For 14 straight days I was spoiled by sumo on TV from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. Of course, I wasn’t usually home to watch it for 4 hours a day, but it was nice to know that I could. On the 15th day I got to see sumo live and in person. Now that the tournament is over I’m going through withdrawals. It’s disappointing to turn on the TV at 5 and not have sumo as a choice. Oh well, in 45 more days the next tournament will begin in Osaka.

I’ve shown pictures and discussed Yamamotoyama before. You never know what you’ll see when you watch his bouts. Sometimes he is overpowering. Other times he looks laughable, losing to someone less than half his size because of poor technique and/or a lack of agility. On the final day of the January tournament his opponent, Nakanishi, a makushita (lower division) with only three wins in the tournament, should have been an easy rikishi to defeat. However, at over 580 pounds (264 kilos) Yamamotoyama was tossed out of the ring by Nakanishi to end the tournament with a losing 7-8 record.

Yamamotoyama, getting back into the ring in order to bow to the victor, is not the prettiest sight.

Here you can see the scoreboard after a few more bouts took place. Yamamotoyama’s name (山本山) does not have the red light next to it. This indicates that he lost. Tamaasuka (玉飛鳥) won, as did Masatsukasa (将司). Masatsukasa is one of my favorites, in part, due to the large amount of salt he always throws into the ring.

I liked Tamaasuka’s outfit so I asked him if I could have our picture taken together and he agreed.

The first video below is of the entrance of the Juryo ranks from the east. Tamaasuka is on the far left when they are standing and his foot is about to hit the ground after stepping down from the ring at the very end of the video.

This second video is of the entrance of the Juryo ranks from the west. Yamamotoyama should not be hard to spot in his orange keshomawashi.

Posted on January 31st, 2010 under Japan. Tags: sumo, video, yamamotoyama. Comments: 1

The recent January 2010 Sumo Tournament held in Ryogoku Kokugikan (Tokyo) held great promise of being one of the most exciting sumo competitions in a while until the last few days. Why? Because Ozeki-hopeful Baruto defeated all of the Ozeki and Yokozuna Hakuho (白鵬). There were several scenarios which showed Baruto winning the tournament, a rare achievement for a non-Yokozuna, non-Ozeki. There were other exciting possibilities, such as a five-way tie for first place which would have resulted in a mega-playoff on the last day, something I was hoping for since I had a ticket for the final day of the tournament.

However, Baruto was defeated by Yokozuna Asashoryu (朝青龍) and Toyonoshima (pictured above sitting down in the background) late in the tournament. Also, Hakuho was defeated by Ozeki Harumafuji and Ozeki Kaio. Both ozeki used henka (変化), a rather lame move in which the wrestler steps aside instead of confronting their opponent, to defeat Hakuho. I suppose Hakuho should have been looking for the henka technique a bit more. In any event, with Hakuho’s three losses, the only way a five-way tie for first could be achieved would be for Ozeki Harumafuji to defeat Yokozuna Asashoryu on Day 14 and Hakuho to defeat Asashoryu on the final day. The latter was very likely as Hakuho routinely beats Asashoryu these days. Harumafuji couldn’t pull off a Day 14 win, though, so there was nothing on the line on Day 15 with Asashoryu’s one loss compared to the three losses of the others.

Here is Asashoryu receiving his trophy for winning the tournament, the 25th time he has done so. I’m guessing it may be his last as both Baruto and Hakuho seem better at this point in time.

And here Asashoryu is, beginning his victory parade and smiling for my camera, before heading back to his stable. Asasekiryu (朝赤龍) is by his side.

Below is a video I took of 白鵬 vs. 朝青龍 from very far away. Not only did the TZ7 do a decent job given the distance, but the battery died before I stopped recording. I thought the video wouldn’t record but it did! I guess the TZ7 has something built in that causes it to save the video with the last bit of juice. The battery really was dead. The camera wouldn’t even turn on, let alone show me if the video had recorded. I was very surprised to see the video saved on the SD card.

