Tales From Asian Mega City 1

Tokyo is much like my reports of Tallinn or Riga, I kind of forget what happened in what order.

I will retell stuff as I remember it.

I was in Tokyo with Harry for four days and we filled them effectively.

From memory the first day was spent tooling around some of the generic sights of the capital. We went to the Palace, Akibara (the manga and electronics district), Shibuya (The famous pedestrian crossing.

Some pics:

Train Day

I left Sado early with a mind to try and meet Harry at Narita Airport (one hour from Tokyo). I had free rail travel so the plan seemed like fun.

It took me nearly all day to get to Narita. I had to take three buses, two trains and a ferry. Fortunately on one of the trains I met a really nice Irish New Yorker called Liam who engaged me with his travel plans. He's been everywhere and seen everything (or at least that was how it felt) so the conversation top quality.

I got to Narita with a slight problem.

I had no idea what flight from Beijing Harry was actually on.

I knew that is was due to land, roughly about 6pm but that was it. In order to track him down I spent a few hours trying to ring Air China to see if they had a record of him being on one of their flights, however in the entire period I failed to get in touch with them once. I also traveled between the two different terminals in order to glean some understanding of which flight he was one.

In the end I waited in the lobby until two flights from Beijing had cleared and then gave up. I went home on the train a little gloomy. In hindsight whats four hours for a friend, nowt really.

I didn't get back to the hostel until 8pm. I met back up with Steve and Jess and politely declined the offer of a night out with them. I had to curtail that sort of stuff from now on.

Instead I made some friends in the common room and waited for Harry.

I went to my Capsule bed around 11pm and there he was, bold as brass, wearing gay hippy jodhpurs a necklace and flannel shirt contraption.

He laughed, I laughed, we embraced and then sat up till four catching up.

Good times were had by all...

Niigata and Sado Part 3

I hired a bike.

It was silver, had three gears and a basket on the front.

That Day I think I biked around 40km. I went from my town, Niibo, to Aikawa in the North and then back again.

There was a gold mine at that I took the time to visit. Some American women gave me a lift up to it. They were in their 50's and had names like Pam and Val and stuff. I went round the gold mine with them, it was a bit of a disappointment.

The gold mine was just full of a few crappy moving manikins. It did however bring up the best sign ever:

Also here a few pics of the scenery that I encountered:

Japan Photo Upload News

I've managed, in one mammoth stint. to upload all my camera's contents to Photobucket. I will transfer some to FB soon but for now just go on Photobucket and find the profile 'TomCrosbyHull'

Also I will mean that this blog should now contain some photos of the places that I'm describing.

All in all tis good news.

Niigata & Sado Part 2

I basically got on a ferry to Sado under the assumption that I could stay in this hostel in the town of Niibo, near the port town where the ferry lands.

The ferry took two hours and I slept. When I got to Sado it was rather dark and the bus journey was a bit of a hope. I showed up at the hostel at about 10pm and fortunately she had rooms. If not I was gonna nag her to let me sleep on the settee or go knocking on doors or something.

Fortunately she was ace and let me stay, she also drove me to a 7/11 to get a Pot Ramen and gave me a Japanese political T Shirt, which I'm currently wearing.

It says 'Change the Cabinet' on it in English and Japanese. It gets me strange looks, considering that the election is on Sunday it does make a little sense. My T Shirt is pro the Democratic Party, which is good considering that the Liberals have ruled Japan almost uninterrupted for about 60 years. A two party system must be better than a one party system. I wish it had 'Change the National Diet' on it. The Diet is the Japanese Parliament. Pun opportunity lost.

Niigata and Travels Based Upon Hope

I got to Niigata at 5pm.

It was a little late really to be looking for accommodation and as it turned out the city had no capsule hotel and no hostels. Internet cafe was possible but not preferred.

A new plan formulated.

Niigata is the gate way to Sado island. If you imagine a map of Japan compared to one of the UK then Sado is the Isle of Man (but far far better, no offence to the Manx)

Hold on:

Picture Tastic!

Niigata itself reminded me of Hull even before I remember that we were twinned. I know this sounds a little stupid, but the two cities are quite similar. They are both slightly knackered industrial ports, about the same size, and with football clubs that play in Orange.

Anyway...

Sado was the island retreat I was looking for.

I took the ferry for about 14quid and it took two hours. I made a pot noodle Ramen before I went on (an excellently cheap way to consume food in Japan) in the supermarket, using the hot water from the coffee machine. This they found unusual and oh how they laughed.

Sod them. I won. I had Ramen.

A Day in Tokyo

The day in Tokyo was supposed to be two and I was supposed to be going to Sapporo.

The day in Tokyo was rather basic, we met an Aussie, always nice. Me her, Andy and Steve went to some bars and stuff in Roppongi.

Roppongi is like Soho or Pigalle or anywhere else in a big city that is famous for vice. As vice goes Roppongi is far ahead of most of Japan, in what you can actually get prostitutes and strip clubs. The endless hawking by black guys on the street is a little painful after a while.

