sumo

Went to see last Sumo Grand Tournament held Tokyo (It was in May...). GREAAAT sport!! Even better seen in live than from TV. Enjoyed a lot. I and my German friend Eric went there at afternoon but next tournament definitely I want to see from the beginning. This means getting to the stadium by 8 am. Lower ranking wrestlers are fighting first followed by higher classes. Not only that many lower class fights were more interesting but also they go faster. The higher the class the more time they have to spent on throwing salt on the arena and stomp the ground etc. Nice looking mind games but boring after seeing 20 of them. There are 6 Grand Tournaments every year and each last 15 days (wonder if someone has time to see all the fights...tickets are cheaper for whole 15 days though). More information about sumo can be found here. Next tournament in Tokyo will be held in September. Definitely going to be there.



Seremonial Bow Dance performed by highest ranking (Yokozuna) wrestler.


High class wrestlers. Those "skirts" can be unbelievably expensive...


Our seats were not the cheapests ones but still...


Last second before two giants will hit to each others.


Getting a good grip.


Wow. This big guys, and still they throw each others like nothing. Bet that the salt on the ground will sting a bit on the losers ass.


Violent looking fight.


Hehe...small fellows with funny pants every where in the sumo stadium.


Someone was playing a drum in that tower after the tournament was finished. ;)

baseball

Ooops...Hehe, quite late update. On May I went to see baseball together with my friends from the lab. Yokohama Baystars vs. Yomiuri Giants (team of Tokyo) was played in Yokohama. First baseball game for me in my life and I loved it! Really nice game. Unfortunately my hometeam (Yokohama) lost the game. :( ...hehe, but propably I'll move to Tokyo on September...

And btw, all the pictures are taken with cell phone.


Yokohama stadium.


...


...


The hero of Baystars, best batter. Made home run in this game.

Back in Tokyo

After surviving from eating fugu it was time to head home, 5 days trip had come to its end. From Oita I took bus to Fukuoka. Spent few hours there (shopping, dinner, etc.) and took night bus to Tokyo. In this point I had finally time to write my postcards which I collected during the journey. Put them in a postbox in midle of nowhere during the night when we stopped for a toilet.



Strange toys they are selling here...


Fukuoka, tall buildings like in Tokyo.


Hehe, this night bus had good service, slippers for whole night ;)


Home sweet home.


Travelling is nice 'cause you see many new places and meet interesting people. Most of all get out of daily routines. But after spending many many and many hours in busses (or trains), the home comming makes me always smile.

Fugu

After Beppu and many onsens there was only one thing to do in this trip before I was ready to return home, eating blowfish (fugu). Wanted to taste this deadly poisonous fish. Tourist office worker happened to know an owner of one fugu restaurant in Oita city. She organised for me special opportunity to taste this fasinating fish. So, after morning onsen took train to Oita and headed to fugu restaurant.


At this moment strange feeling raising in my stomach, where did I get myself this time. I got own small room for eating...if I die other customers are not bothered.


Sashimi fugu (raw blowfish) and a liver of fugu. Liver is the source of the poison and that's why the most poisonous part in the whole fish. Liver was specially asked for me by the lady from Tourims Oita. She told that it's common around here for people to the liver even though it's somehow forbidden in Japan. Like she said: "you don't have to try it if you are afraid..."


Seems that I survived...still not feeling dizzy and the liver is finished. Huge lunch they prepared for me and got 40 percent discount from it, unbelievable.

Beppu

Time is flying and a big pile of posts is standing inside my blog as a draft. Ok, here you have one more (few still to come...please be patient;) from my (old) trip. As a defence I can say that right now I'm busier than ever before with my studies. First version of my thesis should be finished after one month. To make days a bit longer I have to finish many many experiments also. Judo is only thing I haven't given up because of this. Luckilly summer is always the time of pure power...hopefully also here in Japan!