Posted on January 30th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: asashoryu, hakuho, sumo, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: 2

Today’s first picture is an example of how to not do night photography. I only had my TZ7 with me at the time. Although the TZ7 can accidentally take pictures at night with the correct exposure, it doesn’t usually. I couldn’t get it to take any with an exposure length of more than 1 second or less than 15 seconds, and you can’t manually set it for exactly 4 or 5 seconds, which is what this view needed. The above is the 15-second version, which turns the train into a nearly complete ghost. I’ll get a better picture of the Toden Arakawa Line (都電荒川線) at night with my LX3 (which does allow for any exposure of my chosing) one of these evenings.

The Arakawa Line is the closest train system to our apartment. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go where we usually need to go and is slow compared to the Tokyo Metro and other train systems we can choose from. But it is a fun train to ride when you aren’t in a hurry and have no place in particular to go. You can ride it all day, getting off and on as many times as you wish, for just 400 yen. Kids (under 12) pay half price to ride.

This old, streetcar, tram type line feels a bit like riding the San Francisco Cable Car. The controls all seem to be mechanical. There are no computer displays or buttons to push. Instead, levers are pulled and switches are flipped. This is the last of its kind in Tokyo, even though the city was covered with them in the first half of the 20th Century.

There are several interesting neighborhoods near the Minowa end of the line.

Here is a video I took of a little stretch. Unfortunately, no streetcar passed us going the other way while this was being taken. Other than having to wear a tie, I think this would be a very fun job to have–at least for a year or two.

Posted on January 28th, 2010 under Japan. Tags: night photography, Tokyo, trains, tz7 zs3, video. Comments: 1

On January 2 of each year the emperor of Japan makes a rare, “public” appearance. He doesn’t actually go out in public, but the public comes to see him and the rest of the Japanese Imperial Family.

This was my first, real chance to join in on these festivities. Apparently, I didn’t get enough of the crowds at Zojoji on New Year’s Eve or the crowds at Meiji Jingu on New Year’s Day (photos coming soon). The gates open at 9:30 for the first appearance at 10:10. Seven appearances happen during the day. I thought getting there at 9:30 would be perfect timing to see the 10:10 greeting. It turns out that arriving at 9:30 is perfect timing to make it through the gate at 10:11. I missed the first greeting but did see the emperor’s last wave and backside before he and the rest of the imperial family made their exit.

Above is what the crowd looks like in front of you at 9:30.

Photo number two is what it looks like behind you at 10:05.

A changing of the guard happened a couple of times before the 11:00 appearance. The number of security personnel at this event (and around Yasukuni Jinja down the street where I went after) numbered over a thousand I’m guessing.

There was even a pat down of everyone who lined up. I got in line for the pat down from the cute, female security officer. She told me to go get my pat down from a male cop which wasn’t nearly as fun. He did thank me, though, so I guess it was fun for him. 😉

An old lady near me passed out when they announced the Japanese Imperial Family at 10:55. They carted her off quickly, before the Japanese Imperial Family showed up behind the glass again.

From left to right you can see Crown Princess Masako, Crown Prince Naruhito, Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, and Prince Akishino.

天皇陛下と皇后陛下

“Slowly and cautiously” we moved out of the way for the next group of thousands to gather.

Posted on January 2nd, 2010 under Japan. Tags: flag, people, shogatsu, Tokyo, video. Comments: 3

Happy New Year everyone. We rang in the 2010 New Year at the 22nd annual countdown at Zojoji (増上寺), complete with Tokyo Tower in the background, ringing of the temple bell 108 times, and the releasing of thousands of balloons.

I’ll post some more photos and descriptions of the evening’s events in a future entry. For now I’ll leave you with a video of a little piece of the evening.

Posted on December 31st, 2009 under Japan. Tags: shogatsu, tokyo tower, video. Comments: 1