In Roppongi we had a Ramen (Japanese soup with noodles and pork, a personal favorite) in a very odd restaurant. You sat in a booth with a curtain in front of you. You never see the waitress or other patrons, well barely, and you select your soup based upon a questionnaire system. You ring the different flavours you want and differentpork levels, as well as selecting a spice level. I had them put more spice in mine and it was goooood...

I couldn't really afford the night. Steve and Andy paid for me. This was of course really really cool but I still didn't feel too right with it. I was kind of board of traveling day by day at this point, I liked the guys but couldn't spend as much as them. I just wanted to go to the country or something.

My Plan was to go to Sapporo in the far north of Japan, on Hokkaido island. To do this I had to get up really early. Due to another night of drink this didn't really happen, not really though any fault of my own. I was a bit pissed off to be honest. due to the fact that we all weren't up that early I missed the only connection to Sapporo as was stuck in a station with no real plan. I knew that I had to leave the cities, I was sick of them. That however was about it as far plans went.

I almost went to Nagano, this is where the 1998 winter Olympics (which for some reason I slavishly watched) where held. Its in the mountains so seemed really scenic. However scenic usually means no hostels so I changed my plan to the other destination on the board....

...Niigata.

Stay tuned folks for tales of unexpected happenings in Hull's Japanese twin city.

A Day in Koyoto

Our day in Kyoto contained two main events.

Fire and Sweat.

The quest for a room in Kyoto was far less successful than it have been in other cities. After a long endless mess around we managed to get one of us into a hostel in Gion (The party district) and me and Steve resigned ourselves to staying in a nearby Internet Cafe.

Fire:

It is currently festival season in Japan.

This is one of the reasons why accommodation is such a stress to acquire.

Anyway this festival in Kyoto is really quite famous. The city is in a basin and on certain days of the year monks burn Japanese symbols into the mountainside. The most famous symbol, that for 'Great', was the one that we witnessed.

The streets were incredibly crowded and it was rather entertaining to watch a few lose policemen try and keep order. They have flashing light saber style batons that they wave indescriminatly and well as a rather liberal supply of megaphones. Either way controlling a crowd this big, even if they are Japanese was impossible. In the end we sat with our new French friend Alice in a park and drank for a bit.

It was all rather pleasant.

Sweat:

Staying in an internet cafe is a bizarre experience.

Japanese Internet cafes are essentially somewhere that people pay to either 'sleep' overnight or read comic books. You can book a computer, a booth, a booth with a reclining chair or some sort of bed contraption for an incremental increase in price.

To make it worth while me and Steve booked the booth for 2000Yen (about 13quid) . This had an upright chair, a computer a PS2 and other goodies. As a nights sleep it ranks as one of my worst in a long long time. I was a little drunk, which didn't help, but the idea of sitting upright in a chair for a bed is a little difficult. I slept on the floor for a while and this didn't agree with me. As a result I had a joyless period of about half an hour in toilets where my body engaged in a cold seat that poured off my body.

For the rest of the night I managed to snatch some sleep in the chair but this was something that I never really want to repeat.

Steve slept like a baby.

A Day in Osaka

The next few days of the trip were quite stressful. We went to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo for one day each time. when you don't have hostel reservations this can be particularly stressful.

Osaka was OK.

We eventually got a capsule hotel and spent the rest of the day wondering the city.

The most noteworthy thing that happened there was an impromptu trip to see the ever genius J-League.

This time it was a big league game, Gamba Osaka Vs Urwara Reds. (A Suburb city of Tokyo). We paid a tout for tickets to get in. Oddly for the RRP, honestly who knows what that was about. We were stood in the gods but it was still pretty cool. I wasn't in the middle of all the chanting this time, which was a shame but regardless we still got a lot of atmosphere. The attendance was about 30thousand with at least a third of those being from Urwara. The game was dull to be honest. Nothing happened until the 92 second minute when, much to the Americans delight, Osaka sneaked a late scrappy goal.

All in all not a bad way to spend an evening.

Kobe Beef

We went to Kobe because it was there.

Again we had to settle for the pod hotel option and in it we met an American, who we ended up acquiring for a good few days.

Andy was pretty big, pretty hairy and pretty Californian. He had good stories a loose wallet, on the whole not a bad guy.

We spent our time in Kobe cruising around the city on the beach and eating Kobe Beef.

Kobe Beef is from cows that are fed beer and given massages and odd stuff like that. You eat it raw, or practically raw, and it tasted a little over hyped. It was nice but, well, not that nice.

The town was like Fukuoka. Bit of a party place. We ended up, through curiosity, in a girls bar. Essentially you pay for the privilege of entering a bar staffed by reasonably attractive women. They are apparently gorgeous, i beg to differ. You get free whiskey but it doesn't really cover the door charge to be honest. When we got in there all that was going on was two really preened Japanese guys, ginger mullets and all, where singing shitty J-Pop on karaoke.

