It's Cold... and Sumo.

Summer is hot in Tokyo. I mean disgustingly humid and nasty. My apartment (shoebox?) has a fancy new air conditioner with a ドライ setting to keep the air dry. But once you step out it's a wall of hot vapor. Happens every year.

Then... I should have expected it... it's cold as hell. It goes from possible to hike Mt. Fuji to suicide in a matter of 2 weeks. It's also the time I get my motorcycle. Memories of riding through the alps in a snowstorm aren't yet forgotten.

Anyways, I'm going to take a couple days next week and go to Mt. Bandai. Last time I went there... hold on... let me find a picture.



Ahh... memories.

Anyways, here's some shots from Sumo last week. If you haven't heard, three Russian Sumo wrestlers were banned because of their involvement with some marijuana. It's technically doping, because the extra weight gained from all the extra snacking gives them an advantage.



Miso Chanko... it's what the wrestlers eat every day. Some guy sitting next to me asked if I could eat the green vegetable. You will get that a lot in Japan. If something is indiginous to Japan, a lot of people think it is deadly to foreigners.







Backstage in the entrance wing.











The thug stare.



Love the cobra.



Hakuho in his honorific knots. He is the highest rank, yokozuna. Each yokozuna has their own knot pattern.









The final bout of the day. Hakuho won in a reverse decision from the judge. The crowd erupted and everyone threw their seat pillow onto the ring. It's cool though, you are allowed to do that.

New Bike, The CB1000

A preview of the new toy. I pick it up tomorrow. A Honda CB1000. I drove a CB400 on my adventures last year. So it's like the exact same bike, just much bigger. Mmmmm, I can taste the speeding tickets now.



The red and white color scheme that is common with the bigger Honda CB bikes.

More to come...

Cow Parade in Tokyo

I was heading to Ginza to go drink expensive beer, buy expensive clothes, and hang out with expensive people. Yeah, that Ginza. But I wasn't on the right metro line, so I found myself a 15 minute walk away, in the Maranouchi area. What's all this then?



Apparently the Cow Parade is in town.



I saw a couple little girls with a map to all the cows, so I asked them where they got it? Giggling and hiding behind Daddy was the obvious next step. Daddy reached into his man-bag and handed me his copy. The hunt is on!



I've never really walked around this area before. It's the spot next to Tokyo station. Why bother with department stores near Ginza, when you can go to Ginza. Actually, why bother with department stores in the first place. Remember, my motorcycle jacket is an American large size, but a Japanese 3XXXL. Things just don't fit here.



Anyways, I saw maybe half of all the cows before I just got tired of the whole thing. Many were hidden inside buildings, creating a pseudo-consumerism experience. Hooray for Elmo and his capitalist ways!



Hooray for slutty deconstructed style cow too!



Anyways, it will be here until October 19th. Read all about it on their website. www.cowparade-tokyo.com.



P.S. - Mad props to Ramen Cow.

Getting a Driving License in Japan Part 6

(photos from Shonan Kinen Park in Tachikawa)

Sunny day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way
To take the fuckingmotorcycledrivingtestinJapanforthe5thtime



Can you tell me how to get
How to get to the damn 運転免許試験センタ?



By this point I didn't really care if I passed or not. I re-framed the concept of getting my license. It's just something I do once a week. The idea of cruising along the plains of Hokkaido, or visiting remote temples on mountain tops is something I can worry about later. Right now it's just part of my life. Wake up, brush your teeth, and take a driving test.



Well, I passed just fine this time.



That's where my story ends and Mike, aka lucky bastard's story begins.



There was one other guy taking the test with me today. It was his first time. A nice guy, so I gave him some advice. Advice like, "Yeah, I failed here because the radius of my turn was off by 5 centimeters." He's been riding Harley's for a while, so he was feeling pretty confident. He reminds me of a young me, young meaning a month ago.



I was first to go. He complimented me on what looked like an excellent run on my part. As he hit the throttle on the CB750, the bike jerked into motion. He was a bit wild on it, but you could tell he knew how to ride. A few failing mistakes were obvious, like making a right turn from the left lane, getting a bit too close to the yellow line, not having his right foot on the foot brake at all stops. After his run, we were informed that I passed and he failed. The instructor asked me to teach him how to run the course so he could pass next time. It was cute. Poor Mike, though, wasn't feeling too good. I told him that most people fail the first time, don't worry about it. There are a lot of theories, one of which is that they just want to get some extra money.



Off to the 3rd floor counter to continue whatever steps I needed to do. The counter lady, who is not the one conducting the tests, called us both to the counter, and said we had to go to some place on the 1st floor. I whispered, "Dude, don't act strange... but they just fucked up and marked us both as pass."



Lucky guy.

So anyways, you sit around for a few hours, then you get the license. You have to pay another 2100 yen. So the total price, if you care, is 3000 yen for the license translation + 2950 yen each time you take the test + 2100 yen. So I spent about $200 to get it done. And there you have it.



The next bike... I was thinking some sort of adventure tourer, like a BMW F650GS, or KTM. Or maybe Ill go with some sort of sport ride. But after thinking, I'll probably go with another CB or similar bike like the last one, just a much bigger engine. Some I'm looking at:





The goal is to be riding along mountain crests, Japanese maple trees blinding me with their reds, oranges, and yellows.