Thoughts of and alien in Tokyo

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Just a quick note to say that I have arrived safely to
Japan. WOW! I have not yet had a good look around as I
arrived last night in the dark. I am staying with a
lovely Japanese couple whose daughter I know from
Cairns. Their names are Hiroshi and Yukiko. Their home
is very traditional and we have set times for meals
etc. Breaky at 7.30, lunch at 12.00 and dinner at
6.00. The food so far is amazing, this morning we had
miso, rice, pickled vegetables, radish and these tiny
little fish that I thought were baby straw mushrooms
with eyes or little sperm! There also was this
traditional stuff that had beans in it and was sooo
sticky, it smelt a bit too. The toilet I am yet to
figure out, I have been given a pair of
"house"slippers but you wear none in the rooms with
carpet or tatami (matting). When you go the the toilet
you slip off your slippers and put these other ones
on. When you sit down a fan starts up to warm your bum
or something. There a lots of buttons and I think one
washes your bum, one makes even more of a breeze up
your bum and one has a pink picture of a girl sitting
down, Yukiko explained to me but I didn't quite
understand so I tested it out last night. Aaaahhh, it
squirts warm water on a girls bits to wash it! I got
the fright of my life and you can't jump off or it
squirts all around the room. I worked out where the
stop button was pretty quickly.
Today Hiroshi and Yukiko are taking me to the shops so
I can get a jacket and a scarf and then I think they
are putting me on a bus and sending me to buy a mobile
phone. I think the bus only has Kanji on it so I don't
know how I am supposed to work out which one to catch.
Anyway, I had better go, my fingers are freezing up
on me, hope you are well and I would love to hear from
you.
Love and sunshine- Monique

I have been trying to learn some of the language.
I have been staying in a city called Funabashi in the
Chiba prefecture but today I am moving across to a
guest house (sort of like a small Japanese
Backpackers) in Azabu-Juban, it is very near Shibuya
where there are lots of young people and lots of fun.
Where I am at the moment there are no westerners.

A quick up-date for those of you who are interested...

On Monday Hiroshi is taking me to Azabu-Juban on the
train to the guest house where they have reserved a
bed for me in the "funky" room!
I have organised to call Kosei (Kosei is my friend from Cains' ex husbandwho is Japanese)on Monday evening and
hope to catch up and meet for a beer or two at a bar,
not a moment too soon either!
Today I went to the station on the bus by myself and
went shopping, I bought some beaded and normal little
flower pins for my hair from a kimono material shop
they are really pretty. Things in the department store
are VERY expensive, but you can find some cheaper
items if you hunt through the underground of train
stations etc.

When I was in Funabashi a man started following me, I
mean REALLY following me even when I gave him the
run-around in circles and turned back on my step a few
times he was still there, very obviously too! I told
him to go away and he just smiled and waved at me like
I was a little pet puppy or something. In the end I
had to be quite stern with him before he would leave
me alone. Hiroshi and Yukiko think he must have
thought that I was a movie star? Maybe if I had given
him my autograph he would have left me alone earlier!
(lol)

The language will be difficult to learn although I
have learnt quite a few phrases already, just simple
stuff like greetings and asking simple questions. The
only thing is that I can't understand their reply!
Probably the hardest thing is the fact that none of
the signs or instructions or anything for that matter
are written in alphabet, just Japanese characters so
my dictionary doesn't help me much with that. I think
in Tokyo there are a few more signs using the
alphabet.
The computer's instructions and settings are in
Japanese so even though I can find English sites, it
is still hard to work out when something goes wrong.
But it is all part of the experience!
Anyway, I look forward in hearing from you....

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