Japan, through a new lens.

Hello, readers!

It's been a lovely, if insanely busy week here in Japan.  After a full week of classes and various other commitments, DW and I completed our long-awaited and much-trained-for-because-we're-out-of-shape "Ohori Koen Night Marathon" on Friday (which was not, in fact, a marathon, but a 6K).  Though we didn't set any land-speed records, we were both happy with our times and really enjoyed the event. 

"Hooray!  We did it!  Now, let's go home and get CoCo Curry delivered."

The very next day, Saturday, DW was dragged (and I mean that literally... he was blindfolded...) to a surprise birthday enkai, involving a dozen of my favorite, fun-loving coworkers.  Mostly, it was a surprise because his birthday was in October.  But it was crazy and amazing, and it was as close to the perfect enkai experience as I could imagine.

But that's not what we're talking about today on the blog.  No.  No.  Yes, I know you'd love to see drunken pictures of DW posing with my gloriously drunken coworkers, wearing giant foam hats in the shapes of cakes and pretending to be members of AKB48.  But, as the saying goes, "What happens at the enkai, stays at the enkai," and one does not anger the gods of the enkai.

As I was saying.  Today's post will be all about pictures!  (No, not those pictures.  Sheesh, guys.  Let it go.)  Recently, I've been wanting to get into photography, as a way to interact with some of the amazing places we've been visiting.  I mean, I love taking pictures, and I've really treasured the pictures I've taken with my iPhone.  But I've never had (what I would consider to be) a nice camera that actually could do the super-cool-camera things that I've been wanting to do.  So, after a week of secret shopping and obsessive online research, DW got me a wonderful present.

Ain't she a beaut?  Obviously, this is just a promotional shot I pulled from the depths of the internet, and not a picture of my actual camera.  But my camera is just as gorgeous, just as ruby red, and I love it to little DSLR pieces.  Full Confession:  I still suck at using it.  But, that's the nature of all new hobbies, right?  I've been doing everything I can think of to improve: Watching YouTube tutorials, playing with the buttons, considering reading the manual but then getting bored and playing with the buttons some more, and taking photos.  Lots and lots of photos.

So, today, I'm giving you a photo walk-through of the "Best of the Best... Sort Of," grouped by the three locations we went shooting.

KUSHIDA SHRINE.
Somehow, DW and I managed to miss visiting this long-famous Fukuoka City shrine, despite walking nearby dozens of times.  Armed with my new camera, and having no clue how to use it, we decided stop in and see what happened.

Discarded fortunes.

Dan wasn't satisfied with his, either.

Prayer plaques.

Lovely light and shadow.

AGOTO FIRE FESTIVAL.
DW attended this event solo, due to the timing and the lame, lame fact that I was at my lame (Note: not actually lame) job.  But, remembering how much we enjoyed the "Daizenji Fire Festival" earlier this year, and knowing we couldn't return, DW was determined to make the cross-city trek and check it out.  Here are a few of his favorite shots.

Priestess performs a pre-fire ritual.

Tending the fire.

Smoke, sky, and shrine.

Paper flames, real flames.

Priestly paparazzi.

Fukuoka City from the mountain top.

UMINONAKAMICHI SEASIDE PARK.
This is a place that's been on my to-do list since I arrived in Fukuoka.  But, being far out on a tiny peninsula in Hakata Bay (hence the name, which literally means, "The road in the middle of the sea."), it takes nearly an hour and a half to get to.  The good news?  It's totally worth the trip.

Waiting for our transfer at a tiny little station.

WR, about to ride a MechanoPanda. Really.

A shot from the Flower Museum.

The obligatory DW-WR selfie, now requiring 2 people to take it.

Plants, Genkai Sea in the background.

A big ole' birdie scans the beach.

Aaaaaand since we've inundated you with so many (hopefully awesome) pictures this week, we're going to leave the blog at that.  Rest assured, though, that we have many pics of delicious food and other epic adventures just waiting to be uploaded.

Thanks for reading, all!  Hope you have a fantastic week, and don't forget to feed the fish!
WR

Sumo.

What a busy time it's been!

I (WR, that is) just got through a professional conference, which required me to make a 70-minute original presentation, a hectic work schedule, which demanded lots of extra paper-marking and after hours speech-coaching, and I sat for the JLPT N4 (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, Level 4), which I hopefully didn't fail miserably.  We'll see.

It's been much the same for DW.  Between finishing up his online classes (and the various e-tests and e-projects those entail), keeping up with his regular Japanese classes, and cramming in all the "Japan" he can before returning to the states in a couple weeks, Dan has also been a busy little bee.  Or a busy little D.  Ha.  Heh.  See what I did there?

(Cough)  Anyway.

Amidst the chaos and clutter of our schedules, we still managed to find a day or two of fun.  And a day of particularly fun fun, which is also the subject of today's blog, was our trip to see the Grand Sumo Tournament in Fukuoka.

SUMO!

