On the 11th we ended up meeting up with the 2 German girls we met in Hiroshima and meet for lunch. The subway stop they were staying out really did not have much going on but it was near the rainbow bridge which I wanted to see all lit up at night. We had lunch at this bakery and thought I would be safe with 2 pieces of pizza ummm nope underneath the cheese they hid the pork. Sorry mom and dad I took the pork off but still ate the pizza and then had a croissant with salmon which they put out after I already ate the pizza.
Eden and Luca both bought this banana chocolate pastry which was extremely difficult to eat with utensils. They just don't do knives here just forks spoons and chop sticks. Luca was still hungover from the night before and Eden was just ridiculous so it was amusing to watch them both struggle to eat their lunch.
We were heading towards the rainbow bridge and Luca was not feeling so well so we stopped at this mall that had this thing called a mega web where you can test out small cars or hybrids around an obstacle course. We wanted to do it but had to find Luca a bathroom before it was too late. She did her thing and felt much better so we walked towards to rainbow bridge.
Once we got there we didn't realize it was a beach. We walked down the beach took some photos and headed towards the subway to get to where Luca and Cari were couch surfing. Ah couch surfing. So this is how Eden and I found out about couch surfing I will let you know what happened in China.
Anyways we went to the supermarket and this nice Japanese man was nice enough to help me order 5 pieces of salmon sushi. The rolls that were out were all pre made and I could not eat most of them. I grabbed some edamame and we headed to I think his name is Shunsku's apartment where the girls were staying. He was nice enough to let us in and eat our dinner there. We then got ready to go out to a bar called Speak Easy for foreigners in Japan. This is where things got amusing.
So we take the subway to the bar, Shunsku, Eden our German girls and I, and meet up with the girls friend Oscar. He is Columbian and from Boston we immediately had a discussion about the red sox and yankees and then dropped it. The bar was packed with foreigners no AC and it was so small you could not move.
We made friends with an Israeli named Zohar who met us at the bar I also told Abram who a friend from home out me in touch with since he lives in Tokyo to meet up with us as well. We were also crashing at Abrams house that night since our hostel was full. So we meet Abram for the first time and he gives us the low down on Japan and his story about living here for 6 years. He is originally from California and he sells sneakers and teaches English. We were talking outside of the bar and noticed these 2 African men who were hassling and sexually harassing the Japanese women at this bar. At that point Eden and I had enough of the cramped bar and decided to head home with Abram. We said goodbye to our little German girls and left with Abram.
Once we got out of the subway Abram took us to this hole in the wall bar near his apartment. Its run by one guy and its basically a one man show. He is the bar tender and chef and he is open till 6am 6 days a week. Abram"s friend Taka joined us and they started to talk about basketball while we ordered food from the eccentric menu. I ate the most delicious food I have ever tasted and it helped to know what I was eating since Abram created an English menu for the bar. Eden had 3 glasses of sake and also ate sting ray. I started to stick to water at that point.
At 4am we walked back to Abram's place. Eden attempted to ride Taka's bike after drinking sake and she was wobbling twisting and turning down the street. We thought she was going to crash it. Abram was nice enough to give us his bed while Taka and him slept on the couch. He has a crazy sneaker collection or I should say inventory since he sells them and a number of fish tanks. He has sold used jordans for $1,000 bucks its nuts!
The next morning, well I should say we woke up at 12:30, and this was the day we were seeing the Sumos. Main matches started at 2 so we needed to head out. However first things first must eat breakfast. Abram and Taka took us to this family owned ramen place around the corner. Best bowl of ramen I have ever tasted and the broth was soy sauce based. Thank you to *bram for letting us crash at your place and showing us a good time with good food. You rock! We then headed to the Sumo stadium.
So here is the deal with a sumo wrestling match: 2 big dudes in a circle and you have to push one of the guys out of the circle or push the guy all the way down to win. So we sit down and watch the sumos in their colorful diapers that leave nothing the the imagination so you are basically looking at large massive men push each other. Here is the system: a little guy stands in the ring and sings the announcement, then the two sumos enter the ring, they then drink some water and take some flour and sprinkle it on to the ring, they go in the circle and squat down and lift one leg up then the other and back to a squat, audience applauds, they get up to go back to the flour sprinkle some more on into the ring, get back in and the ref says something in Japanese and they fight! Now little did we know that the actual fighting part lasts for about 2 seconds which was shorter than the sprinkling of flour everywhere. They slap each other and hold each other up by their diapers and give each other massive wedgies. When one falls or steps out of the circle its over. That amused us for 3 hours and we left to go back to the hostel and pack for China.
Luckily when we got back to the hostel Zohar, a vegetarian Israeli, was sharing the dorm with us. Zohar is awesome and he appreciated our humor and crazy stories. See you in Tel Aviv next year!
The next morning we headed to the airport to head to Beijing in China.
Update coming soon once I get to a computer in Hong Kong
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