Sumo Tournament and Kobe

Whooooooa! I'm less than three weeks away from leaving Japan, and needless to say, time is flyyyying by and I can't believe I'm almost outta here! I'm trying to take advantage of the time I have left here in Japan, and I definitely did that by attending a Sumo tournament in downtown Osaka a couple weeks ago.

It was pretty obvious we were in the right place

There were a lot of people waiting outside the venue, I think to see the wrestlers as they entered? We went right past them and into the stadium

This is a pretty big deal, apparently

Our seats were decent. Closer seats were more expensive but also involved sitting on cushions on the ground, so I was happy with our western-style arena seats

Our tickets were good for all day, but we arrived midway through the day's second-tier bouts in the afternoon.

This particular bout lasted a good minute or two, but many of them were over within seconds.

Someone sang/chanted between each bout, not sure but I think he sang/chanted the names of the next wrestlers

It was a pretty large gymnasium/stadium, and it got fuller and fuller as the day went on

The wrestlers would squat down and appear to be ready, only to psych each other out, get up and stretch again. This repeated several times each bout, it seemed like a ritual of sorts. No bout began after the first or even second squat.

A lot of stretching and leg-raising going on before each bout

The matches were being filmed for some sort of TV broadcast

Not sure who all the brown-clothed people were, but they must have been important, as they got to sit right in the front

After the second-tier bouts ended, we got to see the opening ceremony for the top-tier wrestlers that evening

There were East and West wrestlers. First, the East lined up and walked around the stage area one by one

Once all of them were on stage they did some sort of ritual gestures and then left 

Then the West wrestlers came and did the same thing

After that three guys from the East came back

One of them (last year's defending champion? Not sure) went to the center and did some sort of ritual that involved lifting his legs and then squatting and scooting forward

Three guys from the West got to do the same thing

Then the center area was brushed and watered. This happened frequently.

There were also ads displayed on banners between bouts. guys would just hold a little sign and walk around the edge of the ring between bouts.

This was the day's scoreboard. Matches started on the right and ended on the left, winner of each match was lit up, and both wrestlers of current match lit up on the far left.

More ad banners, or the sumo version of pop-ups

Seen on a store window near the Sumo tournament

Decided to try some Maple Jam. Thought this might be a thing elsewhere, but can't find any evidence of such a product existing outside Japan, not even in Canada

It tasted pretty much exactly as I expected it to, like maple syrup but with the consistency of jam. For some reason this seemed weird in my head, but in reality it was fucking delicious and I wish it existed in the states (does it? It doesn't seem out of the question)

A delicious peanut butter and maple jam open-faced sandwich for dessert

On my last weekend off, I decided on a whim to go back to Kobe!

Kobe loves its big street signs to let you know the street names

Not's

Tooth Tooth! So cute

I thiiiiink I found Chinatown?

Yep, I found Chinatown!

Lookin' fabulous!

Endlessly amused by the ice cream flavors in Japan. Sweet potato, cherry blossom, some black stuff idk what it is, coconut (I think?), green tea, cookies n cream, and mango.

This central area featured small statues of all 12 Chinese Zodiac animals

Kobe is of course known for its beef, which many local restaurants advertised. I wasn't really feeling beef while I was there, so I didn't end up trying any, unfortunately.

Oof that's a whole duck. Chinatown isn't messing around.

Just love that this restaurant had Spider-man outside advertising, totally unexplained and unaddressed

Went to a place my Lonely Planet guide recommended for dinner, and I gotta say, it was deLISH

And CUTE!

Scrumptious vegetarian burrito

I wanted to stay the night in Kobe and went with the cheapest option: A Love Hotel! There were 2-hour and 3-hour rates, but I opted for the whole night, which cost me a mere 5000Yen (less than fifty bucks). Cheap as shit!

Not surprisingly, the place was a little seedy. You entered into a parking garage only to find an elevator to take to the second floor for lobby/check-in

My room was on the third floor

In true Love-Hotel fashion, there were mirrors on the ceiling and most of the walls

There were many controls for the lights in the room, as well as condoms provided. This really was a Love Hotel.

So many mirrors!

In the morning I did get a pretty glorious view from my window before I checked out and explored more of Kobe

Wish I coulda been there for the R&B/Soul/Funk Music

Found a shrine in the middle of the city

Killed some time in a furniture store, which had a crossword puzzle ready-to-go in this living room layout

This bookstore seemed pretty exciting

And it was! Found my favorite souvenirs I'll keep from Japan

Had lunch at another Lonely Planet-recommended place, Ganko!

Ordered a delicious and cheap sushi/soba set. Oishii!

With just three weeks left, this blog is winding down, y'all! I'm (hopefully) headed to the island of Okinawa for my last weekend, and then I'll be back in the states! Woooo!