First off, you should know that I love sumo.  I didn't know anything about it before coming to Japan, but I really fell in love with it once I started watching it on TV.  The bouts themselves are incredibly intense and fast, separated by meaningful songs, prayers, poems, skill exhibitions, and formal ceremonies.  When watching the tournaments on TV, you don't get to see much of the ceremonies, unfortunately, only the match lead-up (that very subtle, very interesting pre-bout dance of intimidation) and the actual wrestling match.  So, when the time approached for Fukuoka's annual Grand Sumo Tournament, I knew that I really wanted to go.

I'd talked, in passing, with a few of my coworkers about my love of sumo and my hopes to go to the tournament.  Eventually, word got around to a certain teacher-friend (and former co-teacher) who came to me and said that her 6 year old daughter is obsessed with sumo, and asked if we would like to join her family and go to the upcoming tournament together.  Thrilled, I said, "Yes!" and "Thank you!" about a million times, and gave her the money for our tickets.  (And it was a fortunate thing that she bought our tickets with hers, because this year's sumo tournament sold out in absolute record time.)

So.  After weeks of busy-busy-busy schedules, Sunday, November 24th finally rolled around and DW and I finally got to see some sumo!  We arrived at the Kokusai Center around 11:00 am, wandered around the shops and stands, then entered and watched a few of the lower ranked wrestlers.  (The matches progress up the skill-ranks as the day goes on, with the newer, less-experienced wrestlers competing in the morning, and the epic, rockstar wrestlers competing in the afternoon and early evening.)  Sumo is not a knockout, round-robin style competition, which means that since it was the final day of the tournament, and the winners in every category would be determined on that very day, the wrestlers were really giving it their all.

We ducked out of the tournament for a quick lunch and, on our return, we met up with my teacher-friend and her ridiculously adorable daughter outside the arena.  Why outside, you ask?  Well, because one of this little girl's favorite things to do is wait outside for the wrestlers so that, as they are walking from their cars to the building, she can scream, "(Insert Name)-san, ganbatte kudasai!" or, "Mr. Name, Good luck!  Please do your best!" while waving these two tiny sumo stuffed characters.

The cutest sumo fan in existance.

Seriously.  Seeeeeeriously.  It's nearly the cutest thing ever.  The only thing cuter is that rare moment when a kid-friendly wrestler winks and grins at her as they walk past, and she falls into a little adorable puddle of bashful, sumo-loving giggles.

She was also gaining the attention of the crowd around us, with her knowledge of the name and stats of EVERY SINGLE WRESTLER THAT WALKED BY.  Let me put that into perspective.  There are, like, 300 sumo wrestlers, okay?  300.  And they didn't clear the car door before she recognized them, told us how they were doing in the tournament or where they were from, and then started cheering her tiny little head off for them.  Impressive, to say the least.

So, we stood outside in the chilly fall sunshine, cheering alongside her for a bit, before we returned to our seats with some snacks and beverages, ready to watch more sumo action!  Click HERE to see the English Sumo guide we were given at the tournament, and below are some picture highlights from the bouts we saw and the tournament grounds.

As you can see, the arena is pretty empty in the morning.

The one on the right is "Ripped-White-Guy-san."

The one on the right is Gagamaru.
And he's FREAKING HUGE.

Me and my favorite wrestler, Harumafuji!

One of my souvenirs: Sumo trading cards!

The ceremony just before the last round of bouts.
These are the big guns, ya'll.

The pre-match Yokozuna skill display.  Go, Harumafuji!

Pumping up for the final match!  Hakuko v. Harumafuji.  Ganbatte!

Fukuoka's Kokusai Center, packed to the gills with sumo fans!

In the end, my very favorite wrestler, the down-to-earth and friendly Harumafuji-san, overcame the popular powerhouse Hakuko-san (who came into this tournament on a 5-tournament-winning-streak).  I think Harumafuji's win was a surprise to many, but little girl, DW, and I cheered our heads off and waved our hand-made signs in gleeful victory.  It was truly a fantastic end to a wonderful day.

And you'd like to see even more fantastic and wonderful moments from Japan (See what I did there?  Segue!), check out our additional daily-life-categorically-gathered-photo-highlights, below.

Thanks for reading, everyone!  And don't forget to feed the fish!
WR

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DW went exploring in a park near my work and took this lovely shot.

The Christmas Market has arrived in Hakata!
We had tasty Gluhwein and thought fondly of our German friends.

Prost!

Hakata Station's lovely winter illumination.

In our attempts to conquer the Daimyo area one restaurant at a time,
we found an izakaya-italian fusion place that served both unbelievably
good gyoza & this basil-cheese-potato-bacon thing that was AWESOME.

Also, we found the best motsunabe ever.  EVER.
It might be our new favorite Japanese food.  Really.

WR about to stick her hand in and get her fortune told.

DW has mastered the Japanese oven, so now we can
have tasty taaaaaasty oatmeal breads.

DW has also mastered the dish we ate in Korea, Jjim Dak,
which makes for a wonderful winter meal under the kotatsu.

Did you really read all the way down here?  You did?  Wow!  You're a true RowStein fan.  Thank you.  As a sign of our deep appreciation, we give you this.  Enjoy.