Sumo!!!

Honda is a generous company. Since they realize those of us in Japan can't make it to the big Christmas party, they give us some budget to throw our own. This year, we took that money and went to the sumo tournament this weekend. So now I'm inspired to eat a little more.

We all gathered up at the train station, the OAPs, the wives, and the kids, about 24 of us in all. We filled up a train car (the slow kind), and got down there around 2:30, plenty of time to watch the big dogs, but not make the kids sit through the lower ranks. Unfortunately, something about the way the lighting is in the sumo stadium, the action shots don't come out well. But I did get you these nice shots of a big guys rear.

I also got his nice movie of the most psyched up sumo of the day. Too bad for him, it didn't work.

After sumo, we all went to dinner at TGI Friday's, since it was American Christmas party day. the fajitas weren't as good as I remember them but they were fajitas, and that's enough.

The single (or single in Japan) guys went down to Roppongi for the night afterwards. That's a part of Tokyo that's full of bars for foreigners and the women who love them. Not just the ones you pay, although there are plenty of those, but also the kind you just talk into stuff. We drank ourselves silly until around 4 and then called it a night. Good or bad, I lack the memories to really make for any interesting stories, so that's all you get.

I was supposed to meet some guys from my department back home in Roppongi, but there was a communication problem, so we made plans to meet the next day. I got over to their hotel in Shinjuku around 11 and took them over to Akihabara. I think I've covered that place before, so no stories this time. After that, we went to a nice touristy temple, Senso-ji, in Asakusa.

While we were standing at the front gate (Kaminari-mon, "Thunder Gate") taking pictures, and this girl walks up to us and says "Excuse me, do you speak English?". Lucky for her, we do. Suddenly 5 of her friends rush up, and she explains they're the "English Speaking Society" at some college nearby. The club is giving tours of the temple to practice speaking English. So the 3 of us got 6 tour guides. I got to practice my Japanese, they got to speak English, and we got a little different Senso-ji experience than I've had in the past. These girls were all 19, but they seemed 11. I couldn't help behaving myself. I did make them take a picture with us, but stopped there.