Sunday, January 28, 2007

Naruyama - Taisho's Chankonabe

After finishing our tour of the Edo-Tokyo Museum, we headed over to "Nauryama" for a wonderful chankonabe dinner. The above picture is of our group standing in front of the Naruyama restaurant with it's namesake and owner Naruyama, a retired "Rikishi" or sumo wrestler. This is my second favorite group picture from our Japan trip. If for some reason you weren't quite able to pick out Naruyama in this picture, he would be the large fellow wearing the white apron and galoshes doing the sumo pose in front of us.

Chankonabe is a Japanese hot pot dish or stew that is usually prepared at your table. It is filled with a variety of different items that are simmered in a prepared broth. We tried the shio (salt) and kim chee chankonabe and both were excellent. Both nabes included chicken, pork, tofu, carrots, green onions and a whole bunch of other stuff I can't remember. The grand finale was the addition of udon noodles to the cooked down broth after all of the original items were eaten. Chankonabe's claim to fame is that it's the "caloric staple" of sumo wrestlers who eat vast quantities of the stuff as regular meals to keep up their weight and stamina. In the sumo world, chanko is usually prepared by a junior wrestler and often has a reputation of containing whatever is available to the cook. The Japanese consider chanko a nutritious food that it actually quite healthy if eaten in moderation. Of course, Rikishi do not eat in moderation, hence their massive size and girth. It is my understanding that a lunch of chankonabe is usually followed by a long nap.

Dinner at Naruyama was excellent. Besides the chankonabe we were treated to all sorts of other delicious dishes along with some tasty sake that went down a little too easy. There was a noticeable pattern that was beginning to take shape on this trip of always having great tasting food accompanied by delicious sake! Taisho (what we referred to Naruyama as) taught us a new word that night. On one of his visits to our table to check up on things, we asked him to have a drink with us. He gladly obliged and toasted us with the phrase "kanpai-ikki". Most of us were already aware that "kanpai" or "kampai" was the Japanese equivalent of "cheers" in English. What Taisho taught us was that by adding "ikki" after your toast it meant to down your drink as a shot! Ikki would end up being a very dangerous word while having dinner in Ginza on another night out. More on that to follow in a future post.

According to Dean and Mrs. Sakata, Naruyama had (or has) a father who was also a Rikishi that wrestled under the name Naruyama as well. This was Mrs. Sakata's favorite sumo wrestler when she was a young girl. In fact, the elder Naruyama made it to the rank of Yokozuna which is the highest rank in sumo wrestling. I must say that the younger Naruyama wasn't quite as big as you would expect a sumo wrestler to be. In fact based on the comparison between the two of them in this picture, I would put my money on Dean in a real fight. No offense or disrespect intended to Naruyama, especially since I would like to go back to his restaurant one day to enjoy his delicious chankonabe again.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Edo-Tokyo Museum

After touring the Sumo Museum it was a short walk to the Edo-Tokyo Museum. Now this was a museum! Dean and his Mom had visited the museum on a prior trip to Japan and spent over four hours viewing the exhibits. When he offered it as an option for our Japan trip we all leaped at the chance to visit. The Edo-Tokyo Museum was founded on March 28,1993. The building tries to imitate a Japanese style elevated-floor warehouse. At its highest point, the building is over 62 meters. The museum grounds covers about 30,000 square meters and is more than twice the size of the field area inside the Tokyo Dome stadium. http://www.edo-tokyo-museum.or.jp/english/

Upon entering the exhibit area you are greeted by a replica of the old Nihonbashi Bridge. You cross this bridge to reach the permanent Edo exhibit. Nihonbashi Bridge was the doorway from Edo (current day Tokyo) to such places as Kyoto (to the west) and Nikko (to the north). The original Nohonbashi Bridge had a length of 51 meters and a width of 8 meters. The replica at the Edo-Tokyo Museum is of the same width as the original but of half the length.

