A poor showing from Hakuho (three losses before the final match with Baruto) and a fine tournament from Baruto (no losses before the final two days), have clinched Baruto’s first ever tournament victory. Congratulations!

Hakuho had won 15 of the prior 20 tournaments.

Posted on January 20th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: hakuho, sumo, video. Comments Off on Baruto wins his first tournament

Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan) on a rainy November evening

After checking out Opeth at O-East, I headed out into the rain to catch my train home. The darkness, coupled with the sea of umbrellas, made the scene too cool to merely walk through on my way home so I went up in Starbucks to get a better view of things.

Posted on January 19th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: people, rain, shibuya, Tokyo. Comments Off on Shibuya rain

Tokyo Tower after dark

For the same view during the day click here.

Posted on January 18th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: night photography, Tokyo, tokyo tower. Comments Off on Tokyo Tower by night

A head shot of the Kamakura Daibutsu doesn’t look that impressive unless a pigeon (or two or four) is on his head to show just how enormous he is.

Posted on January 17th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: buddhist, kamakura. Comments: 2

On floors 49 through 52 of the Sumitomo Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, you can find a bunch of restaurants with outstanding views and reasonable prices. The Shinjuku Sumitomo Building (新宿住友ビルディング) was one of the tallest buildings in the world back in the 1970s.

Today’s photo is of a lunch I had in one of the restaurants (sorry but I don’t remember which one). You will frequently see menu items in Japan featuring the word “stamina.” In the Japanese context, stamina food means raw eggs, meat, and/or vegetables. My lunch featured all three to go along with miso soup, something pickled, and some mugicha (wheat tea). If I remember correctly, this was under $10 (maybe 600 or 700 yen).

Posted on January 13th, 2012 under Japan. Tags: food, shinjuku. Comments: 2