Typhoon No. 18, Sumo, and Shabu Shabu

The morning after the baseball game, we departed Chen’s place for a hotel — in the middle of typhoon No. 18.  We encountered a little driving rain and a lot of wind on our walk to the train station. As always, we thank the brave photo journalists would value getting “the good shot” over their own personal safety :-)

Video of Typhoon No. 18

The weather turned beautiful later in the day, and we attended some of the “big” matches during day 2 of the 15 day Sumo Grand Tournament.  These were the best wrestlers (no weight classes exist).  There’s a lot of ritual that went into each match, about 4-10 minutes, while the match usually only lasts about 5-10 seconds.  Here are some highlights:

Ryogoku Kokugikan Arena: DSC00609

The “pros” circling in a ceremony: DSC00620

A wrestler bending over to get some chalk: DSC00612

Oddly enough, physics did not govern the result of this match:DSC00614

Physics did govern the results of this match: DSC00618

After an exhausting afternoon watching the Sumo tournament (eating french fries, ice cream, some cheesy doughy things…), we ventured out to find a Shabu-Shabu restaurant as suggested by a few of our friends who have been: Nicoleo, Emily, Peter, and RDB, and I think John and Shelley?.  It took a while but Kelly found the right stranger to ask on the street for a recommendation, who subsequently guided us over to Nabezo, a 4th floor shabu-shabu gem!  (the locals are so friendly)

DSC00636

DSC00638-001 DSC00637-001

DSC00639

Similar to a Fondue restaurant, you cook your own thinly sliced meats in a communal pot of simmering broth (and veggies too).  Then you dip it in soy sauce and consume.  VERY TASTY!  I think a place like this would do well in downtown Austin.

(Note: restaurants are packed into many street front buildings and multiple stories making them difficult to find sometimes.  For this reason, I think, there were lots of people approaching us at the train station pitching their restaurant, and getting us to follow them there.  Creepy.)

3 thoughts on “Typhoon No. 18, Sumo, and Shabu Shabu

  1. Also at Sumo, I ordered a hamburger…then found it was a “ham” burger. Little pieces of ham between buns, lettuce and tomato…I must’ve been hungry because I still thought it was good :)

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