Friday at sumo I enjoyed watching this security guard. She was a tiny thing, but so intense. Her job is to keep people in the aisles moving either to their seats or out. She also prevents people from standing in the aisle to take pictures. In the end I felt sorry for her because her job seems to cause her so much stress. She seemed to take it quite personally when someone would stop in her aisle.
Today we had tickets to see Katsuru Kaishi perform Rakugo. Rakugo is Japanese comedy. A performer sits on a large pillow and is allowed two props a fan and a Japanese towel. The he acts out a joke. Rick and I have attended Rakugo in English before, but some of the performers were hard to understand and we rarely go the punchline. Kaishi is very good and has performed all over the United States. It was a fun afternoon.
Today we had sumo tickets again. It’s a bit boring now that there is only one yokozuna, Hakuho. He has absolutely no competition and is having a great run. It looks like sometime in the near future he will break the record for the most consecutive wins. the record of 69consecutive wins was set in 1939Â and after today he has won 53 times. Unless someone really improves he will probably set a record that will last a long time.
I take camera with me daily and I am definitely in slump when it comes to finding interesting and new things to photograph. This is pathetic!! I live in Tokyo. Today I went to one of my favorite places in Tokyo.
6:00 am-wake up, LATE. Freak out because the sidewalks and streets will be crowded on my bike ride.
6:05am- remember about decision to leave at 7:45am and ride bike to the American Club to use elliptical
6:10am- calm down and get up and dress in workout clothes.
6:45am- think about not going to the gym and just riding bike
6:46am-think about staying home and not doing anything
7:40am- put on shoes and get gear for bike ride
7:45am-leave building and head in the direction of club
7:50am-still riding to club, decide to ride there and back home skipping the gym
8:00am-decide to go to club, park my bike and see how crowded the gym is.
8:15am-two people in gym, decide to get a locker card
8:20am- on elliptical set time for 10 minutes
8:45am- finish 25 minutes on elliptical
8:55am-back on bike and plan this blog post while riding home. Decide to take a picture of a big hill on the way home for post and talk about how sometimes a workout is like climbing this hill. Picture of hill doesn’t look so steep. Why do I allow this to go on in my brain??????
What is this photo of my camera about? A cheeto? I think it was taken right after I bought it, but why?
Yep, that’s me. Although, I always thought of myself as a city girl. As far as cities go Salt Lake wasn’t that big and we moved to a small town when I was in junior high. Houston was is a big sprawling city, but my life there was in master planned suburbia. Even when we lived in the San Francisco area, my life was still in suburbia. It wasn’t until we moved to London in 2001 that I truly became a city girl. I love the city, the noise, the sirens, the people, public transportation… I have continued to love being a city girl in Singapore and now Tokyo.
Anyway my point is that this “small town girl” has been a lot more places than she ever expected when she was living back in her small town. (I still love visiting that small town).
Today is a bittersweet day for me. I went to the American Embassy this morning with my passport (the one I’ve had for over 9 1/2 years), a passport application with two photos attached and a bright pink post-it note that read, “Requesting a 52 page passport and $110. My passport doesn’t expire until February 2011, but it has become a problem. Many countries won’t allow you to travel there unless you have 6 months remaining on your passport. For example, US citizens don’t need a visa to travel to Taiwan, but if you have less than 6 months left on your passport you are required to pay over $150 for a visa.
I have become attached to this passport for several reasons. First, I actually like the photo. Second, I have the 9 digit number memorized, which comes in handy if you travel as much as I do and have to fill out forms before entering each country. Finally, it is like a journal of my life and the places I have been in the past 9 1/2 years. It is filled with visas and resident permits.
I have had two additional sets of pages added (hence the request for the XL size passport this morning). It is quite thick.
This morning before I left I flipped through it and was amazed at how abnormal my normal life is. Since 2001 I have been to Mexico, UK, The Netherlands, France, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Portugal, Egypt, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Bali, Viet Nam, Philippines, China, India, Australia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Denmark, Greece and Turkey. Wow!
The “sweet” part of the bittersweet is that I do like getting new things and I do like a fresh start. Just a small town girl…..
I found this cool metal sculpture in front of a large building.
Trees
This building has a wide open area in front. This sculpture stands in the center of the circular drive. On both sides of the drive there are several orderly rows of live trees anchoring the sculpture.
It appears that almost every Saturday there is a festival at Yoyogi Park. Today it was the Sri Lankan festival. We have some friends from Sri Lanka and since he is a chef we thought they might have a food booth. We found them and they told us to come back in about ten minutes for the tandoori chicken. We walked around a bit, got a samosa at another booth and went back for dinner. Chandrani filled a container with chicken, meat, shrimp and some balls that reminded me of hushpuppies. It would have been plenty for us but she filled another container with exactly the same amount, then she refused to let us pay. We were not expecting a free meal! It was delicious.
The vendors of Japanese food didn’t have many customers during the festival. Everyone was eating the Sri Lankan food.
I will never stop being amazed at the temples that pop up in the shadow of the tall buildings here. Or more accurately it is the the tall buildings that spring up from the temples. I came upon this one near the Tamachi station.
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