It's illegal to dance in Japanese clubs!

This is one of the weirdest rules I have stumbled across in Japan - no dancing in nightclubs! And here's the proof.  It's actually illegal and you can get arrested for it (incidentally, maybe the coolest thing to get arrested for?) Nobody has given me a reason as to why this law is in place.

It's not enforced at all in the smaller places, but in the bigger venues like the one above, they even tell you to stop dancing if they see you so much as move your hips.

By the way, that's the security guy who was making sure there was no bad behaviour.

Sumo

Last night I was lucky enough to attend the Grand Final of the Tokyo Sumo event. It was a fantastic experience and I loved every minute of it. Much to my surprise, the main winner was Mongolian! Apparently, there are several foreigners who take part in sumo these days. Here are some pics:

The new Grand Champion, collecting one of this ten huge trophies, which was part of a presentation that went on for over half an hour!

Dressing up, Japanese style

I went to another local Japanese festival, but this time I wore the traditional summer outfit - the yukata!

Catching fish and throwing shapes at a local festival

At Japanese festivals (or 'matsuri'), they dance around like they are tending to crops, eat pressed vegetables on sticks and try to catch fish using an instrument that breaks whenever a fish lands on it. This is my story.

Eating pressed vegetables on a stick. I won't be eating it again as it was tasteless, even if it was 'full of protein'.

Throwing shapes like a real Japanese farmer would.

I caught a fish! Much to the shock of the guy running the stall, who didn't see me tip the container into the water when he wasn't looking.

For the full fish-catching glory, see the video below.

Shocking my fellow festival goers by pretending I was going to eat the fish.

With my winnings.