All in all it was an odd experience. we tried to get them to make us White Russians but it turns out they were literally hired for their looks, Bar skills where heavily optional. The whole experience was all a little stuffy and weird to be honest.

If I was single in Japan I have no idea how I would meet women. There are no pubs, barely any clubs and paying to talk to a women is just frankly odd.

(You can also pay to talk to preened Japanese men if you want, the Japanese sex industry is at least equal opportunities in that sense)

I have heard rumours of Cell Phone Dates. These involve two people out on a date, sat opposite each other just texting their mates. No actual conversation is required.

Holding hands in public is unusual.

We saw a couple snogging in a park once and applauded.

We drank one night in a pub that sold nice continental beers. They tried to charge us a massive service charge, we did a runner. We still left a little money like like (The actual price of the drinks) Paying a service charge when they served us the wrong beer twice seems odd to me.

American girls in Kobe who took us to the beach.

The beach was pretty picturesque but unfortunately the only place where I have seen litter in all of Japan. It was filthy. Andy, a born surfer, was rightfully gutted about this.

The beach was shingle, so essentially useless for fun, but it did have a nice view of the bridge to Shikoku Island. This is the bridge that was built exactly like the Humber Bridge but ever so slightly bigger. You will be pleased to know I flicked it the Vs.

Before leaving the beach we discovered a free break dancing event and indulged in it heavily. Steve is a break dancing beginner and you could see he was loving every minute of it. To be honest so was I.

We also had a walk around Kobe harbour, where the fish jump out of the water, ya know like salmon. They did this in Yokohama too but I think I failed to mention it.

Anyway the next few days would be a bit hectic and climax in me seeking a rural retreat.

Stay tuned folks...

Myth Reinforcement

Many of you may have preconceived ideas about Japan.

Let me tell you now that 99% of them are true.

I was initially going to do a bit of the old myth busting for you guys. Show you I'd discovered the real Japan etc.

We the real Japan is the myth.

1. It is ridiculously clean here, even though there are hardly any bins.
2. You can by almost anything from a vending machine, drinks, fags, beer, porn, manga, soup coupons etc.
3. Japanese School girls do wear those clothes, honestly, all the time.
4. The toilets are either porcelain holes in the ground, or robotic. 5 Speeds of B-Day. Wahay!
5. Hello Kitty rules the nation. As does Pokemon. I caught a Pokemon train the other day. It had Pikachu on it.
6. People are painfully polite and will bow at you all the time.
7. All the food contains weird fish. If it was once wet, they will eat it.
8. They love Golf and Whiskey.
9. People do slurp noodles
10. The porn is still weird and available everywhere.

I'll think of more when they come to me.

Still no decent robots though.

Extra! Extra! Nagasaki

After the insane delight of the football we were sweaty, in fact sweatier than I may have ever been. To celebrate our new stench we went to, first the Nagasaki peace park, and then to the Atomic Bomb Museum.

The park was nice, some good sculptures and a calm atmosphere, the same goes for the bomb epicentre. It was in the museum that I really needed to de-oderise, people where looking at me and Steve pretty funny. In fairness they were right to.

The museum itself was very informative and restrained. It brought us down quite heavily from the cloud that the football had placed us on. I wont go into details about the museum to much, just one day try and go.

Also I didn't sign the patition asking for President Obama to come to Nagasaki. That was a little weird. Apparently no US President has ever been there, which is shameful, but it was still a little weird.

We shot back to hostel to shower.

Well guess what.

'We are closed!'

'I know you are closed until four, but could I maybe have a shower.' I mime smelling myself. 'I smell awful, can't you tell?'

'No we are closed, I am am sorry'

'You're not sorry, if you were you'd let me shower, lazy cow'

'alright, lets go' Says Steve, the voice of Scottish reason.

I hate this hostel.

Therefore me and Steve, still smelling rather funky, went and got Japanese haircuts.

Now I know what you're think and no. There is no manga face on this kid. I just got my soft Mohawk shaved off. Now I have hair on top and that be it. Steve had the sides of his hair shaved, a surprisingly good look for him.

I have discovered, and the hairdressers was a great case in point, that if you haggle in Japan they give you stuff for almost free. This, I believe, is down to a few factors.

1. They don't expect it, so do it for the laugh
2. They are so shocked and instinctively polite that they do it anyway

Either way a haircut that should have cost 3100Yen (20quid) cost me 1000yen. That sounds good but the haircut was so good that I gave him 2000yen instead. I felt that I had somewhat insulted his artistic integrity.

Anyway, everyone's a winner.

Apart from me of course, I still hummed.

We showed up at four and then sat in the nearby park watching kids playing baseball. Steve showed me some dance moves, he enjoys break dancing but would be first to admit that he is only a beginner. In the end he had two Japanese kids up with him and he thought them some moves, all pretty pleasing.

We drank in the park with the girls from the previous night, mainly so we didn't have to sit in the bloody hostel. After a while a flash flood started and we ran back to the hostel for cover.

We were sent to bed at 11 again, so drank in the toilets, like naughty school kids.

