Day 1: Disney Sea
Tokyo has a Disneyland! And a Disney Sea which is sort of like their California Adventure. Both of the parks are next to each other surrounded by resorts along the coast on the outskirts of Tokyo. Tokyo Disney (land) had pretty much the same rides as the US version so we decided to go to Disney Sea. Admission was 64 yen (compared to our $96 admission) and we got there entirely too late. We woke up early enough but didn't make it inside of the park until just after noon and they ran out of fast passes somewhere between 2 and 3 even though the park is open will 10. We only got one fast pass which means we didn't go on very many rides... Apparently we went on a slower day which means the wait times for the main rides where 90min. Friend from work went during a normal day and his wait times were 3 hours. I can't imagine what a wait time is during the busy summer months!
You enter the park and walk in to Venice
Or so I thought was the rest of the park. Turned out there was a lot of little worlds hidden. A 20,000 leagues under the sea area is under the volcano, and Indian Jones adventure world was behind it:
Aladin's Arabian lands were tucked to the side and Waterfront America was tucked way back in the other corner.
They also had a pretty cool 'under the sea' area somewhere in the middle. You would have loved it Brenda!
When all was said and done I think Disney Sea has cooler architecture and general design but I don't think any of the rides were worth the wait. Fast Pass or Single Rider only. Their super big 360 roller coaster turned out to be comparable to that of something you'd find at a carnival (with a 360 of course). Also good luck trying to see any semi main Disney characters. You had to wait at least 45min for that too :( All the employees had super cute outfits though. And music plays all over the area so it puts you in a very magical I'm in a different world kind of mood.
Day 2: Ogusu Yama
Jordan was supposed to go golfing with some guys from work but the leader of the expedition cancelled because his wife needed help around their apartment. With nothing planned we decided to stay local and went for a hike up the highest point on the peninsula. A fellow golfless coworker, Vinny, also decided to join us.
The trailhead to the mountain was only 3mi away and with no train station close by and not wanting to try the buses we decided to just ride our bike there. Jordan and I have mountain bikes with gears. Vinny has a "local" fixed gear bike. The way to the trailhead was mostly uphill. Vinny was not very happy. But we found it and walked along the edge of a crazy looking golf course (VERY hilly) to the true trailhead which was mostly a set of steps straight up for maybe half a mile.
The "summit" consisted of an observation tower you could climb for a better view and a small convenience store where we grabbed celebratory beers. It was a lovely day and our view was great!
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| Mt. Fuji and Kamakura |
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| Yokosuka (bonus points if you can spot the "73" carrier) |
Day 3: Sumo!
Three times a year a month long sumo tournament is held. During January the tournament is in Tokyo and since Monday is a holiday for us but not Japan, we were able to find tickets (all the saturdays and sundays sold out almost immediately and weekdays were pretty full too). The tournament started at 9 or 10 with the "juniors" first. Intermediate class began at 3 with the heavyweight champions at 4. The difference between each class is of course the size of the wrestler and the amount of ceremonial stuff done pre fight. Juniors would walk up, do their 1 leg out stretch in their corner, face off, 1 leg stretch in front of each other...
get all intimidating...
...and FIGHT!
Intermediates would do all of this but after they stretched in front of each other they would go back to their corner and grab a handful of salt and throw it in the ring then go back and face off.
The champions would go back and forth throwing salt and such like 3 times. Took forever. Also for some of the mega champions, guys would come out holding flags representing previous titles they'd won. Quite the ordeal.
Before beginning each weight class they held a ceremony introducing each wrestler.
In addition, the grand champions came out and put on their own little show with the ceremonial white belt thing (Tsuna).
At the very end some guy came out and twirled a stick.
Of course we didn't just watch sumo. We partook in the sumo diet and watched locals cheer on their champions as they arrived at the complex.
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