My Summary of Japan..

For those of you who would ever want to visit Japan, I'm just going to let you know now that it's really not as scary and overwhelming as you think it is. Obviously the culture change is a bit to take in at first, but like any place once you settle down and know whats what, it's pretty simple to deal with! Aside from the fact the place itself is just eyeopening incredible, the people themselves make this place pretty damn special. The fact you look different from everyone else is NO issue. At first it's kind of intimidating and you feel like its all eyes on you, but Japanese people are used to foreigners, and in fact they have been nothing but nice the whole time I've been here. It's crazy that I can visit France, only a 2 hour flight from England and feel like a complete outsider, yet come to Japan miles away from home, with a completely different appearance to everyone else and feel completely like I fit in. I would not hesitate in a second moving here.

First thing I noticed was how stunning everyone else. I have spent the entire trip just staring! In some ways thats really freaky but it's hard not to. Zoe did the same! The women are gorgeous and doll-like and the men are just out of this world.. I want to marry a Japanese guy, I've decided. They're so RIDICULOUSLY good looking, cheekbones to die for. I have no problems in saying my whole time in Japan I was a 24hr pervert. I was determined to bag myself a Jap guy and I did, score! :D

It's super busy here, 24/7. There isn't one time I've travelled around when it isn't packed up to the max. But in some ways I love the fact it's busy. There's always somewhere to go or see! I also find that at home I go out every night and drink because I don't have anything else to do really, and I thought that coming here would only cause me to drink more than I already do. However it's been the total opposite, because there's always somewhere interesting to visit that you don't NEED alcohol as a form of entertainment. I've constantly been kept occupied and it's been refreshing to actually feel motivated. Also I've loved not having my car, and eating healthily. I can feel the change in myself and it's only for the better! The subway is also awesome, way better/faster than London. I can feel in London that I'm travelling for hours whereas in Tokyo you're from one end of the city to the other in less than half an hour, so getting around is no problem. A lot of people also assume that Japan is completely overpriced and expensive, and in some ways I guess it is. But it's like anywhere, once you have settled down and know the right/cheap places you're sorted. There's ALWAYS cheap places to eat/drink if you look hard enough. We found a 100yen store (70p) near our hostel and managed to get trashed off 2 vodka and lemon cans. Also like I have said before you can drink on the streets, so you don't have to feel like you need time to drink beforehand, you can just drink as you go along. In terms of clothes, obviously a lot of them are designer and VERY expensive. But luckily seeing as I'm 10x the size of an average japanese girl, I was not tempted to buy anything. But found some awesome very cheap 700yen 2nd hand stores with some seriously cute stuff in.

Driving is terrible in Japan. If they're not running you over with a car they're running you over with a bike. EVERYONEEE rides bikes here! Most the time they only give warning that they're coming up behind you by ringing their bell literally 1 second beforehand. Many a time have I nearly been crushed under one. Also it's such a clean country. People have so much respect for the place and other people.. it transformed me into a cleaner person too. At home I would just throw rubbish or hide it somewhere in the street, whereas here I will always find a bin. Like I've said before it is also unheard of eating in the street, yet you can drink alcohol.. weird! Another thing I have done differently is jaywalking. No-one will cross a road here unless the greenman is on, even if the road is totally empty. It's not that it's illegal it's just common sense seeing as the cars here do not seem to hesitate in most likely running you over. In the big towns, when the light goes green it's literally a seaflood of brown heads crossing the road.

The toilets are interesting.. they go from one extreme to the other! The traditional way to use a toilet in Japan is to squat above this little hole thing. A lot of cubicles still have this, whereas I refused to use them. However the normal 'western' toilets are so advanced in technology like no other toilets I have seen before. They have all sorts of buttons to press. There is one that actually makes a flush sound in case you don't want anyone to hear you doing your business.. or there's another that squirts water up at you and washes your bum. I somehow don't see the point in the squat toilets when the country clearly has enough money to have these advanced technology toilets everywhere! I guess it's just keeping the tradition alive.. who knows! Even though the country is super rich, it also has one of the largest homeless population. The 10 second walk from our subway station to our hostel there is a bridge, and under it there are 2 homeless guys we see every day. I felt so awful for them! They had set up their own little home with cardboard boxes and each had one suitcase each.

So I'm sure many of you have heard stories about the food here.. it's NOT as bad as you think. I came here determined to be strictly vegetarian in case I ate some form of dog or monkey, but really it's just China that are super awful with what they eat, not Japan. The worst I saw was octopus and squid to be honest. Obviously I learnt what food I liked and what I didn't. I guess you can say I was a little more daring than I would be back home, but I still refused to touch anything that looked remotely vile. I still haven't and won't eat raw fish, call me a pussy but I'm not going to eat something I know I won't like and will just spit back out, whether I'm in Japan or not! For those of you who don't eat noodles or rice (Jo), you're pretty much screwed in terms of food. You will either have to live off fried chicken or salad because everything else DOES contain noodles or rice. Everything has meat in as well, even if you think you think you're ordering a vegetarian dish, I made that mistake! I guess if you're a big meat eater you're sorted, but I only like chicken really. The convenient stores have delicious little rice balls in that I am really going to miss. Some are plain or others have tuna/salmon in them with soy sauce etc, really delicious and just enough to fill you up, really healthy! Every morning I have had a salad and rice ball for breakfast.

One thing that I surprised myself with here is actually enjoying the kids. I hate children back home, whereas here they're like little dolls. Everything they do is cute! Honestly they are endless entertainment to watch. I don't want one myself, just would like someone elses to play with and then hand it back. They have the most squeezable cheeks ever! I tried to get pictures of them at times but was too scared I was coming across as some sort of perverted paedophile. Also their school outfits are awesome!

That's ANOTHER thing about Tokyo.. if I was going to say one bad thing (and it's not even about the place, it's more about myself), it's about how much of a scruff I felt the entire time. Japanese people are pristine in every way. Not a hair out of place or a crease in their clothes. Their sense of style is out of this world. No females wear jeans or trainers, it's all heels. They look like they're going out all the time, but in a really classy way, not trashy.. The teenagers here also have their own unique way of dressing. They seem to throw together random things together and it just WORKS, whereas if I wore it at home I would get some crazy ass looks. Every time me and Zoe saw an awesome outfit we would just give each other this 'look'.. and we both knew each of us were thinking 'we look like such shit compared to them right now', and in all honesty it was true. Even when I was dressed up I felt dressed down compared to these people. But they're so unsnobby about it, because it's all they know. They haven't been brought up any other way than to dress nicely. If everyone in England had that mentality it would be a much nicer place to look at.

SOOO that's what I've seen about Japan whilst I've been here.. I will hopefully definitely be back again because it's too incredible here not to. Skyscrapers and lights flashing EVERYWHERE! It's like Manhattan,NY but a million times bigger (so Zoe says, I havent been to NY.. yet!). So it's goodbye Tokyo and hello Sydney in just less than 24 hours.. Been so great here, will miss it!

Peace xxx

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Part of trip: Around the world in 365 days..

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