It was a very rubbish hostel.

Anyway one final note before Kobe is explained to you all.

The Australian Mick Johnno.

Many of you reading this may not know the old salty sea captain that has laid anchor in the small bar of the Haworth Arms, but let me assure you Bill was his long lost Australian cousin. He had a red face, flaky skin, bright white hair, in his 60's and was impossible to hold a conservation with. That isn't to say that the three of us didn't talk, its just that Bill doesn't really understand that conversations are made from give and take. It was more like being told lots of stuff by an affable grandad.

Anyway he was an artist, spoke good Japanese and was all round a rather lovable character.

By the way if you notice any grammer errors in these post please tell me straight away, I will disregard the comment, but ya know, its nice to know who your friends are.

Peace

Nagasaki

Nagasaki was a little polarised. It was great and rubbish at the same time.

However it did contain the Australian Mick Johnno. More on Bill later.

The Hostel...

...was crap.

It had all the basic functions but the problem was that it was also a family home. The common room was their living room. The computer, slow as hell by the way, was their computer. In fact everything about it was bloody weird. When we first entered she tried charging us 500Yen (about 3.50 GBP) for a service charge. we are both to northern to mess with that none sense. We argued over the price and then paid what we thought was reasonable.

IN this hostel we were sent to bed at 11. You had an hour from 10 to be in the common room, whilst she watched Japanese versions of 10 Years Younger and X-Factor. BY the way if you aren't back for 10 you are locked out.

The Lack of hostel choice in Japan means that you have to succumb to their stupid bloody demands. After we were sent to bed, her husband threw two girls we had been talking to out of our room. Considering I'm 21 and Steve's 27 you think he could have trusted us not to commit mass rape, but apparently not.

When I woke up I was treated to about 10 mosquito bites on my legs, the window was shut so I'm assuming bed bugs, and a massive collection of blue stains all over my body. I had them like Cathy Shutt's birth marks (for those of you that know who I mean), all over me. My bright blue foot was my favorite. The photographed this as proof to show the world of the horror I was enduring.

More on this delightful place later.

In the morning me and Steve dragged ourselves up nice and early. The aim was to go to Battleship Island (I forget what its called in Japanese). Battleship island is where they filmed the movie Battle Royal II. It was once the most densely populated place on. However when the Coalmine, that was being operated by Japanese and Korean slaves ran dry in the 1970's the island was abandoned. It got its name from the fact that the entire island is built up like a battleship. 5000 people used to live on this tiny place. It also has Japan's first tower block on it, to give you an idea of the architecture. When it was abandoned however typhoons ripped it to peaces, making it look like something out of Mad Max or the surface in The Matrix.

The weather was too bad. The boat wouldn't run. I wasn't allowed to go.

Shitty Shitty Shit.

It was one of my main reasons for coming to Japan.

Attempt at picture upload from the web:











That worked fairly well, expect more Google images in the future, my own pictures may be a little awkward to upload, I will try my best.

Football!

To sooth me and Steve's loss we went to find the Atomic Bomb Museum. This wasn't to directly sooth us you understand, we aren't evil. It was what happened there however that did sooth us.

Steve engaged with some kids playing Football Tennis outside the Nagasaki training stadium (stuck onto the actual stadium). They were all about 11-12 apart from one kid who was like 16 and evidently looking after them.

We played football tennis with them, two on two, and were relatively effective.

I decided to up the stakes. Me and Steve convinced them to take us onto their training pitch to have a game of fives. This was absolutely one of the best things we have and will ever do in Japan.

The game was good, the kids skillful, adoptions of 'two touch' or 'next three is the winner' rules were adopted almost wordlessly, as if there is a purely football way of communication that only those engaged in a game of football can understand.

England Vs Scotland, with Japanese help.

England was losing until 'next three is the winner' when we convincingly crushed Scotland 3-1. The result was disputed however and we decided to decide it with penalties. Its OK sports fans. England won those too.

The pitch was essentially wet gravel and my shoes were destroyed. Only just recovered them in fact, a week later. Steve played barefoot. Glaswegian Ghetto style.

Best time ever.

More Nagasaki to come...

Beppu

We went to Beppu for one reason, we could get accommodation there.

Finding Hostels in Japan isn't an issue of finding the ones which like or can afford, its an issue of finding any at all. Capsule Hotels and Internet Cafes are always a backup option but as these aren't often listed online it can be a pain in the arse to find them once you reach a city.

Beppu however was a happy little find. A small city, about the size of Hull, it is famous for hot springs and Onsen. It is kind of like Blackpool, not as big, or frankly as awful, but still it is damb packed with casinos and amusements.

Me and Steve stayed two nights at a pretty groovy hostel. On the first night we drank whiskey, stumbled into a great little family ran restaurant (They gave us fantastic home made miso soup, we gave them Whiskey, naturally) and then retired to the hostel to watch Back to the Future II with some dudes form Canada and America. Me and Steve also had a good chat about the fall of Yugoslavia with a Slovenian guy. All in all a success.

