August 9, 2011

Last Full Day

At the end of the day, I turned to Beerman and said, "Why are we always so tired on our vacations?" Without missing a beat, he replied, "Because you had us on the other side of Tokyo before 9 a.m. looking for sumo wrestlers."
Okay, maybe he has a point. But we did make it across the city to Ryogoku and saw the national sumo stadium. I rubbed this guy's belly for good luck. (Way cooler than the Florence boar, as far as I'm concerned.)
We also found a few sumo stables (seriously, they're called stables). I went into this one, (Kasaguano) because a guide book said that sometimes they let you watch. A big dude was polite, but told us we couldn't stay by making a big "X" out of his arms. Regardless, I can say I found sumo wrestlers and was actually in a stable.
From there, we moved to the Imperial Garden. I was told by someone very official I was going the wrong way there, too. Again, with the giant "X" of the arms. Beerman thinks it's awesome that I always get very official people scolding me, even in other languages.
From the gardens, we went through another market area, Ameyoko this time.
After market shopping and some lunch, we headed to Ginza. Ginza is the highest end shopping area of town.
And ohhh, the beautiful windows.  And the shoes...
Hot, tired, but completely happy, we stopped into the Sapporo Beer Garden to toast our good fortune. We covered 48 miles today according to the GPS, and had another day of amazing experiences. Kampai!

3 comments:

Mary Z said...

You mean our virtual tour of Japan is going to end?????? It's been great.

jon said...

Jet lag may be catching up to you.
Your pictures are great.

Snowcatcher said...

Wow! 48 miles in a day?!?

That shoe window is incredible. But my favorite photo is the garden. Man, is that ever gorgeous!

Giggling at all your arm Xes!