Rudasaki Do Japan 2016
July 5, 2016
Day 3: Another early morning, we found ourselves enjoying our free space before being sardined into the morning rush hour train. You haven’t experienced public transportation until you ride the Japan trains!
We made our way to Kita- Senju where we had a sushi making class. We learned basic etiquette, how to make fancy rolls, nigiri, inside-out rolls and sushi rice. We found this activity through Trip Advisor, Morris and his wife welcomed us into their home and shared their knowledge and experiences with us. It was a truly wonderful cultural exchange! There were other guests, a family from Bahrain and a guy from Mongolia.
We got Bat, the guy from Mongolia, to join us as we headed to the Samurai Museum in Shinjuku. What a neat little museum! There are small group tours for 1800 yen that included a guided history of the armor and people. It also included trying on the helmet and face/neck mask, and a brief demonstration of basic poses. Definitely worth the price for the tour!
This piece is the oldest in their little museum, 400 years old, and from the island of Kyushu:
This head piece shows a bullet that didn’t make it through the iron casing:
An up-close image of the mouth and neck piece:
This was a fireman’s head piece:
The room below had artwork of how one samurai puts on his gear alone:
We got to try on the head piece and mouth/neck guard:
Make love, not war:
We also had a performance by a Samurai, apparently he has been in films and his sensei has been a samurai for 50 years.
And got to dress up in a kimono.
Bat’s outfit was a little cooler than Rafals.
We had a great time at this cute little museum! We did have some time to kill until our baseball game, and Bat had already missed his aikido class, so we decided to check out the Cat Cafe, just down the road from the museum in Shinjuku.
The Cat Cafe was definitely a strange experience.. I can see why people go there to do it, many tourists were there to check it out but many locals were in there reading, and playing with cats. I know there are stress relieving benefits and in speculation, I would assume many people don’t own cats so it gives them a chance to play with them. There were three kidney failure cats and three probable Inflammatory bowel disease cats there, so it offers a nice place for cats to be cared for… and people will pay to do it. The place smells like cat… but they do a pretty good job keeping the area as clean as possible, and the cats are definitely well cared for
Weird dachshund-like cat!:
After the strange experience of the Calico Cat Cafe, we were off to watch the baseball game!
What a totally different experience from American baseball, and I think I prefer it!
We entered the Tokyo Dome area and had to use the bathrooms, and even the outdoor public restrooms were clean
After finding our seats, we got food, and the selection was far superior to any baseball game food served in the states. They did have burgers and hot dogs, but nobody had those… each team member has a favorite “Beer Box” that everyone scrambles for… we didn’t find this out until after we placed our order.. 😔😑 but we did get curry bowls. They were pretty delicious for ballpark curry!
We also ordered beers from the food bar, mainly because we were there… and neglected to get them from the popular Beer Girls, which basically are younger women who have backpacks with Kegs in them, and they serve you beer. Apparently they are a big deal.
We took our stadium photos:
Then proceeded to enjoy the nonstop chanting and cheering from both teams. They are so polite in their chants (they take turns and nobody seemed angry or hostile), and they pretty much have chanting and drums going off the entire game. They wave towels in sync with each other, and even have cheerleaders… Im so confused about the cheerleaders at the baseball game, but they are pretty decent!
We got souvenir ice cream bowls
After the Tokyo Giants won, we left the stadium, and even leaving the stadium wasn’t a nightmare. The Japanese have public transportation and people movement down to an efficient science. Off to bed, as we are leaving for Mt. Fuji tomorrow morning.
Oyasumi!