Crossing the bridge was an awesome way to start our tour of the museum. What made the bridge even more significant was the fact that we had just walked over the modern day Nihonbashi Bridge the day before after touring the Imperial Palace outer grounds. (See picture below)

Most of the pictures I took at the museum came out very dark. This was because we were not allowed to take flash pictures inside the museum. We weren't quite sure if this was a restriction for the entire museum but to play it safe we all left our flashes off. So to supplement my personal pictures in this posting I have included pictures from the official Edo-Tokyo Museum website.

One of the neat things about the museum was the miniature models of different areas of significance in old Edo. The picture above is of a 1/30 scale representation of the the west side of the Ryogoku bridge. In old Edo it featured a large open area, originally designed as a firebreak. This soon became one of the most popular spots in the city, where numerous spectacle houses and street performances could be viewed. These models were extremely detailed down to the miniature people who were all appropriately garbed as well.

Although most of the exhibits in the museum were built to a reduced scale size, a few were actually built on a 1 to 1 scale of the actual building or monument including this one of the Nakamuraza Playhouse.

The above picture is of the entryway into the Nakamuraza Playhouse where Kabuki Theater was often performed. Above the roof is a banner proclaiming the permission to operate as given by the bakufu. (The government) Beautiful signboards above the door give the names of the plays showing as well as the names of the actors who were to appear.

Now I know that this posting was supposed to be about the Edo-"TOKYO" Museum and you've probably noticed that I haven't shown any pictures or mentioned anything about the Tokyo part of it. While I thought the Tokyo displays were great as well, I am a really big fan of old Japan, and the Edo displays really captured my interest and imagination. I'll leave the Tokyo part for another time and finish with this picture of Rei and Mrs. Sakata standing on a map of the Edo/Tokyo area.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Sumo Museum at the Ryogoku Kokugikan

Just like yesterday, today was a whirlwind of sightseeing from morning to night. After touring Sensoji Temple we had lunch in the Asakusa area and then proceeded by train to the Sumo Museum at Ryogoku Kokugikan. Ryogoku is an area of Tokyo where the Kokugikan (sumo stadium) is located and the surrounding area is full of sumo stables and chankonabe restaurants.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, sumo tournaments were held outdoors at shrines and temples. In 1909, the first permanent sumo hall was built in the Ryogoku area, where outdoor sumo events had been held for a long time prior. The current Kokugikan is the fourth permanent sumo stadium built in Tokyo. It has been in use since 1985 and is located next to Ryogoku Station.

Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures inside the museum so we had to be content with a few snapshots taken outside. One of the highlights of the museum was the pictures of all the prior Yokuzuna that were hung on the walls. Mrs. Sakata pointed out to us the Yokuzuna "Naruyama", who was her favorite as a child. What was neat about this was the fact that we had reservations to eat at "Naruyama" that night which is a chankonabe restaurant nearby. This restaurant is run by the son of the original Naruyama who was also a sumo wrestler that wrestled under the same name.

Now the question of the day is, in the picture above, where is the right hand of the middle sumo wrestler and why does the sumo wrestler on the far left look so upset?

As we approached the Kokugikan we were greeted by the sight of this huge tower called the Yagura-daiko or "tower drum". During sumo tournaments a huge drum that is mounted on top of the tall yagura (tower) is beaten loudly when the matches are about to begin.

I am told that the original yagura was over 50 feet high and was constructed of enormous cedar logs. The tower needed to be this high so that the sound of the drum would reflect off the surface of the nearby Sumida River and be heard all over the city. The current yagura seems to be made of more modern materials and comes equipped with an elevator.

