With the Natsu basho just a few days away, the dohyo is once again being hand-built by the ushers and support staff at the Kokugikan. Each dohyo is constructed, by hand, before every basho.
This Saturday, it will be consecrated, and the arena will be ready for action. Tachiai will bring you coverage from Tokyo, and around the world as the May tournament gets underway.
I’m from North Carolina so I’m pretty picky about barbecue. I’m not not a fascist about it, so I don’t just eat our pulled pork BBQ. I definitely enjoy Texas style, Memphis style, as well as various international barbecues, particularly cochinita pibil from the Yucatan in Mexico. This is relevant because in Japan, it’s pretty hard to find Western BBQ. Sure, there’s yakiniku all over the place, and great Korean bulgoki/galbi places…it’s just very hard to find Western BBQ.
One of my favorite things about good barbecue is the way it’s so soft and tender after low-and-slow cooking. A great sign is the way that it falls off the bone when you pull on the meat. I was really impressed with the barbecue ribs at this restaurant. It’s called Kadoyama and it’s on the third floor of a building near Ryogoku station. The flavor was amazing but what really sealed the deal for me was the way that I was able to basically unwrap the meat from the bone with my fork. I only needed a knife to basically hold the ribs in place.
By the time I thought to take a picture of the dish, I’d already finished. Sorry. The website has decent pictures of their food but I really wish I’d thought of it before I ate. The presentation was excellent for a $10 lunch. I mean, back here in DC, a slice of pizza costs $4. Most food trucks run you ten bucks, easy, and you don’t even get a glass of water, or a chair, or silverware (and you can forget about service). It still befuddles me how those silly “experts” claim Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. This particular dish was served with mashed potatoes, vegetables, salad, and bread – all tasted great. In the States, I’d be expecting to pay $25-$30.
Anyway, if you all are making a pilgrimage to Ryogoku and have a hankering for some western food, swing by. Great food.
The Kokugikan is the arena that hosts Tokyo’s sumo tournaments. The venue is 30 years old this year. It is definitely showing its age. According to this Yahoo! article, aggregated from Mainichi Shinbun, planned renovations will include upgrades to the air conditioning and power substations. I wouldn’t expect big changes to the seating or amenities like WiFi. It would be nice to make the boxes a little bigger. Fitting 4 adults in those is nuts, three is a squeeze. Two seems to be nice, giving enough space, since I’m certainly not going to be sitting in a seiza position for more than a few minutes.
You may wonder why I didn’t link to the Mainichi article directly. Well, their sports section has subheadings for the Olympics and high-school baseball – but not sumo. Japanese media have been putting sumo on the back burner for a while. I will not link to Mainichi if they throw sumo under “Other” yet give more attention to high school baseball. OK…maybe I will, this time. I’m more annoyed by aggregators.
Not to get off on a rant but at least they don’t go as nuts as ESPN and all the American media go for certain college sports. They and the universities make loads of money off the backs of college football and basketball players who get nothing. I feel real bad for college athletes who get career ending injuries before they get to cash in. I just don’t want to see that in Japan.