Ok. Here you have the pics from Beppu. The no.1 place I visited during this trip. This town included over 100 official onsens (hot baths) and who knows how many unofficial. Water is really boiling under this town... I spent my day in this lovely small town (bigger than my home city in Finland, which is BTW 8. biggest in whole Finland) mostly in onsens...and especially "hidden" ones, better name would be "free" onsens. They are not hidden, I could find them (I had a map). I could find 4 free onsens from mountain with little help of REALLY kind (commercial) tourist office workers.:) Thank you Tourism Oita! These "free onsens" are made and maintained by local people. Many of them use these onsens daily.


Ship from Matsuyama was like cruisers going between Helsinki and Stockholm. Not only by look but prices of food were also similarly high.



The big ship. Sorry didn't fit to my camera from this close. A bus was getting us from the dock as in airports. :)



Like I said...lots of water boiling under the soil. These sights fill the whole town.



The first one.



And look who is bathing... ;)



Took some time to hike (or should I climb) to the next bath. Wonders of mountain area...some kind of dam..?



Wonders of nature and some spices from humans.



Finally there.


The second one.


Me and my new friend Tanabe-san. Tanabe-san is local onsen-otaku (every day all around year drives up to mountain to have a bath). He was kind to show me two more "free" onsens.


The third one...



...And me in it.



The view from bath over the Beppy city.



A hole into earth.



Sulphur was smellin every where...guess what is the odor in my t-shirt and towel used on that day still...



The fourth one and familiar face smiling. This clay bath is in top 5 in whole Japan! (some statistics to all who are interested such a things)



Sun was starting to set already.



But before heading to sleep, one more bath. This time I tried a sand bath and have to admid that it was strange. Like laying in really hot beach but without the sun...and the sand is getting hotter when digging deeper. Nice one, makes you really sweat.


Green smoke?


Slept in a bath house next to station. Only 1500 yen whole night including the bath, yukata, and a bed in a big Tatami room.



How to start a day in Beppu?


Inside.


....Having a bath is a perfect start to a day (also perfect end and a way to spent a lunch or etc, breaks ;). Wonder if I could move to life in this city and have my own onsen in my backyard..?! Oh BTW, hottest water ever in this bath! Had to sit 10 minutes with my legs inside before diving in.



Remainds me a certain place in Matsuyama and price of a ticket is only 1/13 of it. Paid 100 yen to get in this old onsen.


Ok, untill the next time. (btw, now is 15th of June here;)

Matsuyama

After Hiroshima it was time to change from main island to smaller one. In Shikoku I spent one day and one night in the "small" city called Matsuyama (population half million almost same as in Helsinki...). Matsuyama had a nice castle and oldest onsen in Japan. BTW, this onsen, called Dougo-onsen, was the original model for the bath house in Miyazaki's famous animation "Spirited Away".


Boat trip from Hiroshima to Matsuyama.


Inside the boat my "seat"...nice, I could sleep couple of hours in this room.


Drinkable or not?


First sights of the Matsuyama.


Trams are getting older. :)


Met these fellows on my way to the castle. They didn't speak much but looked funny.


First walls of the fortress.


The Matsuyama castle.


Japanese clothing.


Getting in to the castle itself.


Old school fire extinguisher.


Nice view...window was quite small though...


Previous inhabitant.


This time walking all the way down. Next time rope way ALSO down...


Foot bath in front of the shopping street near the Dougo-onsen.


The Dougo-onsen.


And from the other side.


Does it remaind something?


Once more.


Inside the onsen-house.


Resting place for tired traveller.


Big tatami rooms for guests to rest...but only for 1.5h max. No time limit in the hot bath itself.


Tea and a cookie after bathing.


Lots of people wearing yukatas aroud the onsen.


Funny clock (maybe funniest what I have seen so far).


Stayed the next night in youth hostel. Didn't need to wait long to fall a sleep. Hehe, when checking mail I was chatting with a nice old lady next to me. After 10 min. she asked "where am I from?". When I answered that from Finland, she replied: "Oh, no miks mei sitte puhutakkin suomee..." She had quite strong british accent...so I supposed it with out asking that she is from there...which was partly true (married to british man and living in England at the moment).

Ok, time to sleep now. Many postings to come...just be patient. BTW, for those who didn't know returned from Finland yesterday (only 9 days trip).