Grand Sumo Tournament in Hawaii 2007

SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN POSTINGS BUT I'VE BEEN BUSY WITH WORK RECENTLY. Picture this . . . two half naked sweaty men, each weighing over 300 pounds, grabbing each other's underwear while doing pelvic thrusts together. Sound like your idea of a good time? Probably not, unless you're watching the Grand Sumo Tournament in Hawaii 2007! The Japan crew attended the Grand Sumo Tournament a few weeks ago, the first time since 1993 that the world's top sumo wrestlers faced off in Honolulu, Hawaii. While there were no Hawaii wrestlers in this tournament, it was still pretty exciting to watch.

For the uninitiated, Sumo wrestling is the national sport of Japan. It involves individual matches between two rikishi or Sumo wrestlers. The wrestlers are dressed in mawashi which look like colorful thongs attached to really big belts. They wrestle each other in a small dirt ring, doing their best to push the other wrestler out of the ring or make them fall down using hand thrusts and throws. One of the more popular foreign Sumo wrestlers right now is Kotooshu from Bulgaria. (That's him in the above picture on the right.) In a relatively short amount of time, Kotooshu has already attained the rank of Ozeki, or "champion" which is the second highest rank in Sumo, just below Yokuzuna.

Usually Sumo tournaments are held for 15 days, with the winner of the tournament being the wrestler with the best winning record overall. Because the Grand Sumo Tournament in Hawaii was held for only two days, it was conducted as two separate nights of "sudden death" elimination matches. Lose your match and you were out, win and you continued on. The two semi-finalists on Saturday night, Asashoryu and Hakuho, each wrestled four matches before finally getting to wrestle each other for the championship. The Grand Tournament ended it's first night with Asashoryu wining the event. In the above picture he is awarded the Mayor's Cup by Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hanneman.

Let the Countdown Begin!

IT IS OFFICIAL! Start your countdown clocks and set them to T-Minus 4.5 months. On October 14, 2007, we will be returning to the LAND OF SMILES! No my friends we are not traveling to Thailand, we are heading back to TOKYO JAPAN! Most of the original group got together for dinner recently at Chiba-Ken. Missing from the picture are the Oregon bunch (Matt, Brad and Mary) Mark, Mrs. Sakata and Ryan, who was actually there but unfortunately got cut out of the picture. Sorry Ryan!

The herd has thinned this year as only four of us have committed thus far. Quite a bit less than the fourteen of us who went last year. This is mostly because another bigger and longer trip is already being planned for 2008, and not everyone is up to going to Japan three years in a row. I see this as a "glass half full" situation since this really means there will be more sake for me to drink in Tokyo since less people are going!

Let's Give it to Timmy . . . He'll Eat Anything!

POP QUIZ: What is Timmy doing in the above picture?

A. After digging for days, Timmy is proudly showing off the granddaddy of all boogers!

B. Timmy lost a bet and must now swallow a super sized maggot.

C. Timmy is happily enjoying his dinner in Ginza.

If you answered C, you are correct. What looks like a giant maggot is in fact a raw shrimp with it's "brains" attached. Most people pull the head off their shrimp and just eat the body. A few people will sometimes suck the "brains" from the head as well. However, this is the first time I have seen anyone manage to successfully pull the brains out from the head of a raw shrimp while still keeping it attached to the body. Leave it to Timmy to pull off the impossible. .

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This feat of greatness took place during dinner in Ginza and involved one of the biggest raw shrimps I have even seen. Most of the time you think of raw shrimp as the small "ama ebi" you see on sushi. This shrimp was no tiny ama ebi, this sucker was the Godzilla of shellfish. While the above picture does not do it justice, if you look good you can see the shrimp with its head still attached on the sashimi boat.

And now for the money shot! Timmy slurps this monster down in one swallow for the camera. Impressive yet disgusting at the same time. You can see Rae in the background, cringing in terror at this horrific sight! According to Timmy this was the best raw shrimp he had ever eaten. Giant raw shrimp with their brains attached . . . one more reason to visit Japan.

The Legendary Black Eggs of Hakone

What first might be mistaken for a super-sized black jelly bean is actually an egg. No, this is not a "goth" themed Easter egg blog posting. This my friends is the story of the legendary black eggs of Hakone! Well maybe not legendary, but they certainly are black. Brad or Timmy (Sorry, wasn't sure who) proudly shows off his black egg for the camera before chowing down on this unusual food item.

We happened upon these eggs while touring Owakudani. (Look for my earlier posting about our visit to Owakudani.) These black eggs start off as normal chicken eggs until they are cooked. What gives them their distinctive black color is the sulfuric water that they are boiled in. I am told that the hydrogen sulfide that is present in the sulfur pits react with the iron in the eggs causing them to turn that deep black color. Don't be fooled by the scary exterior though, crack one open and they look and taste just like a hard boiled chicken egg.

Eating one of these eggs is supposed to add seven years to your life. (So does that mean if I eat ten eggs I will live to be over 100?) It's hard to believe that anything cooked in that milky blue-green foul smelling water could be good for your health. It makes you wonder if the people who cook them have any health issues since they must be inhaling these sulphurous fumes all day as they cook the eggs. Now tell me, does that water look healthy to you?

Vending Machines - Beer Anyone?

Some of you may have already heard about this, others may have not. You can buy beer from vending machines in Japan! For those that require proof of this, please refer to the above picture of Richard standing in front of a vending machine at our hotel. Side by side next to the bottles of water and green tea sit ice cold cans of Asahi beer waiting for purchase. Now granted, you won't find beer for sale at every vending machine in Japan. In fact the amount of vending machines that sell alcoholic beverages in Japan have decreased over the years. However it is still quite a novelty to see these machines scattered around Japan with nothing but an honor system to stop under age teenagers from purchasing them.

Unless you've been to Japan, it's really hard to explain the scope of how pervasive these vending machines have become. According to the Japan Vending Machine Manufacturers Association, there are 5.51 million vending machines in Japan, generating a total of almost 7 trillion Yen or approximately $58 billion dollars each year. That means that there is roughly 1 vending machine for every 23 people in Japan. Most obvious are the cigarettes and drink machines that are scattered just about everywhere you look. However, the Japanese have taken this to another level with vending machines that sell not only beer and other alcoholic beverages, but also fresh eggs, women's underwear and bouquets of flowers just to name an unusual few. The above picture shows one of the more simpler machines that sell subway tickets.

At a restaurant near our hotel you were required to pay for your meal before entering by purchasing a ticket from a vending machine. You chose the meal you wanted, put in the appropriate amount of yen, pressed a button and received a ticket. Once inside you gave this ticket to the staff who would then quickly prepare your meal and serve it to you. While at first glance this payment arrangement may seem a little strange, it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The restaurant reduces their staff by one person since they no longer need a cashier to take payment and you're forced to pay up front so there is no chance of anyone skipping out on the bill. There can also be no argument over what you ordered since you picked it yourself by pressing a button. Only in Japan.