A Family from Singgapore

Wearing a woman's kimono is quite difficult because it doesn't have any buttons or zippers and it is longer than the wearer's height. We use two strings and an Obi sash to fit it to us. I taught a Singaporean family, consisting of parents and a daughter, how to put on yukatas, simple cotton kimono for the summer season. After putting on their yukatas, we walked around a nearby Shinto shrine and park to take a lot of pictures. I was so glad to see them taking pictures with each other in high spirits.

 

Nice Couple from Oslo

My guests came from the capital city of Norway, Oslo. They tasted both real wasabi-horseradish and wasabi-paste in a tube, and realized the big difference between them. They have Asian markets in their town so they can buy sushi rice, rice vinegar, and Nori-laver there. However, it's difficult to buy real wasabi-horseradish in their country. They really wanted to take the real wasabi to Oslo as a souvenir. According to a reliable website, they can take it to Norway without any problems but it's impossible to take it to the U.S. I hope they will find wasabi at a nearby department store of their hotel and surprise their friends in Oslo.

A Nice French Couple

A nice French couple made sushi in my house. They bought a block of fresh tuna and wasabi-horse radish at Tsukiji Market and I prepared the other ingredients such as shrimp, scallop, salmon, mackerel, avocado and so on. I usually show my guests how to make sushi-rice, makizushi, nigiri and battleship shaped sushi. Many foreign guests have eaten sushi in their own countries but don't know how to ma...ke sushi-rice. They are very impressed with the delicious sushi rice which they make with me. I have also eaten sushi in several foreign countries and I was always disappointed with it. The most important thing to remember when making sushi-rice is not to mash the rice grains. I have several helpful hints for making good sushi-rice. If you want to know them, please visit my house. Let's make delicious sushi together!!

 

An Australian Couple at Oguruma-Beya

I guided an Australian couple to Oguruma-baya sumo stable. During the morning training, high ranking wrestlers called Sekitori wear white loincloths and the others wear black ones. When I visited that stable last summer, four wrestlers wearing white loincloths were practicing hard. Today, I found only two wrestlers wearing white loincloths. The two wrestlers had been demoted from the Makuuchi divi...sion to the Makushita class. It's a severe society. The next tournament will start on the 12th so another Sekitori wrestler from Mastugane-beya came to the stable and they practiced together, as both stables belong to the same group. There are 44 sumo stables now and each stable belongs to one of six groups. The stables in the same group usually cooperate with each other in things such as morning training and kind of roadshows. The word 'stable' sounds strange for English native speakers but we say 'sumo stable' because wrestlers live together like racehorses in a big building with a sumo ring.

A French Couple and their Daughters

A nice French family came to my house to make sushi after walking around Tsukiji Fish Market with an excellent French speaking guide. All of them really enjoyed traveling around Hiroshima, Hakone and Tokyo. They told us that they would visit Japan someday in autumn to enjoy the beautiful colored leaves. After the sushi party, I guided them to the top floor of my condo to see the view of Tokyo and the Hello-Kitty shop near my house. They are going to back to their country with a lot of nice memories of Japan.

Kokonoe-Beya with My British Teacher

Kokonoe-beya is a sumo stable run by a former popular and strong Yokozuna, Chiyonofuji. I visited the stable with my British English teacher, her American husband and their friend from South Africa. The stable building is quite modern and about 15 other people including children were watching the training. Today, Kokonoe's stable master and the other coach were absent so the wrestlers seemed to be relaxing; still, the matches between the Sekitori wrestlers were very exciting. — at Kokonoe-beya Sumo Stable.

Keiko-Soken with a Couple from Australia

The Yokozuna Promotion Committee is the most important sumo-related board which recommends a strong sumo wrestler to become a Yokozuna, the highest rank of sumo wrestlers. Before a tournament held in Tokyo, high ranking wrestlers called Sekitori do their morning training in front of the members of the Committee, which is called Keiko-Soken in Japanese. Sometimes it is open to the public. I guided a nice Australian couple to this event in Kokugikan Arena. Luckily, we could get a box seat near the ring. My guests and I really enjoyed their exciting matches. — at Ryogoku Kokugikan Sumo Arena.

