Grand Sumo Tournament

Grand Sumo Tournament 2013-05-12 (IMG_6475_2), originally uploaded by Wonder Westie.

Last night, They went to the Grand Sumo Tournament at the Ryogoku Kokugikan - I had to stay at home, which is a bit of a shame as I think I would have really enjoyed it, I would have sat there very quietly and only woofed every once in a while. But it was a no four-legged ones affair so I stayed home and minded the house. it was ok as They weren't gone for that long and I went for two very very long walks in the morning (and, to be honest, I slept the whole time They were gone).

They said it was amazing, just absolutely incredible. There was so much to see and She said the ceremonies before the bouts were fascinating. Her favourite part was the gyoji, the referees - She loved the traditional robes they wore and the elegant stance they took during the bouts. There are major tournaments (hon-basho) six times a year so They will go again in September, They enjoyed it so much. While the ceremonies and colours and atmosphere were amazing, She said that the actual wrestling was very exciting as well - She was cheering and getting very involved He said and He had a wonderful time taking all the photographs. They came home full of excitement and as a huge plus, I got to go for another walk!

Woof for now

Groucho

Space to Roam and Upcoming Exploring!

Before we left to come to Japan, a few of my two legged friends and all of my four legged ones, were worried I would not have enough space to run around in - fortunately, the wonderful two legged ones who helped Her find a place to live, found a house with a garden for me so I am able to sit and strut and sniff out there as much as I want -

and, apart from all the walking I do around our suburb and even beyond (because it's important that I let everyone know I'm here and I like to think I am the master of all I survey!), there is of course the river - here are some more photos of my weekend walk - I go to the river usually at least once a day, sometimes twice, for a long walk - now that the weather is becoming quite warm, I can get out and about much more:

So, see, no need to worry, while I may not have a beach to run along, I'm doing zoomies elsewhere and I'm well able to stretch my legs. And once my Sturdibag arrives, I'll be on the trains in no time, going to new parks and all that - so many new adventures to be had!!!

On a less exciting note, my tummy has been a bit up and down the last week - it's probably because I ate something I shouldn't have, but She was a bit worried so, as a result, I'm not allowed to have my usual treats - this may sound a bit awful but, well, I'm not complaining as She found a shop nearby which sells only 100% organic, non-grain based treats - they are DELICIOUS! And He bought me a 'cheese stick' - it's quite large so I will have to lick it, rather than chomp it, for a while until it becomes soft enough for me to devour in my usual impatient way! I'm very determined when it comes to these things so it will be gone very soon, I'm sure!

I'm having such a busy life at the moment, that I'm rather tired by it all - there is so much to learn and see and do, that, after a few rolls on the lawn (commando rolls She calls them), I'm ready for a wee nap:

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They have been out and about again, taking in the new surroundings - I'm sure that once my bag arrives, I'll be visiting some of these new places with Them - I can't wait to sniff all the new smells and see all the amazing things They are seeing although, in fairness, I will probably have my nose to the ground most of the time!

Woof for now.

Groucho

Ogenki desuka?

Well, I would not be surprised if you had all given up on me - but what's a Westie to do when She won't help??? She's so busy learning Japanese (the above being an example - it is the equivalent of 'how are you' in English although the literal translation is a bit different but well, we won't go into that - She could go on for hours about it all, She's that fascinated with the language) and that thing that we are all starting to suspect is just an excuse not to help out - Work. I've no idea what it means as I'm a dog, I'm not supposed to know what it means but all I do know is that it takes Her away for about 12 hours of the day and, over the last few weeks, has made Her very tired. However, that's ok as things are less stressful than last year and we are all having a great time in Japan. And He and I get to do great stuff every day.

So, here's an update:

1) Cherry Blossom season has come and gone and now, we are in to Spring and what an amazing difference it makes - when I first arrived, it was cold and rainy and all a bit brown from the cold Winter but now, there is green EVERYWHERE, the two parks near me are wild with green, the trees are all in leaf, the roses have started to come out and the smell of jasmine is everywhere. Of course, I could care less about the pretty smells, I rarely lift my head off the ground when I'm out walking as there are too many great smells around but She tells me that, up at Their height, it's rather amazing. Here is the view She has on the way to the train station every morning:

2) I'm getting to know my way around very much - I have taken over the suburb, to the extent I can - He and I go for long walks every day so we get to see and do some great stuff - there is some stiff competition over here in terms of the coolest four legged one - at the moment, in particular, I'm finding that the two WFT that I see most evenings are my main competition - I begrudgingly admit that they are indeed worthy of attention but my black button nose is a tad out of joint as a result. I'm working on upping the coolness and handsomeness at my end - it's tiring work - (I had to wear the sock for a few days as my paw was a bit sore - I don't like socks so as soon as they left the room, I took it off - They don't know how I managed it and I'm certainly not going to share the secret but suffice it to say, I worked out a way to get that sock off in a few minutes, every time)

