Moved house today from our backpackers to a proper Japanese style Ryokan (guesthouse) which was pretty fancy - lots of dark wood panels and even a jacuzzi upstairs (not sure that's entirely traditional!)It was called Andon Ryokan and although a bit far North in Minowa (planet nowhere) it was worth the travelling to stay in somewhere so unique. Again friendly friendly people who seem to go out of their way to make you have the best holiday possible.

Went to a Sumo match and had really good seats. Although at the very back, we could see each of the contestants come on from their respective East and West sides and see them fight side on. Didn't think I'd like it much but wasn't bored after 4 hours. Luckily each bout is short and all they had to do was puch each other out the ring so kept my attention(!) Apparently there are 82 ways to win a Sumo match. As far as I'm aware we witnessed only 3 of them. Got a bit worried listening to the commentary as we kept hearing a Typhoon mentioned on the news - what?!! FOund out later that one had hit Taiwan and that we might feel some of the effects here in Tokyo - in the end it just rained a lot and no damage was done.