Tales of the Extreme

Day 5

We joined up with our travel group this morning and traveled north from our hotel by motor coach…still looking for my first pothole! We were able to spend the morning with 2 former Sumo Wrestlers. I’ve seen the sport on TV but did not fully appreciate the level of training and commitment these men go through. We were treated to a brief history, a fantastic demonstration, Q&A session, and traditional Sumo lunch, Chanko and sesame rice (obviously smaller portions).

Afterwards we traveled to Meiji Shinto Shrine in the center of a 170+ acre manmade forest in Tokyo.

After the peacefulness of the shrine we headed to Shibuya Crossing via the subway. For 3 days we had wondered out loud where all of the 14 million residents of Tokyo were because the sidewalks weren’t crowded. We found most of them yesterday, they were underground in the subway system. I would have never found my way to open air without following our guide. I wouldn’t have even been able to leave a crumb trail to follow because a maintenance worker would have swept it up almost immediately.

Shibuya Crossing is pretty much exactly how it is depicted in the movies, a mass of humanity crossing a colossal intersection from multiple directions. We watched the chaos from an elevated position then headed to the street to cross it ourselves. Been there done that, don’t need to do it again!Read more