Had an early start to meet a group in the hotel lobby who had the same Earthquake Centre time as me and my roommate. Grabbed breakfast at the 7/11 and then headed to the subway. Turned out we didn’t need the massive group anyway as Sally, a girl guide called Emily and I all got off at what we figured was the sensible station to change lines and everyone else stayed on the train and looked at us like weirdos. Turns out we got to the Earthquake centre 15 minutes before them so we felt rather good about ourselves.
The Earthquake Centre was eye-opening. A screen presentation showed us the devestation caused by the earthuwake and the following after-shocks, tsunami and fires. It’s amazing to see the resilience of the Japanese people. After the presentation we went into this room with the earthquake simulator. In groups of four we went into the simulator and braced on a pad underneath the table before it started quaking. The force we experiences was Magnitude 7 and still felt pretty damn rough – the 2011 quake was magnitude 9 (1000 times more violent).
Our group pegged it from the centre to the sky tree as our scheduled times were really close together. Made it in plenty of time and queued to go into the elevators. I thought the room we were queuing in was the elevator and was waiting for the doors to close behind us when the doors opened in front of us to the actualy elevator – one of my rare dumb moments. I walked around the Sky Tree with Emily and Sally, took some photos and browsed the gift shop for ‘height limited’ gifts but didn’t buy anything.
After the Sky Tree Emily was meeting some fellow guides to go see the Guide Centre in Tokyo so Sally and I went hunting for food. We ended up in a curry place and had Butter Chicken Curry with Naan. The place was full of Japanese people who ate the massive portions in seconds!
Sally and I went on to visit the Senso-ji Shrine which was beautifully designed but full of tourists. Whilst there it started chucking it down, there was even thunder and lightening. We sheltered under a tree and this Japanese boy started talking to us in order to practice his English and asked for a selfie – we obliged. At the shrine you could have your fortune told for a donation of 100 YEN (50p). You shook a box and a stick with a symbol fell out. You match this symbol to a drawer, open the drawer and pull out a piece of paper with your fortune on it. I got a ‘regular fortune’ so I feel I can make my own luck!
Next was the Tokyo National Museum. On the way we stopped at the Hard Rock Café in Ueno and I bought a t-shirt. Sally lost her camera cover and we retraced out steps and my eagle eyes eventually spotted it on some steps. At the museum student entry was only 410 YEN (2 quid) and they accepted my Durham University Student Card. The museum was fascinating, all of the displays were so beautiful and intricate but there wasn’t much description accompanying them. One of the really interesting rooms was the statues of Mary in Christian Japan and the fact that when Christianity was banned in Japan they began to worships statues of the Bodhisattva in order to avoid prosecution but secretly in their heads it was the Madonna and Jesus still.
After being rained on we were pretty damp and feeling horrible so went back to the hotel for a shower before our Sumo meal that evening. We met Becca and Emily in the lobby and headed off on the subway. Got to the right station but had trouble finding the restaurant until some members of staff directed us the right way. At the Sumo restaurant the four of us sat on a table together with a broth (chicken, carrot, mushroom, cabbage, spring onions, egg and tofu) which we were meant to cook ourselves. All the other tables broths were boiling away but ours wasn’t and then our flame died, turns out the canister had ran out so we got a new one but still didn’t manage to eat much before we had to go into the other room to watch the Sumo.
The two Sumo were more muscular than fat and much smaller than I’d imagined. They showed us their warm-ups and how to start a match and had some example, though very much staged matches. They then asked for volunteers from the audience, I would have been well up for it but sexist traditional rules prevent women from stepping onto the mat. The two scout volunteers gave it a good go and were very funny to watch – though the professional wrestlers let them win.
After the Sumo, Emily, Becca, Sally and I went to the near 7/11 to stock up on breakfast, lunch and dinner for the coach journey tomorrow. We found some Iced Tea and got very excited! We then headed back on the subway where a Bangladeshi young man started talking to me and Becca. Again he wanted to practice his English as he hadn’t spoken it in two years but it was exemplary! Another selfie was taken and he added us on Facebook.
Back at the hotel I met up with Dan and Amy again. Along with Becca, we headed up to the hotel bar. The drinks weren’t as expensive as I thought they would be so I ordered a Mojito cocktail. It was very strong but tatsy. The views from the bar were excellent, especially a night so lots of photos were taken, including a selfie from the window booth we were sat in! Because we had an early start the next day for a bullet train to Hiroshima we had a relatively early night (1AM).
bexcapades 