2016.9.11

It was heavily raining when I left home in the morning, but fortunately it stopped raining.

I was invited to the September Grand Sumo Tournament at Tokyo by Kimono Style Miya. I have wanted to see the sumo wrestling at the box seat for a long time, so one of my dreams came true today.

Around noon I visited Kimono Style Miya to get hair done and dressed, but no make up today.

I prepared the rain coat and  rain shoe's cover but I didn't have to use the coat. Instead I wore other coat which way of weaving is called "ra (羅)." I bought it some years ago by the first sight but did not have a  chance to wear by now.  But today's sash is also the same weaving, so I decided to wear finally.

Fifteen of us went together to the venue at Ryogoku by train.

We sat at the box seat called "masu seki (升席)" for four people each. It was very small, and a little bit different from my imagination.

All the tickets were sold out because today is Sunday and the first day of the tournament.
There were banners saying "Sellout crowd (満員御礼: manin onrei ). "

We saw the ceremonies from 3:30 pm and enjoyed watching matches until 6 pm.
Some matches were very popular and there were many prizes for the winner.
The last demonstration called yumitorishiki (弓取り式) was nice too.

Unfortunately Yokozuna Hakuho (横綱白鵬) was absent from this tournament, but we enjoyed watching live games.

After that we had a full course dinner at a Friench restaurant at the Tokyo Station Hotel. They were so nice.

I enjoyed the events today.

2016.9.10

It was fine and very hot.

Today we went to Saga Arashiyama (嵯峨嵐山) area to see the examples of preserving historical and natural landscape.

We took a train and walked around a lot.

My step counter showed more than 17000 before getting the bullet train back to Tokyo.

We visited Daikakuji (大覚寺) temple and Gioji (祇王寺) temple first. The combined tickets were yen 600 instead of yen 800 buying at each place.
Daikakuji was very big and has a big pond too. It was calm and  beautiful.

On our way to Gioji we could see the sign of the regulations to preserve the beautiful landscape.

After visiting Gioji we visited a tea room to taste Japanese Green Tea where they offered a charm which will make our one wish come true.

We went to Nonomiya jinja (野宮神社) shrine where is a big touristic spot and there were so many people there. It may have been more than 23 years since I went there last. The bamboo forest was very beautiful.

Then we crossed the famous bri dge called "Togetsukyo (渡月橋)" and ate lunch. It may have been more than 10 years since I went there. Last time I took two of my Venezuelan friends when there was Expo 2005.

I felt people there were very used to deal with tourists and kind. They kindly showed us the way to our next destination,  offered to take our pictures, and gave us useful information.

At the Kyoto station I bought my favorite kakinoha zushi (柿の葉ずし) with oshizushi (押し鮨) for dinner.

Since my luggages were so heavy that I went to the office to leave the documents and PC.

It was a fruitful business trip.

2016.9.9

It was fine and very hot.

After visiting a company and construction site in Osaka, we went to have lunch at takoyaki (たこ焼) restaurant. There were 6 people and we ordered 6 different takoyaki dishes to share and try many different tastes. Takoyaki is a small ball-shaped pancake including a piece of octopus. One of them is called Akashiyaki (明石焼き) and it is eaten by dipping in the broth.

Then we went to Kyoto and visited the city hall to listen to the lectures about Kyoto's landscape preserving policies. We learned a lot.

After that we walked around Kyoto city to see the examples of applying the policies.

I have come to Kyoto many times before, but I have never realized about these policies. I walked the unfamiliar streets too.

At night we enjoyed dinner including kuri gohan (栗ご飯), chestnut rice, the fall speciality.