New Sanno, Edo Museum, and Sumo!

On May 17th I decided to go with the MWR tour group to New Sanno Hotel Brunch, Tokyo Edo Museum, and the 8th day of the sumo tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Price for all three as well as transportation to/from Yokosuka was only $100. New Sanno Hotel I guess would be the Navy’s version of the Hale Koa Hotel, cheap nice rooms in Tokyo for cheap and with a great buffet too. The Edo Tokyo Museum was a nice little bonus for those who were interested in going before the main sumo matches started and is located right next door to Ryogoku Kokugikan. Enjoy the pictures!

Buffet room at the New Sanno Hotel. Complete with ice sculpture, live piano music, and prime rib line.
Edo Tokyo Museum
"The Subaru 360... was the first instance of mass production in Japan's automotive history and Subaru was first in terms of creating demand for privately owned cars." Always one in the family!
The escalator going up/down to/from the permanent museum display floor... it flattens out in the middle!
Random vendors outside of the arena
People waiting outside to see their favorite sumo wrestlers arrive
The main (and only) stage
There are two floors to the arena and the circular building has various shops/cafes going around it.
You can rent a radio for a few yen which really helped because they have an English station that explains what's going on during the matches.
Chanko, supposedly what sumo wrestlers eat.... like a stew with plenty of vegetables
Some of the Juryo matches (lower level)
Makuuchi (top division) wrestlers making their entrance wearing decorative kesho-mawashi
Yokozuna Harumafuji of Isegahama makes a ceremonial entrance accompanied by two makuuchi wrestlers
Sponsors parading around like a commercial
Makuuchi bouts
Intense!
After the bouts are over, there is a bow-twirling ceremony (yumitori-shiki) to close out the day

So now I can say I’ve been to an actual Sumo tournament in Tokyo, Japan! It was definitely exciting and fun to watch and a bit intense at times… (big guys choking, slapping, pushing and throwing each other). The crowd really gets into it and even when it’s quiet you can sense the tension in the atmosphere. I wouldn’t mind going to watch again, perhaps on the final day of the tournament when they have all the final matches!

Coming up next time, a series of blogs on my recent trip to Kyoto! My most anticipated trip in Japan yet and it lived up to everything I hoped it would be. Take care and stay tuned for more!

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