Accommodation: we stayed first in Kabukicho in Shinjuku. Near Shinjuku station is a good idea, Kabukicho isn’t a particularly authentic or accurate introduction to Japan for those who’ve not visited. Lots of loose units around, particularly in the mornings after they’ve had a big night. Some homeless folks too. Plus big queues to get into the pachinko parlours when they open. All kind of a bummer, specially if you’re not interested in going the various bars in the neighbourhood. There were lots of good food options around though.
We stayed near Tokyo station next. This was quite different when compared to Kabukicho, it was kind of cool to see all the business people bowing to each other repeatedly etc. There was some heavy salaryman drinking going on in the evenings but they kept things pretty chill, at least as far as I could see. I found food options around here to be slightly less good, though I did eat further south around Ginza and there were some good options down that way.
Sumo: I was fortunate to be in Tokyo while the September Basho was happening. A basho is a 15 day tournament where each of the ~600(!) sumo wrestles once per day, every day. At the end of the 15 days, they each have a record of wins/losses and the champions are crowned. I went along on the 12th day. It was rad! I did a tour so there was an English speaking guide who gave a short “lecture” which wasn’t great but was then available for questions which was much more interesting. The tournament runs each day from 10am, with the juniors, then progresses through the day by seniority with the top ~40 wrestlers matching up from 4pm. We arrived at around 2pm, which gave plenty of time to check out the arena (which has a museum) and to head to the basement for some authentic chanko nabe (chicken stew, a traditional sumo meal):
The chanko was tasty but seemed very healthy and not particularly high calorie? I was fortunate to sit next to an actual sumo having a meal after (presumably) his bout. He had 2 bowls and a litre of milk.
The bouts were much more entertaining than I expected. Those big boys can move! At least for a bit. I saw a couple of matches were they fought each other to a standstill where they then stood, clasping each other, gasping for air, until one or other would summon enough energy to take advantage of their opponent’s exhaustion. Fair play to them, it looked very intense. I picked the powerful Onosato as the guy I’d cheer for. He’s big:
On the 12th day he was sitting with an undefeated record of 11 wins, no losses. Predictably once I started cheering for him, he lost. He looked shocked when he lost. Outraged almost. I didn’t take a photo because I was too in the moment. Here’s one from much earlier in the day when it was more junior competitors. Note that most floor seats are empty, it was jam-packed when the seniors were battling.
Animal cafes: I’d made a big deal about vising a capybara cafe. Then the more I read, the more concerned I became with the potential treatment of animals at these cafes. We ended up going to Cappiness which had only just opened. My impression was that the animals were well looked after and cared about. We visited first session of the day so they were spritely and curious and very interested in the food we were given to feed them. I do wonder how they’ll be in a few months when they’ve had 6+ hours a day of tourists feeding them but for now they were healthy and everything seemed pretty nice.
Teamlabs planets: It was cool. Worth a visit. We booked for an early morning entry under the assumption it might be less busy. I’m not sure it was.
It’s a series of immersive installations of various sorts. Some were pretty great, some felt like more of an afterthought, or less about experiencing and more about taking photos.
We went through twice, which was cool. First time through we went a very “standard” route, second time through we visited only the ones we wanted to reexperience and with a little bit of exploration we discovered a few additional cool features in them.
Tips: there are lots of mirrored floors. Consider whether you want to wear a skirt or not. There’s also a few bits where you walk through water. The water gets to be about 45cm at the deepest (~1.5ft). So consider pants that can roll up, or shorts. We were there on a hot day so I was wearing shorts and it worked out great for me.
Whiskey: a local friend took me to a cool local whiskey bar. It was very Tokyo: 9 seats, one proprietor who was really into whiskey. Everything costs the same price, you just get a different sized pour depending on the bottle you choose.
Kappabashi kitchen town: I wanted to get a cool Japanese knife. It was interesting to wander around kitchen town, and I got a santoku knife at Tsubaya World. The knife is good, though honestly (sacrilegiously?) once you get to a certain level of sharpness, they all seem good. It’s a nice memento but I don’t feel it’s a level up vs the Global chef’s knife I have.
Galleries: Watarium was good/interesting/cool. Mori had a Louise Bourgeois exhibition which was ok. The National Art Centre had an artist association exhibition which was gigantic and varied and overwhelming and of extremely variable quality.
Museums: we visited the national museum. It was fascinating to see the “treasures” – superbly preserved ~1500 year old relics. Plus some cool archaeological finds and samurai sword stuff.