Other noticeable highlights of Beppu include:

Battered Fugu (He's Scottish he can't help it)

Steve getting deep fried Fugu in a restaurant. It was to pricey for me for what was essentially five bits and really nice scampi. Steve had four and his mouth went numb, an apparent side effect. I was fine but I only one bit and have an extraordinary curryesque pain threshold, if I do say so myself.

A women lost her dog.

We went to the Onsen (Japanese Volcanic Hot Spring) district of town and were directed to a particular Onsen, the apparent favorite of the guy working in the hostel, by some nice women. At one point however the women's dog broke free from its collar and escaped down the road. Me and Steve gave chase. We never caught it but were assured it had headed home. Anyway its the thought that counts.

The Onsen itself.

It was very basic, a hot pool and some showers. Well apart from one thing. It had a straw sauna. Now this isn't to say that it was a sauna particularly susceptible to from rather large, rather bad, wolves. It was was however a sauna with a straw floor that you had to sit on. It was the hottest thing either me or Steve had ever been involved in. What made it even worse however was the fact that we should have rented Yakata for about 300Yen(almost 2pound). we didn't to be tight and as a result had to go in in our t shirts and boxers. Now saunas are hot, we all know this, even small children are aware of the fact. The hottest sauna of you life however, that smells heavily of straw in clothes, now that was an experience. The sweat pored off us. I pity the poor sods sat next to us on the bus back.

Night came, as did more Whiskey.

We went to see our friend at the restaurant. He was just about to close but reopened especially for us. He looks so Japanese its stupid, I'll upload a pic and point him out later. Anyway we gave him Whiskey and he cooked ace food for us.

What a Leg End.

The morning would bring Nagasaki, Football, A-Bombs and a raft and disappointment...

Photo Upload News

I'm just uploading some pictures to PhotoBucket, its the easiest way I've found to get some bulk on the net. If you want to view them then go on Photo Bucket.com and look up the profile TomCrosbyHull.

At some point I will put the best onto Facebook and, considering I'm writing the Blog about a week ahead of my self then I may be able to post some images onto here.

Anyway, stay tuned

Fukouka/Hakata

A town with two names and Kyushu island's main metropolis.

Steve came with me to this one. Him and his brother had had some sort of argument in Tokyo and had therefore split up. The night we returned from the island Steve's brother was by chance in the same place at the same hostel. I left them to it and in the end it was decided that Steve should come with me to Fukuoka.

He's been here ever since. Genius.

We didn't have accommodation here, a pattern that would repeat itself for most of the trip, so we tried to find a capsule hotel. These aren't as an outdated symbol of the 'future' as the guidebooks first informed me. In fact they are cheap, comfy and usually have excellent facilities. The pod itself has a TV and is often bigger and more private than anything you can get in a hostel.

We did have one problem however. The problem was that Steve has a fairly prominent Tattoo on his right arm. Tattoo's are a sign of either the Yakuza or just a general symbol of body defilement. Most capsule hotels have a no tattoo policy sand we where refused by two. In the end Steve put on a shirt and had to shower in the local Internet cafe. (Yes you can do this, I will explain the exquisite oddness of a Japanese Internet cafe when I write about staying in one in Kyoto.)

The night was spent exploring the downtown district of the Fukuoka/Hakata conurbation. Japanese night life is very peculiar. There appears to be no real clubs or bars. You have a massive selection of restaurants and cafes and them a great selection of girls bars, however this is it.

It is very difficult to find real vice in Japan.

A Girls Bar is very surreal. You pay around 15-20 to essentially enter a bar staffed by, some would consider, but all are meant to, pretty women. They hawk at you from the street. This is something that we declined here but attempted once, for the novelty, in Kobe sometime later on the trip. I appreciate that this was an expensive novelty but when I explain the day later on in this blog it will all become clear.

Fukuoka is everything that you imagine from Japan. New, modern, neon and bustling with thousands of people. Me and Steve bought some whiskey and walk the town soaking it up. We climbed down onto the banks of the river for a bit and watched the city pulse with people.

Fukuoka is jam packed with loads of little food stalls. They sit on the streets and maybe only accommodate about eight people at one time. We stayed at one and befriended all of the clientele via the liberal use of whiskey. The shop owner gave us Saki in return and a very good time was had by all.

The soup was amazing, as always. It was noodles and veg, a bit of pork and some Japanese spicy stuff that I can never work out.

Anyway this food was good but tomorrow it was Beppu and that would mean Fugu.

Please say you've seen the Simpson's...

Atom Tan Part 2

Miyajima Island

Our hostel was just a 10 minute boat ride from the mainland to Miyajima. Miyajima is the main tourist attraction, other than the bomb, that Hiroshima has. If you've even seen that photo of the Japanese shrine in the water then this is where it is.

We went across in a four. Me, Steve, Adam and Sheena. They had to head for a campsite on the other end of the island so we waited with them for the bus. Before long however we were attacked by hoards of tame deer, who, after great persistence, managed to steal and eat a pizza from　Adam's bag. He seemed a little offended.

