. This time the rain was even worse, so they pulled the lanterns up to protect them:
We ended up with success for finding souvenirs and then we headed home as our feet were soaked all day, plus we had the Robot Restaurant to attend. Oh yeah! The Robot Restaurant. Nothing, and I mean nothing could prepare you and us for this extravaganza.
Here was our walk back to our hotel in Shinjuku:
And the evidence of the rain, showing my soaked pants and waterlogged shoes, which will be thrown away. I’m sure my parents are glad to hear that though as they are running on a few years old now 😉 (winky face with no implications, you know who you are)
We got back to the hotel and dried up and rested a bit before heading back to the Robot Restaurant for a 9:45 pm showing.
I will put the Robot Restaurant on it’s own page to speed up this page’s loading time as the Robot Restaurant has a few videos too. Here’s the link to the Robot Restaurant
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Bwahahahahah! This is great! Did you only bring one pair of shoes?? Sounds like a good excuse to purchase a pair in Japan, and then you can wear a memento of your journey for a few or many years, hopefully. And let’s face it, if people of Japan know walking, and I think they do, they MUST know how to make some comfortable shoes! Maybe get some waterproofing spray while you’re at it..
Why did they have to depict a “bump” 😉 in the costume? Does that mean it’s a mans only costume? LOL.
Great pictures, great posts, keep them coming!!
Hahah right? I brought two pairs, but one are my work shoes so they must be kept dry at all costs lol. I ditched my boat shoes in Tokyo this morning they were still wet after like three days of drying and were falling about on the inside. I bought those water shoes people wear at the beach so I’ve been looking pretty dapper rocking those around Japan haha.
I’ve been looking for some cool shoes here actually, but I’m afraid to get those wet too haha. When we get back to Tokyo on our last day I might stop somewhere and get a sweet pair before headed home.
That costume I think is def guy’s only hahahaha. The girl costume are all maids and the lolita stuff.