Ninja Warrior
When in the states, staying with Uncle Bob we got hooked on a Japanese TV show called Ninja Warrior (called Sasuke here in Japan). It involves 100 contestants having to negotiate a series of physically challenging obstacle courses, each made up of 7-8 obstacles.
Before we touched down in Japan we found out that there is a place, a magical place where they have recreated a section of one obstacle course for the common man to try and that place is aptly named – ‘Muscle Park’.
I have to be honest, I’ve been thinking about Muscle Park for a while now or more appropriately, I’ve been thinking about conquering Muscle Park for a while but unfortunately the gods weren’t smiling on me that day.
Leeane recorded my entire first attempt which you can laugh at below.
First up, the arm bike. This one is pretty straight forward, just hang and pedal with your arms and make it to the other side without looking like some acid tripping monkey.
The second obstacle – the cliff hanger is by far the hardest, the arm bike gets your forearms and grip strength slightly worked up, then the cliff hanger tests you to make your way across a 10 metre expanse hanging only by your fingertips. I really thought I would do ALOT better on this but you can see by the wear and tear on the inch-thick ledge that I’m not the only one to bomb out. Honest!
The Salmon Ladder is just plain nasty! You have to be able to hold a chin-up position and then use your body weight to thrust the bar onto the next set of rungs – 4 times. As you can see I only managed half a rung before my foot hit the ground and disqualified me. At least that’s what I think he said.
Ahhh the arm rings obstacle. If this had been the first obstacle I reckon I would have clocked it but by this time my forearms were burning and realistically, even if I did reach the end, it’s not just a simple let go of the rings and onto the steps to finish, you have to somehow swing off the rings and leap onto the step.
I had another crack at the course a bit later, where I did worse on the cliffhanger ( if that’s possible ) but slightly better on the rings. Great time.
One thing I knew I could dominate was the Monster Burger they dish up at the park.
The great unveiling...
It’s more of a sandwich than a burger, made with 3 different ‘meats’ and what looks to be about a loaf of bread. In reality it is just like eating 3 sandwiches, which is no problem for this Stomach Warrior.
More sandwich than burger, twisted and evil.
Putting on a brave face for the press
Muscle park is in a place called Odaiba, a harbour city. Real nice area, just a shame about the rain.
Muscle Park, Odaiba
Writing this the next day, I know I have shamed my family by failing the Sasuke Challenge as I have been cursed with sore biceps and forearms. Hopefully I’ll regain my honour next Wednesday when the real challenge begins – lugging 50 kilo of luggage around the subway systems of Tokyo.
In other news, we got up this morning at 4 am to goto the world’s largest fish market in Tsukijo. Apparently it is a major tourist attraction but I think it is just something other tourists say who feel bitter about getting up at 4 am only to be shouted out by ticked off fisherman.
Frankly i don’t blame the workers for getting mad, the place is not made for tourists since there are little fish mongering buggies driving everywhere and in every direction. On top of that you have big trucks dropping off massive loads of a fish and furthermore it was pelting down rain. Don’t get me wrong, the whole place is interesting if you want to see the working class in Japan, just not the ideal place for your typical dawdling tourist.
I would discourage people from visiting this place only because as a programmer, I imagine it would be like having someone mash on my keyboard as I’m trying to work. That would REALLY tick me off!
Rob