Me and Steve left the guys and made the conscious decision to hike the mountain. It was 2.5Km up, not much really, but when its absolutely boiling outside it is a killer. We bought Kamikaze headbands in town and it wasn't long before they were covered in sweat.

We cooled off occasionally in the river that runs along side the mountain trail. This river is essentially man made, or at least man reconstructed, after a mudslide in 1945 leveled half the island and a very important shrine. It was built in a Japanese garden style, so although it looks very constructed it still somehow retains a look of its environment.

After almost killing ourselves on the climb we reached the summit and used Steve's speakers and my camera to create a Rocky montage of us ascending the last few steps of the viewing platform. This is good and will be put on facebook soon.

We ran down the mountain to get back to the town in time for lantern festival thingy. Pink Floyd on the way up = 1h and a half. Generic metal on the way down = 25 minutes.

There had been a festival going on all day but the bit we were involved in took place on the shore with lanterns and Japanese guys with drums and boats making a lot of religiously significant noise. With the symbolism somewhat lost on us we waved lanterns around, said goodbye to the guys and got the boat back to the mainland.

On the mainland was the Scarborough Pirates Rugby League team, complete with token Rovers fan, its OK I didn't catch anything.

Steve decided to come to Fukuoka/Hakata with me...so well...he did...

Atom Tan

Hiroshima.

In which contains- Islands, Deer, Squid on a Stick, A Remembrance Ceremony and the Scottish

I couldn't get accommodation in Nagoya as initially intended so I shot straight to Hiroshima, this had the added bonus that I arrived on the 64th anniversary of the dropping of the first atomic bomb. I didn't get to my hostel until late, it was about a half hour outside of town, so by the time I got to the centre we had reached the floating lantern part of the proceedings.

The Scots that I had picked up at the hostel joined me in floating a lantern down the river and we sat in a park watching the whole this ebb to a satisfactory conclusion.

I had met my first Scots, Adam and Sheena, on the train to the hostel. We got off too early, and got lost for a bit in the insane heat and then finally wormed our way to the Hostel. Adam by the way looks almost exactly like a young version of Dr Harris from Monkey Dust, for those of you who have watched that program.

My second Scot introduced himself in a rather interestingly agro way (who, as I write this, has just bought some pastry in the shape of a turtle. Apparently he couldn't resist). Japanese hostels often say that they have private rooms but don't it is one big room that has been subdivided. As I talked to a Canadian Stephan shouted from nowhere, as I told her I was English, 'Oh no not a fucking Englishman!' I was going to make a sarky comment about the highland clearances but chose not to for fear that I returned home to find Carlisle ransacked.

Instead I somehow managed to foster a now legendary partnership with everyone's favorite Galweigan, with Valentine in his name.

Stephan John Valentine Sharp, to be precise.

Steve is constantly smiley, brakes out into dance or song ocationally in the street and has trebled my whiskey intake. He is good for the banter is its making the trip fly by now. He came here with his brother on about the same day I did, soon however they had a bit of a falling out and chose to travel alone. Steve seemed pretty down about this but I think my company is good for him and his mine.

YO-KO-HAMA! Part 2

The evening in Yokohama was taken up at the football. Spiffing.

Yokohama FC, not even the biggest team in Yokohama, entertained Vegalta Sendai in front of a crowd of around eight thousand.

To even find the station I had to enlist the help of some Sendai fans. I said Hull City to them a lot in the hope that they watched some Premier league. They seemed to get it in the end. I tried to sit with them but had to go in the Yokohama end. Fortunately this was a blessing. They put me in the cheap seats with all the uber fans. Not that there was that many. Sendai brought as many as Yokohama to be honest, which, when you consider Yokohama are bottom of the bottom league in Japan isn't that surprising. There fall from grace was apparently spectacular. They where really high in J League 1 at one point but such is life.

I got my free fan, bananas and some high quality dried squid for 200yen (About 1 pound 20) and settled in this a big fat guy and his quiet proletariat mate. I tried the Hull City routine with more luck this time. They fed me nuts and a chocolate panda and in broken Japanese I assured them that I would indeed be cheering for Yokohama.

The fan culture is very similar to that of the Med. A few guys stand facing the crowd with megaphones chanting for what must be about 70minutes solid. I joined in as best as I could. This usually just involved shouting YO-KO-HAMA! very very loudly and endlessly.

When Yokohama scored with a diving header from a free kick I hugged the big guy and high fived his reserved mate. That was about three minutes in. The rest of the game involved Yokohama receiving the pasting of there lives. They had to foul so often to deny Sendai that they had a lad sent off for two yellows. In the end however Yokohama won out with a tight 1-0 win. I cheered, the guys cheered, the megaphone guys collapsed with shear exhaustion. It was all good.

I tried to give back the Yokohama towel/scarf thingy that the guys had lent me but they insisted that I keep it. I was kind of hoping that this would happen.

