Tubing

This summer we made some new friends through our buddy John and his family, who were nice enough to take us along on a couple of trips they made to a river in Gifu. The last time we headed out to the river, we went tubing (our first time) and had a blast! My inexperience lead me to lose control while going over a rapid, causing me to hit my thigh on a rock. It hurt, no question about it, but it didn't damper my experience--we had a really good time! Thanks very much to the Janzen, Sheppard and Torres families for including us! Here is a short video of our little adventure down the river:

Our New Mini Cooper Bikes

Nagoya is one city that is easy to get around because of the numerous means of transportation available. Since we got here we have utilized trains, subways, taxis and good old fashioned walking to get around. But this week we added another method of transport to our list: bikes. Awesome folding mini-cooper bikes that is. Now for the most part, bikes in Japan are pricier than the States, so we've been shopping around quite a bit in order to get the best deal. We ended up paying a bit more than we originally planned for these beauties, but they were well worth it. They are foldable, and much lighter and smaller than other folding bikes we came across. We also opted for these because they have Shimano brakes, as well as gears. Once we picked out the bikes (dark green for Marlow, and burgundy for me) we set out to accessorize with locks, lights and a basket before we sealed the deal. In the States, after you fork over the cash, you can walk (or ride) straight out the door, but in Japan you must first register your bike before you leave. If you bike ever gets lost or stolen, it doesn't necessarily fall off the face of the planet, never to be seen or heard from again. In Japan, stolen bikes are a big deal, and if you are caught with one you can land in some trouble with the law. Anyway, here is a video Marlow made of our new bikes:

Rumble in Aichi: Sumo Comes to Town

Marlow and I went to our first sumo tournament in Nagoya, and we had a great time! We ended up with nosebleed seats, but that really didn’t affect our experience, we still really enjoyed it. To fill you in, here is a crash course in sumo: there are nine ranks of sumo wrestlers, the top four being the upper ranks including the highest, yokuzuna. We arrived in time to see the pros as they were introduced and paraded around the ring wearing fancy, bright aprons (I read some of these aprons can cost up to $5,000 as they often feature silk and gold embroidery! $5,000?! Believe it). We also spotted a few foreign wrestlers--they were pretty easy to recognize from our distant seats as they were much hairier than the Japanese wrestlers. Here is a breakdown of interesting sumo facts:

*Sumo, though it has evolved a little, is over 1500 years old, and began as part of a ceremony to the gods to pray for plentiful crops.

*The hairdo of today’s higher ranking wrestlers is consistent with those of early sumo wrestlers, and (according to the official sumo website…I’m not making this up) can also help to protect the wrestler’s head in the event of a fall.

*The title of yokozuna has been around for 300 years, yet only 62 wrestlers have ever coveted the position.

*Unlike American boxing, there are no weight limits or ranking systems, so wrestlers can be faced with opponents much heavier than themselves.

*The gyoji or referees are the guys who look like they are wearing fancy pajamas and running around the wrestlers. Their pajamas are actually a type of kimono, and they too are part of a ranking system: the lower ranking gyogi are barefoot and the higher have cool Teenage Ninja Turtlesqe split toe socks.

*Before the wrestlers actually collide, there is a period of pumping themselves up, glaring at their opponents and throwing salt. This part of the match is called the shiriki, and it allows the wrestlers to build up excitement among spectators, but what’s most interesting is the 4 minute time limit that has been implemented recently. The first time limit was implemented in 1928, and it was 10 minutes! I guess ADD has affected even the most devoted of sumo fans. The actual wrestling time within each match is often less than a minute or two long.

Though the 4 minutes of glaring and salt scattering may sound pretty boring, we actually had a great time and found the matches to be quite exciting (they really make up for the 4 minutes of glaring in the last minute of rumble). And the everything sumo souvenirs are cool too. Only real disappointing part was that the two yokozuna we saw parading around earlier didn’t wrestle, but it was still exciting nonetheless. Here is a video Marlow put together: