Tokyo Oct 08 - Namahage (ナマハゲ) + Sumo （相撲）!

On Monday night I met up with FOUR AnD friends in the Ginza part of Tokyo - Jane,  Mio, Watanabe-san and Taiga.  For those of you who don't know,  Watanabe-san is a PROFESSIONAL SUMO WRESTLER in Japan.   月曜日晩美緒ちゃん、ジャインちゃん、タイガ君と渡辺さん（プロ相撲さん）と一緒食事した。美緒ちゃんはレストラン選んだ、銀座の面白レストランで食べた、秋田県のナマハゲところです。なまはげ居た、カマクラ中で食べた。面白かった！写真を見て下さい！

I have met a lot of movie stars and singers in my time, including a few professional athletes, but it was actually pretty cool to get a chance to talk to Watanabe-san about Sumo... a sport I know a bit about, but still have a lot to learn.  Sumo is somewhat unique in that its a sport AND a culture treasure of Japan,  taken to the n-th degree.  Whereas my Chinese wushu friends train full time in the arts for most of their lives,  when they're not training they're usually hanging around their dorms dressed like normal people leading relatively normal lives. If you saw them in their off time you would have no idea what their profession is.... 

But a Sumo Wrestler has to dress and behave according to Sumo customs, including their clothes and hair style!   It was interesting to get to talk to someone who has devoted that much more of their life to their art.

Basically 24/7 where ever you go, everyone can tell you're a sumo wrestler!  Even in Ginza!

Ginza... the most expensive place in Japan...

Here he is getting stopped by some Thai tourists on the street corner.

タイの観光人は相撲さんと一緒写真撮りたい！

This night Mio picked a cool restaurant for us,  that serves Akita Prefecture style nabe (hot pot).  This place is unique in that the tables are inside fake ' kamakura' (japanese word for 'igloo') and Once in a while the restaurant is invaded by ' Namahage' ( Japanese folklore demons),  who apparently exist solely for the purpose of forcing their way into people's houses looking for 'naughty young boys'  (please keep the pedophile jokes to yourself!)  :-P

Jane is in Tokyo to study Japanese, she decided to ask Taiga for help on her homework ("Are you smarter than a 5th grader?")

Lots of interesting food... including 'double kali stick rice' (no that's not the real name!)

今晩の食べ物もよかった、美味しかった。

The food was really good! Thanks to Mio for selecting the dishes.

Watanabe-san may be a sumo wrestler, but he also likes taking photos and drinking just as much (if not more) than the rest of us... ( As you can see on his blog!)

I didn't bring a super cool black+silver alivenotdead.com hat with me to give Watanabe-san, but i did give him one of our few remaining alivenotdead.com wrist bands:

holy crap that wrist is huge!!!  Yes, he had to totally stretch the band to get it over his knuckles!

すごい広い！

After we finished eating the Namahage came into our igloo's tiny door way and harassed us:

Everyone kept telling them that I was the only naughty boy there... doh!

I gotta give the Namahage guys credit,  they had the balls to try to talk demon smack to a pro sumo wrestler.... 

He had trouble fitting through the igloo door! 　カマクラの門小さ過ぎ！

Group pic showing the "igloo" doors

(note i'm standing on my tip-toes, i'm not that much taller than everyone else).

On the way out the front door:

Another tight squeeze!　お外の門も小！