At full time I met up with an English kid called Max who i had spied at half time and introduced myself to. He commentates on J-League for online betting channels. If you ever bet on obscure sport then Max is your man. We had a good chat about England, Japan and Germany on the way back. Max is half German (he had to be with a name like that) and went to an international school in Frankfurt.

I'm probably gonna meet up with him again in Tokyo later on this trip.

YO-KO-HAMA!

My day in Yokohama was very long. I think I walked for about seven hours in total.

There isn't much to the city itself. It is generic Japan in a port setting.

I get lost constantly here. Streets don't have names, its the areas in between them that do. Everything also looks remarkably similar. The typical Japanese city is short on space, this means that they are all built up high, with eclectics style and architecture. This would you imagine make then easier to navigate. However when many streets aren't even on the map and there is no continuity in the building style everything merges into one big city.

I spend a good two hours of Yokohama totally lost.

I visited Yokohama's bustling Chinatown for some lunch. I politely refused a knife and fork and dug in with some chopsticks. The food was a sweet soup, Rice, Chicken in sauce, pickled chilli and some other stuff that I forget. Frankly I was more glad of the free water and air conditioning. I was doing really well with the chopsticks until i got to smug, failed to concentrate and shot a piece of pepper about six miles across the restaurant.Nobody notices. No gods were defiles and respect was preserved.

I discovered a Hello Kitty catalogue and also a lot of Moomin merch. Maybe the moomins will haunt me forever now.

Also I went to a rubbish traditional Doll Museam and got sunburnt.

My plans for the evening however would be a little more unique.

Tokyo Narita -North Yokohama

When I got off the plane it was 1pm. About 5am English time.

The heat hit me like a sticky flannel to the chops.

It clung to me endlessly. Acclimatisation would take a good week.

People where everywhere but strangely no Robots. I think the heat must make them rust.

I managed to make some slight contact my Couchsurfer in Yokohama and activate my JR rail ticket.

I now had the freedom of Japan for 21 Days.

Absolutely shattered I made my way into central Tokyo in order to get the connecting train to Yokohama.

Yokohama is a massive port that was consumed by Tokyo's rolling urban sprawl. It was a lot longer away then expected. I fought against sleep on the train, I think in total I nodded off about six times.

The worst thing in all of this was that I was attempting to get to a small station in north Yokohama rather than somewhere particularly well known. I had to ask directions constantly which was usually pointless but always entertaining.

People are so desperate to help here, even if they can't they still try out of a sense of duty. This can make things worse to be honest.

I had to walk between two station because I was to jet lagged to make the subway work. Fortunately it wasn't rush hour (A time when men with white gloves are employed to push people onto the trains)

I stumbled into Otanamachi station and crawled onto a train bound for Tama Plaza. On the train a businessman with great English wrote a list of the stations for me so I couldn't get lost. He also rang my couchsurfer for me. When he left I asked him his name, he said it was Hero. I refuse to spell it Hiro.

Small Japanese children are everywhere on the subway, they are usually chaperoned by the schools are they incredibly cute. I made use of my celebrity status as an Englishman to make friends with some of them. They intermittently, spurred on by their parents, told me their names and ages in English, non were older than six. I practiced my Japanese on them. The train became a happy place. Most people in my carriage were grinning by now.

When I got off the train I had about two hours to wait for Tomomichi (My CS host). I couldn't shake the little kids. Every time I said sayonanra it turned out we were walking the same way. annoyingly when I had finally left them behind in a large mall i realised that I had some English money that I wanted rid of. What Japanese six year old doesn't want English money as a reward for good English?

Unfortunately I couldn't find them again. Dang & Blast.

Tomomichi was a reserved kind of guys. He walked me two his house which is well and truly in the suburbs. The tress blistered with static noise. It was mating season for thousands of huge black moths and they polluted the air with a high pitched white noise and a sound that sounded like a dieing robot.

They weren't robots however. My quest to see a robot wouldn't be that easily fulfilled.

I had woken up by now thanks to some Tapan Ykai (Spelling?) that I had in the Mall. I had no idea what it was, I just bought it. It was eight balls of dough covered in sause and seaweed and to my surprise containing a neon purple octopus tentacles. This was fortunate because neon purple is my favorite flavour of octopus.

I food here is amazing and I will try and keep you updated with as much of it as I can.

On the night I became highly average at chopsticks and slept a rather broken sleep on a futon.

Posh Plane

I've never been on a posh plane before.　

I had to keep checking with the air stewards that stuff was free. It was. Bonza. (Strictly speaking it was subsidised by the cost of the ticket but whatever, it felt free.)

The flight was about 12 hours and took us over northern Russia and then down through China to Tokyo.

I got a free upgrade due to over booking or because I'm cool I don't know which.

My seat neighbour was a Japanese guy covered in Tats that it turned out made goth jewelery. Tattoos are massively taboo in Japan. (Check Things Overheard) It is usually a sign of the Yakuza, the japs see it as a defilement of the skin. I'd read this in the guide book so I pointed this guy out whilst on the phone to Helen before take off. It was a slightly scary moment when he sat next to me but if he was a part time gangster he failed to do anything particularly criminal.

