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Thanks to bout fixing, the March Grand Sumo Tournament was cancelled, and the May Tournament is now going to be free. Numerous sumo wrestlers who were linked to the match fixing have been forced to retire.
Today’s photo is of Kyokutenho (旭天鵬), who was not one of those found guilty. Many of the sumo rikishi, like nearly everyone else in Japan, travel by train. You can watch them walk from the train station to Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo simply by waiting outside on tournament days.
A news crew drives into the evacuation zone around the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in the following video. The place is a ghost town (other than animals), and damage from the earthquake and tsunami has gone unrepaired. Although their Geiger counter goes off whenever they hit the “legal limit,” the levels really aren’t that bad. Most of the time within the zone radiation is at 1 or 2 μSv per hour. For comparison purposes, 0.34μSv/h is average for living in the USA, so inside the radiation zone they are getting about 5 times what Americans are normally experiencing in an hour. They peak at about 8 μSv per hour, but that doesn’t seem to last long. Even when they are really close to the reactor they sometimes have levels only a few times what people living thousands of miles away experience on an hourly basis.
During their entire time in the zone (assuming they were in it for a couple hours), they probably encountered less radiation than what a person is exposed to in a dental exam (and hundreds of times less than what a person getting a mammogram receives).
Hisamatsu Minshuku (2010)
We stayed in a minshuku called Hisamatsu (久松) while in Ogimachi (荻町) in Shirakawago (白川郷). This was an authentic minka or gassho zukuri. I don’t think you can fully experience Japan without staying in a place like this. The owners are an extremely old couple, but their daughter pretty much runs the show at this point. She can speak a bit of English I think, but I made our reservation (by calling through the above link) and did all the communication in Japanese. If you aren’t in Japan and want to book a night or two, you can try these email addresses: hidatio@hidanet.ne.jp or info@shirakawa-go.gr.jp
The daughter has kids too, but we never saw them. The food was excellent, the building amazing, but to be perfectly honest I didn’t sleep well. Grandpa headed to the bathroom every few minutes it seemed and I woke up each time. If you want a good night sleep I recommend bringing some earplugs. Do wake up before dawn and go for a walk though!
In Suginami-Ku in Tokyo you can find Zenpukuji Park (善福寺公園). In that park in early summer the lotus flowers and lily pads are quite a sight.
One of the walks in the Water Walks in the Suburbs of Tokyo book was called Oji (王子). This is a great little part of Tokyo. I could have taken the Toden Arakawa Line, which ran right next to my apartment, but chose to ride my bike to Oji along the street car line instead.
Near the end of the walk I went up the only tall building in the area, Kitatopia. Today’s photo is of the view looking north from the observation deck on the 17th floor. The school you see in the picture is fairly typical of Japan, four stories with a courtyard for physical activities in the center. This is actually two schools, Ojisakura Elementary School and Ojisakura Middle School. (王子桜小学校と王子桜中学校)
Unfortunately, the misinformation about Japan’s radiation situation continues to seep into the consciousness of society and become a false reality. People, in the USA anyway and probably much of the world, picture Japan now as a radioactive wasteland thanks to the media not presenting an accurate picture. If you look at actual radiation readings taken by independent citizens (or even biased groups like Greenpeace) you will see that radiation levels in 99% of Japan are no different than they were prior to the Tohoku Quake, tsunami, and Fukushima Nuclear Reactor problems.
The media’s influence is even warping the minds of Japanese living in the USA. The top photo is from a Bento/Hot Dog stand in Ashland, Oregon owned and run by a Japanese person.
In addition to the top photo sign, which made me cringe, Koko’s Bento Dog helped raise some funds during Friday night’s “art walk.” I attended and it was a great event. I didn’t realize there were so many Japanese people in my hometown.
Despite the radiation sign, which I disapprove of, Koko’s Bento Dog Cafe makes a fine hot dog.