Robin's friend Hiromi teaches English in a Japanese school. Kids in Japan go to school Monday through Saturday, so teachers alternate their days off. Hiromi's day off was Monday, so she graciously offered to take us to lunch and shopping for yukatas -- two things we wouldn't have been able to do without her help.
We met her in Ryogoku, which is where the Sumo stadium and stables are located. I find it somewhat disturbing that the house in which the sumo wrestlers live is called a stable. Sumo wrestlers leave their families at a young age and go to live with an established sumo wrestler and his wife, who becomes their mother figure. Since the sumo mother is cooking large volumes of food for so many wrestlers, she frequently makes a type of stew called chankonabe.
Hiromi took us to a chankonabe restaurant. This was the first experience Kevin and I had in a traditional Japanese restaurant. At the entrance of the restaurant there was a poster on which famous sumo wrestler diners had left their hand prints. Immediately after entering the restaurant we removed our shoes and placed them in a shoe locker. The waiter led us to a sectioned off room. Rather than kneeling on the floor, the table sat low to what we thought was the floor but instead was a cut out area for us to dangle our feet so it appeared that we were sitting on the floor.
Hiromi helped us to order. We had our choice of meat, seafood or fish balls in a soy sauce or miso base. Our dishes were served in clay casseroles on top of individual gas burners. We let the stew come to a boil and the meat cook and then we spooned a portion into a bowl and ate the meats and vegetables with chopsticks. The dish was served with rice and various pickled vegetables.
When we were finished we walked down to the sumo stadium. Tournaments are only held three times a year in Tokyo and unfortunately not during our visit.
The purpose of our trip was to by yakatas -- a summer version of the kimono. Hiromi knew of a members-only store that was having a great summer sale. When we entered the store, we removed our shoes and the concierge tucked them neatly away in a cubby. I think I can get used to shopping in just my socks. We were then assigned our own personal shopping assistant who was both very helpful and very patient. Even Kevin picked a yakata, obi and sandals. When we were all finished, our attendant carried our purchases to the main level. Rather than ringing everything up at a register, she knelt on the floor, scanned our purchases and then neatly folded and wrapped our new yakata outfits.
There is a special way to tie the obi that holds the yakata together. One of the men in the store was kind enough to demonstrate to Kevin how to properly tie the belt. I was astounded at how kind, patient and accommodating everyone in the store was to us.
All of that shopping, of course, made us hungry so we set out on a quest to find some ice cream. Instead of ice cream, we ended up at ChocoCro which makes the most delicious fresh baked croissants stuffed with dark chocolates.
We parted ways with Hiromi early as she had work the next morning, and went back to Robin's apartment to change into our yakatas. I figured that Japanese women are short like me, so the yakata would be the perfect length for me. However, when I tried it on, the yakata was at least twelve inches too long. Then Robin remembered that when she tried on a kimono, there was a special way to fold and tuck the material to adjust the length. We set out to find a YouTube video that would provide some guidance. I thought that we had done an okay job. The yakata wasn't falling off and that's all I was concerned about. When we went out to the park across from Robin's apartment to take the picture for my mom, an elderly woman riding her bike through the park stopped and adjusted our yakatas before we snapped the picture. Again, I was amazed by the generosity and patience of the Japanese.
The plan was to get to bed early, as our tour started the next morning, so we decided to do something close to home. Robin wanted to take us to the 100 yen store, which is like our dollar stores but much better. Robin and I picked out all sorts of great kitchen gadgets like a collapsable silicone colander, silicone mini loaf pans, a new tool that I will be repurposing to add texture to my pottery when I get back home and these cool insulated zipper water bottle holders.
On our way out, Kevin spotted a sign for Sega Land on the next floor, so we took a ride up the escalator and attempted to play some video games. It's a little challenging when the directions are in Japanese. So much for getting to bed early.
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