The yagura-daiko is played twice a day during the tournament. The "yose-daiko" (coming drum set) is played early in the morning to gather people and the "hane-daiko" (leaving drum set) is played at the end of each day's matches to invite the audience to come back again the next day. http://www.sumo.or.jp/eng/museum/index.html

Sensoji Temple - "Bad JuJu"

After entering Sensoji Temple, some of us (not me) decided to try their luck at having their fortune told. We all approached this wall of drawers and a few of us proceeded to try and get lucky.
After donating 100 yen you shake up a rectangular box until a chopstick size piece of wood falls out. Each of these wooden sticks has a Japanese character on it that matches one of about a hundred little drawers with matching characters. You pull open the matching drawer and retrieve a slip of paper with your fortune on it. Sounds simple enough right?

Unfortunately these fortunes didn't pull any punches and a few of our group pulled some really bad fortunes. I found out after we left Japan that if you don't like your fortune you can neutralize it by simply tying it to a nearby wooden fence within the temple. None of us knew that at the time so nobody got rid of their bad fortunes. I haven't told the guys yet because I know they'll be bummed out to hear it.

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Asakusa - Sensoji Temple

We got off the boat and entered Asakusa. We would save touring the city for another time. Today our intent was to visit Sensoji Temple and do some shopping for "omiyage" at Nakamise Dori. We took a quick picture before we left the dock area with the famous black and gold Asahi Beer building in the background.

Kaminarimon Gate greets us at the entrance to Sensoji Temple. It is the main gate to Sensoji Temple and was originally built in 942, and rebuilt in 1635. Kaminarimon Gate was subsequently destroyed by fire several times over the years. The existing gate dates from 1950 when it was rebuilt after 95 years. The two deities on either side of the gate are Fujin, the god of wind, and Raijin, the god of thunder.

It's hard not to notice the humongous red lantern hanging in the entrance to the temple grounds. The kanji letters written on the lantern says "Kaminari-mon." I believe "Kaminari" means thunder and "mon" means gate in Japanese


After passing though Kaminarimon Gate you enter Nakamise Dori. Nakamise is a vibrant shopping lane that extends for about 250 meters to Sensoji Temple. There are approximately 90 shops that line both sides of the lane selling everything from handmade rice crackers to Hello Kitty key chains. (Once again, the old and the new side by side again - See my prior comments from my Hamarikyu posting) For those of you looking for Japanese souvenirs to take home, this is the place!

Nakamise was originally formed around 1685 when the 12 subsidiary temples belonging to the Senso-ji Temple that lined both sides of the street were permitted to put out souvenir stalls in front of local houses in exchange for a promise by local residents to keep the area clean. It began to be called Nakamise (“inner shopping street”) because it is located between the shops of Kannondo-mae and the Asakusa-Hirokoji path. http://www.asakusa-nakamise.jp/e-index.html

After passing through Nakamise Dori we reached Sensoji Temple. Here's a picture of all of us before we actually enter the temple. In this courtyard area there were several items of interest. The first was the huge incense burner.

Apparently the smoke from the burning incense is supposed to help purify and heal you. People use their hands to try and focus the smoke on any part of their body that they would like good health. Here you see Richard and Matt doing their best to direct the smoke toward themselves. Whenever I look at this picture I imagine that Richard is preparing to grab the sides of the incense burner with his bare forearms like David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine in the television show Kung Fu! Check out David Carradine on IMDB through this link. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001016/

Another purification ritual at most temples involve washing your hands and mouth before entering. Here you see most of us partaking in the this ritual before entering the temple.

We finally enter Sensoji Temple and make an offering. Sensoji is Tokyo's oldest and most popular temple. According to legend, in 628 two brothers fishing in the nearby Sumida River netted a tiny golden statue of Kannon, the Buddhist goddess of mercy and happiness. The chief of their village recognized the sanctity of the statue and enshrined it by remaking his own house into a small temple so that the villagers could worship the Kannon. The blessings of the Kannon gradually received a high reputation throughout Japan, and people near and far flocked to Asakusa to venerate the statue. I understand that the statue is still housed here but is never shown to the public. Sensoji Temple burned down during a 1945 bombing raid and the present structure was rebuilt with donations by the Japanese people.

The Sumida River

Hamarikyu was a perfect way to start the day. After touring the park is was time to leave for Asakusa, and once again Dean had a surprise for us. Instead of heading for the train station he led us toward the far end of the park where a boat ride awaited us. Hamarikyu's unique location allows for boats to dock there and we were now fortunate enough to be able to board one that would take us to Asakusa via the Sumida river. Here's a picture of us leaving Hamarikyu in the background.

The boat was big and airy, with very few people joining us for the ride. The first thing we noticed when we boarded was how low the ceiling was. The boat was a double decker model with glass ceilings, and pretty much everyone sat on the upper deck for the view. Matt, the tallest guy in our group had to literally walk around in a crouched position to fit, and his head still grazed the roof.

Since there weren't a lot of people on board we could sit where ever we wanted. Our group spread out on both sides of the boat and started our tour of the Sumida river.

According to Dean there are 12 unique bridges on the Sumida river. This one caught my eye as we passed under it. I did some research and found out that this is the Chuo-ohashi Bridge, a modern suspension bridge that really stood out amongst the other bridges we saw. As we passed under these bridges it became startling clear why the ceiling on the boat was so low. These bridges are so close to the water that our boat barely fit each time we passed under one. Luckily no one loss their head, and before you knew it we had arrived at our destination, Asaskusa.

Saturday, January 6, 2007

Hamarikyu - We Begin our 3rd Day in Japan

Day 3 - Our original plan was to take the Toei Subway Mita line to Otemachi Station and tour Asakusa. However, Dean had a surprise prepared for us instead. We walked a little less than a mile from our hotel to Hamarikyu Gardens which is a beautiful park located at the mouth of the Sumida river.

Touring the garden was a nice change of pace from our prior days activities. The garden seemed to have a calming effect on all of us as we wandered leisurely amongst the beautiful greenery. My friend Kurt exclaimed that he could spend all day there, relaxing and taking in the beauty of the garden.


The history of Hamarikyu Gardens go back to the 17th century when it was originally a mansion and hunting ground for the Tokugawa Shogunate. It later became a detached palace of the Emperor after the Meiji Restoration. In 1945 the ownership of the garden was passed on to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and has been open to the public ever since. I am told that the word "rikyu" in Hamarikyu means "detached palace" and is of Meiji origin.


The above picture really captured the essence of what Tokyo often felt like as we traveled the city. The new and the old, side by side. When you were in the park facing a certain direction, all you saw was this picturesque Japanese garden that looked ancient and unchanged. Look behind you and you were surrounded by the towering skyscrapers of Tokyo. Respect for the old while moving forward with the new. When you think of Japan do you imagine a city of neon signs, commuter trains and black suited business men or do you think of a place of ancient shrines, centuries old traditions and women who still wear Kimono around the city?

Another group picture before we leave the park. I didn't see a weight restriction posted for the bridge, but this picture sure makes you wonder if they should have one.

Big Echo - So Endth the Second Day!

After all that sake, yakitori and beer, you would think it would be time to call it a day, especially when you consider that we had all been up since 4:00 in the morning. But we were on a roll, and as soon as someone mentioned karaoke it was off to Big Echo to sing the night away.

Realizing that karaoke began in Japan, Big Echo should not have been a surprise to me. Still, it was a bit of a shock to see a 10-story karaoke building in the middle of downtown Shiba. Even in Hawaii where karaoke places are very prevalent, there is nothing even close to Big Echo. We checked in, got a room and proceeded to get our "song" on!

I wasn't sure what to expect, but thankfully there were quite a few American songs with English subtitling. Pitchers of beer helped to break the ice and before you knew it there was a backlog of songs waiting to be sung.

Dean and his Mom even joined in the fun and sang a duet together. Now that I think about it, I believe it was Mrs. Sakata's idea to sing karaoke in the first place. It was a terrific finish to a wonderful evening. So endth the second day! (01.24.2007 - I have been since corrected by Mrs. Sakata that it was Miles who suggested Karaoke.)