3)I'm settling in well (as are They) but I do miss my buddies back in Perth and I miss the older two legged ones - I partiuclarly miss Jorge and Maxi - they were my favourite buddies back Down Under - and even though Jorge is about, oh, 100 times bigger than me, he always played really well with me - but, as of next week, I'm going to doggy day care near Tokyo, a few times a month so I can play with other four legged ones and I'm getting a Sturdibag soon so that I can go on the trains with Them on the weekends and visit loads of cool places with Them - I can't go into the shrines or temples of course, but I can walk around all the cool little places they visit - I am very excited about the trains - look how fast they are and look at all the cool places I can visit:

4) only a few minutes away from us is a river - it doesn't have the white sandy foreshore that 'my' river Down Under has but it as LOADS of grass to roll around on, a lot of other four legged ones to mess around with and it's LOADED with great smells so I can't complain - we all think it's amazing that in such a densely populated city, I can still have a river to run along and loads of space to run around - you can see me and her having a race (I won of course - She says it's because I tried to trip Her up but I say She's a bad loser - She's very much into the jogging these days, hence the brightly coloured trainers!!!)

So, all in all, the Japanese Adventure is going well - I'm a lucky four legged one to get to see so much and She says it's like living a wonderful dream - She is so grateful and says we are all very lucky. He is taking a lot of photographs (fortunately, mostly of things other than me as we all know I'm not that keen on having my photograph taken!!!!) and They are doing a lot of sight seeing -

But She SAYS (and I'm trying to believe Her this time) that She will help me out much more and promises to be a bit more proactive in Her duties, including catching up on everyone else's blogs as we really have missed you all!!

Woof for now

Groucho

Konnichiwa

So, here I am, Day Five of the Great Adventure in Japan. I arrived safely, as you can tell from my previous post, and I'm settling in well. The first few days I was very very very tired ..... and everyone who knows me knows that I must have been really, really tired to not destroy Ratty (a welcome home present from Her). Of course, now that I'm back in fine form, Ratty was almost destroyed this evening in a spurt of energy but he was taken away from me - something about trying to have a stuffie that lasts more than a few days! Of course, it was natural I was tired - it wasn't as long a trip from Australia to Japan as it was from Ireland to Australia and I didn't need any quarantine but still, it's a long way and well, I spent a day at a posh pet hotel before I left Australia and She suspects that I was out all day with the other four legged ones having a blast and showing them who's boss (and I was and I did and I partied pretty hard I can tell you so it was more that than the flight that made me tired!). I have to say thanks here to Penny at Jetpets for making sure it all went well and, more importantly, for calming Her down about the whole thing - She says She was well in control but I know that poor Penny was on the receiving end of a few stressed out emails! On Sunday, though, I was ready for a bit of an explore - and boy, did I explore - we went to the local dog cafe - and unlike in Australia where that means I can go, but I have to sit outside, the dog cafe here is a cafe for us four legged ones - we can sit up on a bench, there is a Dog Menu, as soon as I arrived, I was given a mat to lie on and a bowl of water - I was greeted before They were (as is only right and proper) and even though I couldn't read the menu, I could certainly smell some tempting stuff - so I had a special 'only for four legged ones' cake (I wasn't allowed to eat it all as even though it's for us four legged ones, She mentioned that horrible Diet word again ... such a killjoy that one) and They had their usual coffees - So, She and I will be visiting that cafe quite a bit - it's going to be our 'together time' on the weekend. The cherry blossoms are as amazing as She says - mind you, I don't tend to look up that much when I'm out a walkin' - I just sniff the ground but every once in a while, I did look up and I admit to being amazed by the sakura - and, when we walked home, the wind came up and blossoms were floating down - it was like snow, it was so pretty - I had blossoms all over me! The last few days have been raining and I mean rain, like Irish rain - lashing down so I haven't been able to explore and unfortunately, the sakura have started to disappear but boy, am I glad I arrived in time to see them. I'm excited about this Great Adventure - as are They. She can see Fuji-san from her office window and She says it is so incredible to look up and see this amazing mountain, sitting there all serene and beautiful. Sometimes, she does go on a bit! Anyway, I better go - it's been a long day - the sun came out this afternoon so He and I went exploring and then we went to meet Her at the train station and then we went to buy me a new bed!!! Woof for now Groucho