My six month trip to Japan has come to a close, so here's a last blog with some of my favourite moments of the trip. Thanks for reading xoxoxo My Top Ten Tokyo Memories 1. Using the Japanese remote control toilet for the first time and being sprayed with the bidet nozzle because I was wondering what was taking so long and stood up to see what was happening 2. Um-bah-rella Ella Ella Eh Eh Eh 3. Arriving a a kindergarten and having sixty 4 year olds rioting at the gates chanting "Leah Sensei, Leah Sensei" 4. The ten seconds bef [View Full Entry]

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Namja Town Ikebukuro has got the craziest ice cream combinations you can imagine. The ast time I went there was with Myles and Tiff a few weeks ago and we experimented rather chastely with buttered potato ice cream. As I prowled through the various types on display before we made our selection I knew it was the perfect place to bring my friend Kieryn on her trip to Tokyo. We met up with Go and his boyfriend Twinkle had some lunchtime gyoza and then made our way to Ice Cream City where we gorged ourselves on the most varying and somewhat [View Full Entry]

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I held my chopsticks in front of me cautiously. The raw piece of Horse wobbled and sauce and Raw Horse juice dripped slowly on the table. I was starting to feel sick. I took a deep breath and hardened myself up. I'd been talking about eating Horse Sashimi for 6 months now, I had to do it. And besides what kind of tourist would I be if i didn't try horse? I'd be laughed off the backpacker circuit. Another deep breath and the Horse was in my mouth. I chewed furiously through the applause of my friends around me and tried [View Full Entry]

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The earthquake woke everyone in our little flat up, the shifting of the bed, the rattling of the mirror and the sharp intake of breath from Kizzy lying on the bed next to me means that it was at least a magnitude four. I rolled over on the small lounge and faced my longtime friend from Australia. She was lying on her back with her eyes fixed on the ceiling, a familiar vague look of terror forming silently in her eyes. "Earthquake" I muttered, my voice thick with sleep. "Oh" she replied, darting me a look "I thought you were shaking [View Full Entry]

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The slightly built Japanese man with the gelled down hair and emo glasses pushed his way through the crowd on his way to the bar. I started a slow, drunken chant "Fuuuu...ma, Fuuuuma, Fuuuuma..." Kieryn picked up on the vibe and turned to face my victim "F to the U to the M to the A" she cried waving her hands around in his face. Fuma turned around a huge smile on his face to respond to our cheers "Fuma! he cried "Fuma!" five drunken girls cheered back before breaking into giggles I just love mingling with the celebrities after an [View Full Entry]

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My last lesson as Sensei Reah took place today at Tokiwa kindergarten. I felt like having a bit of a celebration so I veered off the general cariculum slightly and ended up getting them all worked up with the missing game before having a Hokey Pokey Dance off with all of my morning classes. Because I have both morning and afternoon classes there I've grown quite fond of the school, and have realised after today that the school has grown quite fond of me too. I gave a small speech at the end of each of my classes that it was [View Full Entry]

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I am completely and whole heartedly in love with my dance studio which is why I'm having a bit of a hard time letting go of it. I've been saying goodbye all week in preparation for my last ever lesson tonight and bouncing and dancing my little heart out trying to master the hand slapping, foot stomping and crazy mad butterfly arms that will forever more remind me of Tokyo. It's hard to explain how much going to dancing has changed my life in Japan - I've learnt half of my Japanese from there, it's taken up the majority of my [View Full Entry]

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Do I have the greatest friends or what? As a farewell to Japan gift to me Sanae and Yumiko have been plotting and planning away for months and thrown me a mystery tour. It was by far and away one of the highlights of my trip so far and the sweetest present I've been given in my life ever. See below for the Itinerary by Sanae in bold and comments by me in Italics! Mystery Tour Schedule 14th Sep. 2008 <This is today’s tour schedule. Please read through and follow your tour guide> Program 1; trip to Gunma prefecture 07:00 - [View Full Entry]

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I went on a date today, by accident. You may think that dating cannot be an accidental thing and I'm only just saying that as way of fobbing it off because it didn't go well but you have to believe me that it was entirely an innocent mistake. I have nothing against dating Japanese men, it's just that if I was going to go out on a date I'd probably prefer it to be with a man who wasn't under the impression that I am a scuba diving, gun owning, goldfish enthusiast who is a former resident of Malaysia named Jessica. [View Full Entry]

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I gazed enraputed at the wall in front of me. There were so many to choose from and they all seemed to have the same defining qualities of being beautiful, having metre high hair and being able to stare with limpid eyes off a poster on the wall straight into my soul. I ran from picture to picture, trying to pick my favourite. There was Ichigo, Yunosuke and Takuya to the left, and as I was making my way over to inspect the boys on the right to my utmost delight my eyes fell upon the object of Lucys affections - [View Full Entry]

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