Malcolm's Global Trip

Epilogue and Conclusion

So on the final day when I had to fly home I did so with a leg that had gotten worse and had started to blister, like a burn. I didn't want to miss my flight fussing about trying to get it sorted in Japan so I flew home, called in sick to work and go it seen to at home. The doc's conclusion was that I was likely bitten by something, most likely a spider. However I failed to feel anything bite me and I wore jeans all holiday so it seemed strange that it could have happened. I was also told that a long haul flight was perhaps not the best thing to have done. So I was signed off work and given various antibiotic treatments to try to get it back to normal, and monitoring to ensure DVT didn't happen. The blistering went away in a week followed by a lot of peeling, I was able to walk on it after 2 weeks but not for any prolonged amount of time and as I write this almost two months after the holiday I'm still not back to normal, working alternate days in the office and when at home working with the leg elevated. It's not the best souvenir of what is still my favourite country in the world but I'm fortunate it happened right at the end and not at the beginning, and I will get better but it's going to take time.

Overall, if we ignore the final days, the holiday was great, and the biggest holiday I've ever done on my own. Each leg was different and offered me experiences I will never forget. The eclipse was superb and I can see myself doing more of that, Kazakhstan was my "off the beaten track" leg, and Japan was just Japan, a country I can easily visit time and time again; it won't be almost 10 years until my next trip.

Thank you if you made it to the end of the report. I hope you enjoyed it.

Next year's trip planning is well underway and it'll be back to the US for a big road trip.

Day 28

My final day didn't start very well at all. I woke up late again, but the lie-in wasn't planned. I was just very very drained and I woke up with some redness in my lower left leg. I had no idea what it could have been but I felt very dehydrated so headed out and stocked up on drinks from the vending machine and water from a little supermarket close to the hotel.

This was my final day of the trip and I had chosen to finish up by attending the Sumo Basho that was taking place in town. There are around half a dozen major tournaments in the country and I was fortunate to have the biggest taking place at Ryoku Kokugikan. My leg felt quite sore to walk on but I really want to get to the sumo. Fortunately the train journey was only 20 minutes, and about the same to walk across the arena complex from the station to the arena proper.

The day start around lunch with the junior sumo dudes going up against each other before the heavy weights come on later in the day. The arena is really impressive but at the time I arrived fairly empty from a crowd perspective. It did get busier through the afternoon but nowhere near as busy as on the final days when the contest comes to a close.

Something was clearly up with me as I passed out 4 times at the arena, and I'm certain that wasn't due to the lack of audience participation or the ambience of the arena. I made it until I'd seen some of the heavyweight fights before deciding to call it a day prematurely and go back to the hotel. I didn't have my head screwed on because my journey back took almost 3 hours and I don't remember too much of it to be honest. I hit the bed early but struggled to sleep and was in a bit of a state the next morning when I had to get to the airport, but I stubbornly got myself home.

This is the hall at the western end of the Ryogoku complex. The other major building here is a Sumo Museum, which if I'd woken up on time I'd have gone to.

These are the heavyweights doing their pre-fight ritual. The major difference between the juniors and these guys is obviously the size but also the amount of stalling they do. The juniors just go at it. The heavys do all they can to fight only when they want to.

The people who choose to have the ringside seats do so accepting they may get hurt and only basic medical support. One reason for me not picking one of those seats, the other and more likely is that they're kneeling pads and there's no way I could kneel for long.

The place is filling up ahead of the big boy fights.

Day 27

For my penultimate day was a lazy day. I was feeling the pace of the holiday now and was starting to flag a little. So I had a bit of a lie-in and before heading out. Today's plan was to go and visit some big murals that were painted as part of a graffiti festival that took place in 2015. Located on Tennozu Isle, this area felt a bit liked Docklands in London with high rise buildings towering over waterways. As it turns out there had been a bit of a clean up in the time since the festival and the murals were nowhere to be seen, so a bit of a wasted journey in that regards. But it got me into another bit of the city close to Shinagawa Station where I ended my walk.

A quick ride on the Yamanote took me to Harajuku, another part of the city I hadn't spent much time in. This felt like a very Japanese take on Carnaby Street or Camden with lots of fashion stores all displaying items coloured in an LSD-inspired colour palette. Rather sadly a lot of mainstream western chains now have a presence in the area, which I didn't like. We travel to places like Japan because it's different, we don't want the same shops we have back home. I still mean to come here on a Sunday when all the dressed up kids turn up on mass. One day!

I ended the day back in Shinjuku and it was time to see a show. Now there was no Cirque du Soleil currently in Japan but they do have the Robot Restaurant. I'd heard of this in previous trips but didn't feel comfortable at the time to come along, but this time I knew I had to go. It's a dinner show featuring neon covered floats and live music and it's insane, completely overloading the eyes with neon and mirrors and lasers. It's just crazy, but it does have it's faults; the biggest is the constant sales pitch to buy merch. The show is in 3 sections and between them a trolley is pushed out to sell you stuff. I know they need to make money but it's a bit much, and it didn't taint what is a very bizarre show. Most of the photos are from there.

To finish the day I headed to Golden Gai, a small area crammed full of the tiniest bars where you're lucky if you can fit half a dozen people in each establishment. Most have cover charges to ensure they get some money in, a small few don't bother to entice foreigners in.

This is what I'd gone for.

Whilst the big murals have gone from Tennozu Isle they still have some pieces around.

This is the wall where it would have been.

Harajuku was busy, I think it always is.

That's quite a collection of pokemon.

and the evening was all about Robot Restaurant. The rather subtle entrance gives you an idea of what to expect.

Charli XCX shot her video to "Superlove" here. This was a few years ago and the props seem to have changed a little bit. We didn't have all the robots she had!

Before the show starts properly you get to hang in the most lurid bar you'll ever stay in. The artwork is great though. Musical accompaniment comes from some traditional Japanese drums and a singer with a backing band that look like Daft Punk.

The show is a catwalk style set up with the audience on each side. The floats, some of which are driven and others remote, emerge from each side and squeeze their way through the floor sometimes getting very close to those people in the front row.