Brunch and Sumo

We took a tour up to Tokyo for a brunch at the military hotel called the New Sanno Hotel. My opinion is that the only redeeming thing was the champagne. The rest of the food was not up to my level of goods but the kids enjoyed it. I don't know how many brunches they have seen in their lives so the ice cream was a special treat.
I asked Holly to take some pictures for me so I could finish up my champagne:)

Then we went to Sumo. That was a lot of fun. We attended the last day of the two week tournament so we were able to see the championship match. We watched about 2 hours of the match ups. It was really quite an entertaining time but two hours was plenty. They had quite a few photo ops along the way and throughout the stadium.

These guys are the official mascots of sumo - two chickens. ha ha. Not exactly what I would have guessed but it works. 

Everyone - meet chanko. This is the soup they feed the wrestlers. You are able to buy a bowl for 250 yen or about $2. It was pretty cool to eat the special food they are given before their matches. It was basically a broth with onions, carrots, cabbage, mushrooms, chicken skin and pork. Nothing too crazy. Holly and Cady really enjoyed it. 

There were 3 Yokozuna level wrestlers however two were injured. We were able to just see one wrestle at the end for the championship match. At that level he is given two people that serve him and carry his sword when he is introduced to the crowd.

 I couldn't let the beer girl by without purchasing a draft from her little pony keg backpack!

 Before the big matches, these people walk onto the stage with these tapestries. Each one is a promise of 60,000 yen for the winner. The last match had over 60 tapestries cross the stage or around $30,000 US for the winner of the match. It was fun to watch the numbers rise for the last few matches. Most matches didn't even have a single one.

It was a fun and educational day. I'm interested in getting online and doing a little research into Sumo now. I wonder what the life is like for a wrestler.