All

Sorry its taken while to start my blog but as you can imagine its been pretty hectic over here since i landed. Hope your all well.

The journey over was fine, i was one of the only westeners on the plane so after a few beers and 4 films then we landed at Narita. I felt well out of my depth but I found the bus i needed to get to and then we was on our way to Yokohama to meet an old School friend. We met at the station and dropped the bags off at the flat and headed out. The place was amazing. Skyscrappers everywhere, random ferris wheel with a two rollercoasters just in the middle of town and shopping arcades everywhere. We at at a sushi restaurant which was my first taste of Japanese cuisine. The stuff in M&S doesn't come close to the real thing. These lads that prepare it have to study the are of making sushi for years before they can work behind a counter. To them its an art form and they didnt disapoint. i would stay away from the salmon egg one if i was you, they pop in your mouth and its not the nicest of feelings. Micheal said you get use to its but i'll take his word for it. After that we headed to Chinatown and to a Don Quitote which is a shop that sells everything from padlocks to maid outfits in a mens extra large !!!! I know....odd !! From there we went to a Onsen. An Onsen is a building with 6 or severn floors, two have baths of natural hot spring water which is pumped from the ground up. There is a floor for men and women as they are not aloud to mix. Once we had bathed and then had a steamroom/sauna it was time to put on our Yakata's and head for the 3rd floor restaurant. We had to sit on the floor and crossed leged and then we ordered a beers or two. Now thats my kind of health spa. Afterwards we went back to the baths then went to the top floor as night fell over Yokohama and enjoyed a beers on the roof terrace. Just before we left Michael and Masumi said that I would have to try Dr Fish !!! Dr Fish is a tank of about 60 small fish. Its about a foot deept by about 4 feet wide. You put your feet in the tank and the fish take any dead skin off you have. The strangest feeling and not for people with tickelish feet. We left and went for food and a few more drinks then home, i had been up for about 36 hours and was in need of sleep as you can imagine.

In the days that followed we went walking in Tokyo, Micheal and Masumi said i would have to experience a Maid cafe so we headed for Akihabara in the heart of Toyo's electronic district. This district is dedicated to Elecrtonics, Manga animation and comics and maid Cafe's. We go into a maid cafe and get welcome funnily enough by Maid's!!. The girls are about 20ish and the reason for these maid cafe's are for Japenese men and women to go thtre to be treated as a master or mistress. We sit at a bar and the maid says in Japenese 'welcome home master' to me, I'm already starting to feel uncomfortable. We order 3 beers and off she tot's and comes back and kneels on the floor so she is lower that us. This is a sign of respect and the lower the get indicates the higher respect. After getting our beers she asks us to make heart shapes with our hands sing a little ryhme and sway from side to side the push out the heartshapes away from us like we are in a F**king Care Bear Movie!! When she gets up and leaves i look at Micheal and Masumi who are looking at me to see what my reaction is to what just happened. I just said 'drink up we are leaving !!! ' The other things the maid's can do are play games with you if you want (connect 4, sissor paper stone/snap) The will also stroke your hair, or strangly enough clean your ears for you. Yes you did read correctly, they will clean your ears for you. i had given mine a good seeing to that morning with a cotton bud so i passed on this. We left shapish and my experience at a maid cafe was complete. i walked out of the feeling that i had just witnessed what Tokyo was like at its craziest!! I felt weird and a little dirty cos it was so strange. I needed another drink to get over it so we headed for a bar near the biggest zebra crossing in the world in Shibuya!

The next day was a trip to the Sumo Wrestling. We got tickets off a guy outside the dome as his friends hadn't turned up. The were great tickets and we had our own little box. IT was a sight I wont forget in a while. The wrestlers are huge, 6'3 and 20+ stone. Smashing into each other and trying to get the opponent out the ring. The speed and agility of them was impressive and with 5 thousand people shouting and clapping them was a great sight. I was looking for a betting shop but i dont thinl William Hill has a branch in the Dojo!!...Shame !! After we went to Shinjuku to check into my capsuale hotel then went to the Park Hyatt Hotel as there is a bar there on the 52 floor which was used in the film 'Lost in Translation' we enjoyed a few beers and listened to the jazz band. i couldn't bring myself to ask them if they new and Chas and Dave, a rendition of 'rabbit' would have sounded good in a Jazz genre.

We got a cab to the station as this was the last time I would see them both for a few years and Bob Dillon' s 'rolling stone' song was playing on the radio we said our good byes and i then got back in the taxi. As i told the taxi driver where to go I sat back and the lyrics 'how does it feel, to be on your own,with no direction home..... like a rolling stone' were sung which was quite appropriate at the time cos i know had to face the rest of Tokyo and Japan without the help of people how were fluent in Japenese. The capsule hotel was an experience, just a plastic coffin with a radio/tv to keep me company. You could hear all the other Japanese rolling in drunk and the falling to sleep. All you could hear was snoring and the occasional fart ring out which I could help but laugh at. I fell asleep looking forward to the Shinkasen Bullet train journey to Kyoto in the morning.

I caught my train about 12.30 and what i train it was!!. It was the smoothest train journey ever and the views were stunning, makes a nice change from travelling on National express and looking at the tower blocks in Ponders End!! After getting out of Tokyo you can feel the driver accelerate and before you know it your travelling at 270 KPM. i arrived in Kyoto in just under 2 and a half hours. After spending 20 mins trying to find my Hostel i unpack my stuff and head to the bar. I end up talking to two or three people and before you know it we are all going out to dinner and then end up in a Karoke bar singing out Maggie May!! The next day i walk to the temple's and the gardens were stunning. If you are going to walk 9 kilometers dont wear flip flops, its a school boy error! I ended up getting a cab back cos i was in so much pain. The cab's over here are an experience in itself. The doors are all electric and open on their oem, The cab is the cleanist thing i have ever seen and the drivers wear white gloves. I think my dad will have to introduce this policy down his cab office, not sure if the drivers would be up for that and might tell him to F**k Off. I have a few beers in the bar and meet a Japanese lad. He's about 20 and i soon realise his Onsen Bath has not been filled all the way to the top if you know what I mean. He's harm less and i by him a beer. You meet al sorts of people in hostels and i spose that is part of the experience.

Well i have to go as i need to catch my bullet train back to Tokyo to fly to Singapore, sorry if i have rattled on a bit. I havent included everything I did in this journal entry as I have done so much is a small space of time.

In conclusion, the Japenese people are the most friendly, respectful people i have ever met in my life. I seriously ask everyone to come here just to experience this country as it will be one of the best things you ever do in your lives!! So for now its goodbye and i will update my journal as soon as i can.

Take care

Ben

P.S i will upload my photos as soon as I can but i have taken so many it will take a bit of time. There are some on Facebook so you can see a few of them on there.