Japan

---

Konnichiwa!

We arrived in Japan on the evening of the 8th after a very bumpy landing due to the bad weather conditions which saw Suzanne gripping on to mine and Sarah's hands so tight I thought I was going to pass out! We got the Narita Express into Tokyo and walked around in search of the DLA office to meet Ian who was putting us up for 5 days (thanks again Ian!). The weather wasn't what I was expecting - cold and rainy - not impressed given we didn't have the attire for this weather yet! We eventually found it and then jumped in a cab to Ian's apartment. BLISS! I have never welcomed such luxury in my life. We had a bath that runs itself and a posh toilet with a lid that lifts when you enter the room and a heated seat along with squirt controls for every angle!! Such luxury after Thailand!

Despite the tiredness we headed straight out for dinner on the first night to a place called Gom Pachi - a traditional Japanese restaurant where I got brave and tried shrimp, tuna, tofu etc amongst other things and I actually really enjoyed it. Note to self - should stop turning my nose up at things that I think look and smell disgusting!! We then went to a bar called A971 and met some of Ian's friends, one of which also had a friend visiting from London so there was a good crowd of us.

Had a nice lay in the next day and took advantage of the bath that was so great I almost fell asleep, it was only the Japanese woman on the bath control panel that kept saying things to me that I didn't understand that ruined the mood! Ian was working for the rest of the week so us girls went for a walk to have a look around and found a supermarket. Deaks was very excited about having cooking facilities after 6 weeks that she wanted to make a spag bol as we were craving home cooked food. We stayed in that night and watched Lost in Translation - for those who haven't seen it - it's set in Tokyo so we thought it would be a good film to watch and Ian said he would take us to some of the places in it.

We got up early the next day to go to Tokyo Disney Resort!!!! I was so excited I could barely contain myself. The journey there was a pleasure compared to train journeys at home. Everything is on time and the fares are really cheap and it is less crowded. We got the Disney monorail into the park. This is when my excitement levels came into full effect and I regressed back to being a 7 year old!! It was playing all the Disney songs to get you into the mood. We headed straight for Space Mountain which we had to coax Suzanne onto as she doesn't like scary rides. She gave in eventually but had a sick bag at the ready that she stole off the plane which thankfully wasn't needed! There were no queues for any of the rides, we literally walked straight onto nearly all of them - it was worth a day in the rain not to have to queue for anything! Had my pictures taken with Daisy and Minnie and some of the dwarves which was great. After about 2 more rides the rain started pouring down and didn't stop all day - luckily I had my cag in a bag but I have still never been so wet and cold in all my life! Nothing could spoil the mood though.

We did pick a good day to go though as they had to shut the park early so we got a coupon to get into the Disney Sea Park next door for just a fiver each so we got to do both parks for almost the price of one - bargain!

I really like the feel of Tokyo, it is very clean and well organised and for a big, busy city the people seem very relaxed and not stressed and they can't do enough for you. I don't know why we can't do things a lot more like they do here. A lot of people wear the face masks here as well which I couldn't understand given how clean it is until Ian informed me that the Japanese wear them to avoid spreading germs when they are ill - how thoughtful - better than being coughed and splattered on on the central line at home!!

We got home and jumped in the shower before heading straight out. We went to an okonomiyake restaurant which was great - you order the ingredients and there are hotplates on all the tables and you cook the food yourself. It was lovely. We went with Pete (Ian's friend in Tokyo), his friend Pan from Bromley and another friend called Pete who was over from Hong Kong for a few days on business and also Natalie who is a trainee from the DLA Liverpool office currently on secondment in Tokyo. The 8 of us then went to a bar called Heartland and then headed to a cheesy club called Motown where we danced the night away with ladyboys and hookers, one of which modelled herself on Victoria Beckham - I couldn't resist getting a picture!

The next day we headed to Roppongi Hills and went up to the observation area on the 52nd floor of a building to see the views of Tokyo which was great. My orientation skills leave a lot to be desired - the girls have worked out that whichever direction I think we need to be heading in, if we go the opposite way we usually end up in the right place!

Deaks made burgalicious burgers for dinner that night. We have decided to start a business when we get to the hostels in Oz to make some money. Deaks can cook and Boozanne and I can be waitresses!