An American Couple from Texas

A nice American couple from Texas visited my house to make sushi. The husband was really good at cooking and I learned how to dice an avocado in my hand, not on a cutting board. After the sushi party, I guided them to Ikebukuro Station through the busy Sunshine City shopping center and shopping mall. They were so interested in the many stores and crowds. Near the station there is a big specialty store selling beautiful Japanese paper with colored patterns. The wife got so excited at the many kinds of sheets of paper.

the Tokyo National Museum and Kyoto

I worked as one of the guides who took care of over 800 employees of an international company. Our guests attended the meeting held in Tokyo and a Japanese travel agent provided many kinds of optional tours in Tokyo and Kyoto. I guided my guests around the Tokyo National Museum twice and on a one-day tour in central Kyoto, where we walked from Yasaka Shrine to Higashiyama Street through Nene-no-Michi and Ishibei-koji in the morning and enjoyed making sushi at a local cooking school near Nishiki-ichiba. In the Tokyo National Museum, they enjoyed a tea ceremony in a Japanese garden behind the museum at first and then appreciated the Japanese art exhibition in the Honkan gallery.

Sushi-making with an American Family, Arashio-Beya in Ningyo-Cho, and Kasugano-Beya

I worked as a sushi instructor and guide for three days in a row.

On the first day, a family with three daughters from California visited my house after they had bought a block of tuna and wasabi horseradish with my excellent coworker. Though my kitchen was a little bit small for seven people, I had a wonderful time making sushi with them.

On the second day I guided an American couple to Arashio-beya sumo stable in Hama-cho. It was raining so hard and there was a line of foreign people in front of the stable. The sumo tournament ended about ten days ago and it was also a period of a kind of road-show so only a few stables were doing their morning training on that day. Only several visitors can enter the training room at one time and the others usually watch the training through the window facing a narrow road. Unfortunately, it was raining so the window was clouded with moisture. The visitors were allowed to enter in turn so my guests could enter and enjoy watching the training. After that I took them Amazake-yokocho, an old shopping mall. The couple was really interested in the Japanese confectionery, so they took many pictures of beautiful sweets, which depict the spring season, and they bought some traditional sweets.

On the third day, I guided a German gentleman to Kasugano-beya. After their hard training my favorite wrestler, Tochinoshin, allowed us to take pictures with him and I could touch his muscular arm.

One Day Guiding in Tokyo

I guided two businessmen from London and Brussels around several places in Tokyo on the 23rd. We bought 1,000 yen one-day subway tickets and visited Asakusa, Ginza, the Imperial Palace, Omotesando, Harajuku and Shibuya from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. It was very tight to walk around all these places in one day but I hope the itinerary satisfied their requests. Luckily the cherry blossoms were in full bloom ...as they started to bloom much earlier than usual this year. For the busy businessmen, who are traveling in several cities in Asia to attend meetings in a short period, their interests were not historical places. They wanted to see some buildings designed by famous architects such as Omotesando-Hills by Tadao Ando, girls and boys dressed animatedly in Harajuku and the huge crossing in front of Shibuya Station, and they were really impressed with block lines for blind people and safety guards in subway platforms.See More

— at Asakusa,Ginza,the Imperial Palace, Omotesando,Harajuku and Shibuya.

A Professional Canadian Chef

A professional Canadian chef visited my house with his expensive sharp knife which he bought at Kappa-Bashi shopping district, where they sell many kinds of food related items, to experience Sushi-making. He also wore a chef's uniform and b...rought his own chopsticks, which he bought in Asakusa, and his own cooking tools such as a spatula and a grater. Oh, my...! I'm not a professional chef. How can I teach him to cook? "Please, learn how an ordinary Japanese housewife makes home-made sushi." He laughed, "OK, I understand. I'm really interested in Japanese home cooking." I taught him how to make the sushi-rice and he showed me his wonderful knife cutting technique. Anyway, we enjoyed cooking and of course our sushi was so delicious. He was born in a small town near Vancouver and didn't know the word 'chef' until he first went to a big party at the age of 9. He was very surprised when he spoke with a chef who earned a lot of money by cooking at the event and decided to be a chef. He loved to see his mother cooking for his family but he couldn't imagine how people can earn money by cooking. He has been working as a private chef in several European cities for 10 years and always pursued the best way to create a good taste. For him, the number one city is Barcelona, and London is the next. Tokyo is the third and Kyoto is the fourth. Anyway, we shared a wonderful time today.

