The November Grand Sumo Tournament has just begun. Sumo has become a bit boring since Asashoryu’s retirement. Initially, it seemed that Baruto would take Asashoryu’s place as Hakuho’s main challenge. However, since Baruto’s promotion to Ozeki, he has turned into a barely above average rikishi with only one 10-victory tournament along with two others in which he only barely made kachikoshi (more wins than loses).

Hakuho, on the other hand, hasn’t lost since January and is daily extending his modern record for consecutive victories. No one, it seems, can come close to defeating him, let alone win a tournament while he is around. All of this, of course, makes things a bit boring and predictable.

Posted on November 14th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hakuho, sumo. Comments Off on November Sumo

Cherry trees are all the rage in Japan in spring and maples are famous in the fall, but not to be overlooked are the ginkgos (銀杏). They can be found in numbers in several parts of Tokyo including Harajuku, Ueno, and the Waseda University campus (pictured above).

The building featured in this photo is the Okuma Memorial Hall (大隈講堂). Famous speakers at the auditorium therein have included Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Albert Einstein, Robert Kennedy, Bill Gates, Henry Kissinger, and yours truly.

Posted on November 11th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: autumn, waseda university. Comments: 1

Almost nine months ago I left you hanging with part 5 of our Mt. Mitake hike taken in November of 2009. I will probably include a part 6, 7, and maybe 8 later; for now, I’ll skip ahead to the conclusion as a bit of a warning to anyone trying this hike, which is excellent this time of year (mid to late November).

As mentioned in the first post in this series, the hike, as laid out in the book we were following, was supposed to take 4 hours and 45 minutes. If you take no breaks, have no kids with you (like we did), and jog portions of the trail you may be able to do it in 5 hours. After seven hours, the sun began to set, and we didn’t know if we were 10 minutes from the end or 3 hours. I took the above picture at that point with flash. We had already been jogging a bit as we didn’t want to get stuck in the dark.

With no headlamp, the only way to make the correct turns was by taking a picture of the signs with flash. My camera saved us from getting stranded in the Japanese wilderness for the night. The last hour, in the dark, was a bit scary, but we made it. That was the last time in Japan that I went hiking without bringing along a headlamp, just in case.

Posted on November 10th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: hiking, mt. mitake, signs. Comments Off on Mt. Mitake – Final Part

One night the family and I were walking back to, I think, the Tanashi Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. We had been at Tama Rokuto Science Center all afternoon and were quite hungry. In the distance we saw this sign. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an In-N-Out Burger, having never lived close to one, but at the time it seemed like it would really hit the spot to all of us. So, in a famished excitement, we crossed a couple of streets to get to this sign…

…only to find out this sign had nothing to do with In-N-Out Burger; it was merely an entrance sign for some other business.

As we suspected, there is no In-N-Out Burger in Japan.

Posted on November 8th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: food, signs. Comments Off on In-N-Out Burger Japan?

Congratulations to the Chiba Lotte Marines for winning the 2010 Japan Series. It would be fun to see them play the San Francisco Giants in a true World Series now, but that won’t happen. I was pulling for the Dragons (and the Rangers in the World Series) so neither series result made me happy, but seeing the Marines play the S. F. Giants would.

Posted on November 7th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: baseball. Comments Off on Chiba Lotte Marines win 2010 Japan Series