We headed out after dinner and stopped off at A971 to meet our one and only Columbian friend Felipe who was in town!! He has become our travel stalker but we love him!! It's like meeting up with an old friend now. He was staying about an hour away on the train from Tokyo so was going to have to leave after a few drinks until we assured him that we could easily stay out until the trains started the next morning. I'm not sure he was too convinced but he took our word for it.

We headed to a bar called 57 where we met up with the others and started drinking. We then headed to a club called Xross which was quite good. At 2am we staggered out and Pete took us to the best karaoke place I have ever been to! You get private rooms and the waiters come in to serve drinks all night and you can order food too. Everyone was already drunk so there was no shyness involved and everyone got well into it and were singing their hearts away! My drunkeness gave me the confidence to think I sounded like Whitney Houston so I was loving it until I lost my voice and was able to start singing the man parts of the duets!!

It was all going swimmingly well and the drinks continued to flow when Pete took me outside and showed me the dressing up racks! Brilliant!! I got into a little maid outfit which barely covered my arse and Pete got all dressed up and we rejoined the group to lots of laughter and then everyone else got involved and it all became very messy after that! Before I knew it it was 5am and the staff came in to chuck us out which led to 9 of us begging to have 5 more minutes so we could sing YMCA!! They gave in and we got one last song!

We re-entered the outside world to complete daylight which almost knocked me out and, not satisfied with staying out until 5.15am, Deaks and I got dragged against our will to the Thsukiji fish market. Absolute torture for someone who hates the smell of fish - it was gross! We saw live eels being beheaded. How I didn't throw up after 9 hours of drinking I don't know! At 6.30am someone came up with a bright idea of having sushi for breakfast. I was still traumatised after some of the sights I saw (and smelt!) and, as much as I had told myself I was going to try sushi, the thought of doing it at 6.30am was more than I could bear. Deaks, obviously, wouldn't even tolerate the idea so a few of us headed home and Suz went with the boys and ate a sea urchin - filth!!

I surfaced at 1pm that day not feeling too bad surprisingly! By now it was the weekend so the 3 of us and Ian headed out for lunch and then headed to Omote-Sando and walked around and then went to the Meji Jing-Gu temple and took some pictures and saw a traditional Shinto wedding. We then went to Yo Yogi Park and then finally went to Shibuya Crossing - the world's busiest crossing which sees 3 million people cross each day. I almost got crushed walking along and had to hold onto Deaks for dear life for fear of getting trampled. We sat in Starbucks to watch from a height and then crossed back over which was far less stressful in the opposite direction.

That evening Ian cooked a chilli which was nice and we got ready to go out again. We headed to New York Bar & Grill on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku which was where Lost of Translation was filmed. It was lovely and really posh with great views of the City at night. I'm surprised they let us backpackers in - the Japanese are just far too nice to tell us we look like tramps!! We all headed to another bar afterwards but crashed out at 2am - I think the last week finally caught up with me and my narcolepsy was starting to creep back in the last bar!

We were leaving the next day so we had to start the mammoth packing task - Ian must be so glad to have his bed and bathroom back and not overrun with girl stuff! Lets hope he doesn't get evicted from his posh apartment after loaning his entry card to 3 "gaijin" (foreigners) backpackers who lowered the tone of the building!!

We headed out for lunch and then went to see the Imperial Palace. We missed the cherry blossom season by a week which was a shame but there were still a few trees left so we got some pictures which was nice. We headed back to the apartment and grabbed our stuff and said our goodbyes to Ian and jumped in a taxi back to Tokyo station to get the Narita Express to the airport which we managed to get off 1 stop too early and had to wait 25 minutes for the next one! Doh!

One strange thing about Japan is that there is no tipping. I thought this was weird as you normally tip the rich countries and not the poor (which is ridiculous anyway) but if you try and tip someone here they'll give you your money back and they can even get offended about it.

I shall be heading back here before I get a job on my return home to buy a whole new wardrobe (after a lottery win of course). The shops are out of this world and the women have such good dress sense and wear beautiful clothes and have beautiful bags and shoes - it was torture!!

Sayonara for now - next stop Australia!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxx

---