He sent his comment.  ↓
☆　sushi class as brilliant!!!
she is very knowledgeable and nice
i learned a lot
thank you :-)

Kasugano Beya

I guided three foreign guests to Kasugano-beya sumo stables. Kind Takenawa- Oyakata, a coach, guided us to a space facing the dohyo-rink and prepared cushions for us to sit on. Just in front of us, strong sekitori-wrestlers were fighting ea...ch other. My favorite wrestler, Tochinoshin, lost every bout. "What happened to him? Is he in poor health this morning?" After I happened to find his interview article on a website the other day, I became his fan. The Georgian boy struggled through many difficulties such as language difference, home sickness and loneliness, and became a high-ranking wrestler two years after he entered Kasugano-beya. All of the members helped him. I'm looking forward to seeing all Kasugano wrestlers, especially Tochinochin's, progress in the March tournament. After the morning training, I took one of my guests' pictures with Takenawa- Oyakata, who was a former wrestler, Tochinonada, because he is a fan of him.

An Australian Gentleman

I guided an Australian gentleman to Oguruma-beya. He had been skiing in Hokkaido with his family for two weeks and the 6th was his last day in Japan. He was really interested in many Japanese things and he participated in the Sumo program alone while his family members were sleeping in the hotel.

An Australian Couple

I guided an Australian couple to the Oguruma-beya sumo stable. It was the last day for the members to train in 2012 and the TV camera filmed them. A Komusubi ranking wrester, Syohozan, also joined the training from a different stable. All t...he wrestlers were training very hard as usual but the last part, matches between three Makuuchi wrestlers, the high ranking wrestlers, was so exciting. I was also moved by the stable master, the former Oozeki Kotokaze. He was in a hospital due to his neck injury. He was said to have miraculously recovered and today, he entered the training room by himself in the middle of the training and advised his wrestlers while rehabilitating himself using some tools. After the practice, three Sekitori wrestlers allowed me to take their pictures with my guests. Thank you very much for all Oguruma-beya members and thank you for Kotokaze! He showed us his unconquerable spirit and gave me encouragement.See More

—

An Australian Mother

An Australian mother with four children visited my house to learn how to make three types of sushi. She is so good at cooking that she succeeded in making a perfect shaped roll sushi in the traditional way, using a bamboo mat, on her second try. She told me that she would surprise her friends by making delicious sushi at her party.

A Couple from Tahiti

A nice couple from Tahiti enjoyed making sushi in my home. They arrived at Narita yesterday and seemed to be surprised at how busy Tokyo is. A French speaking guide showed them how to cut raw tuna, salmon and scallops with a sharp knife and they observed her carefully.

Let's smile and take pictures before eating the fruits of great effort! Although I couldn't speak directly with them in French, I could communicate with them well thanks to the excellent French speaking guide, M-San. They enjoyed their first tasting of a Japanese persimmon as a dessert. I hope they will have a lot of good memories of Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, where they will visit in two weeks.

The Malaysian TV Crew

The Malaysian TV crew visited my house and I explained the beauty of kimonos and how to fold them. They also asked me why I love kimonos. Japanese kimonos represent Japanese beauty and high skills of Japanese craftsmen. They improved their ...weaving and dying techniques to depict the natural beauty of Japan's four seasons on them. After I started to learn how to put on kimonos at a kimono school, I realized we should succeed our traditional folk clothes. Japanese girls still love and wear kimonos for several special occasions such as Coming-of-Age Day and Wedding Ceremonies. I believe Japanese people continue to love kimonos.See More

Oguruma-Beya

 I guided three French tourists to Oguruma-Beya sumo stable. The sumo wrestlers were training very hard under their coach.At the end of the training all of the wrestlers did sumo-style leg stomps, walked around the ring in a half-sitting posture, and did stretching exercises together.

Hakkaku-Beya

We guided a Spanish couple to the sumo-stable.
We were very lucky in several points. Our guests were courteous and they never broke the rules for watching the morning training. The observers were only us. The wrestlers of Hakkaku-beya were also training hard until 10:45. Even a shower which suddenly started to fall slackened off at the time it ended. I realized that iced towels are necessary durin...g summer. Of course, there is no air conditioning in the Sumo training room. Even for me, it was a little bit unbearable but our guests didn't complain at all. Wrestlers were fighting in such hard conditions. Their bodies were soaked in sweat and they completed all of the training menus including stretching at 10:45. After that, they allowed us to take pictures with some wrestlers. Our guests were talking about how excited they were on the way to the station, the last destination.See More

— at Hakkaku-beya Sumo Stable.