I busied myself watching movies. New Star Trek, Wolverine, An interview with Daniel Radcliffe (Don't quite know how that came up), Monster Vs Aliens and a Japanese film.

Description of the Japanese film:

Four kids join a secret society at one of Kyoto's four universities. They discover that the purpose of this group is to battle with little Oni spirits in a Napoleonic platoon style. These Oni can also be revived with raisins. It was bloody stupid but highly entertaining. At one point a kid pisses himself through fear.

Oh, the Devils anus is also highly involved.

I should have slept on the plane but it didn't quite come.

I'd pay for this later.

Greetings now from Shitsville, London...

Helsinki had been wet.

The last night before we left we explored the island and its old fortifications. We watched on the crest of a hill as stromclouds gathered over Helsinki.

As it turned out this storm never came, Finland had rained itself out the day before.

This storm was saving itself for London.

I wont bore you with the transport details but essentially we arrived in Deptford under the cover of a fine cloud of drizzle. Upon finding the Hostel we discover it isn't really a hostel, more an Afro-Caribbean pub that rents out the upstairs to backpackers.

It had a very community feel to it, Little kids watching cartoons at the bar in the morning. white guys playing black guys at pool. It was nice, poor, but nice.

Could have done without the cockroaches but some would say that they add character.

My plan for the evening was to head out to a comedy club in Greenwich, theoretically just a short walk away. That short walk, when combined with a downpour isn't quite as short as it could be.

I had to run ahead to book the tickets in time and by the time we arrived we were well and truly wet. So much so that a Cockney at the bar told me to 'sort myself out in the toilets, rather aggressively' I fail to see what he expected me to do about it, stand under the dryer for 2 hours? What? Anyway I attempted some banter with him and it failed. His Cockney armour seemed to deflect humour.

The comedy was good, well once the four drunken knobs sat next to us left anyway. The highlight for me was the second comedian, a gay kid with autism and a key board. What more do you want.

The day in London was far less of a washout. We wondered to Covent Garden in the morning and I got to take part in some intense unicycling. Fortunately I only had to hold the unicycle, not actually attempt it. We found a bookshop in Notting Hill that sold books for 50p and we gratefully indulged. Moscow/St Petersberg Guide Book anyone? Legend.

Afterwards we walked Portobello street looking at all the antiques. Helen bought trinkets and it was good.

We unfortunately didn't have time for some decent food when we went to Kings Cross to say goodbye.

I ran along with the train for a bit as it set off. I also ran into a guy at one point but non of his limbs fell off so it can't have been that bad.

After the sad goodbye, I ate a Chinese soup and retired to the hostel.

Japan in the morning...

Hard Rock Helsinki!

The land of Lordi and of course the 8 euro pint.

Helsinki smacked our budget massively. The hostel was 20 a night, the ferries 25. To even mate sandwiches for two you are looking at 10 quid. It isn't really a traveler friendly place.

However what it is is extremely pretty.

We stayed on an island just in Helsinki Harbour, the entire south coast of Finland is islands and ours used to be a fortress. It's name is spelt something like Soumellinna and it is now a Unesco World Herritage site. The small ferry ride to and from it was calm and picturesque. It took us passed lots of little islands, some with only a hut or two on them.

Helsinki itself is a mixture of pretty, old architecture and new, Battersea Power Station style, buildings. The hole place has a bizzare air of efficiancy and control about it which kind of helps to put you at ease.

In terms of what we did there. Well we basically indulged in everything that was free that we could possibly find. This involved a lot of churches, a sports bar where he gave us free coke due to our non-Finnish currency povity and a lot of window shopping.

We managed to see a lot of Moose on our travels, this pleased Helen greatly. Ask her why in person.

Also I watched Hull City in the sprots bar, something I have done also in Riga. Somewhere Doof and Steve Selby are pleased with my efforts.

The flight was painless and London would be weird.

Things Overheard

This is first time in a long time that I've had the oppertunity to properly add stuff to this blog. I thought I'D start with some good things overheard.

1.

Warsaw, Poland: Witek Orski's Mum to me (everything translated via Witek) 'Why don't you drink your tea?7

Me to Her: 'Well I don't really like it'

Witek's mum to Witek in Polish: 'The Englishmen doesn't like Tea, then how does he know when its Tea Time?'

2.

During a thunderstorm in Helsinki, Finland. Man runs up to me and shouts something in Finnish, whilst me and Helen hide under a canopy.

Me: 'er...in english?'

Him: Have you seen the weather! It is lightening! Fork Lightening, Crazy!'

Me 'Yer'

Then he ran off.

3.

Trying to book a rom in a pod hotel with a travel friend of mine.

Japanese Pod Hotel Owner: 'No Tattoo, you cannot stay'

He points to Stephan's Tattoo on his arm.

Me to Him: 'No mate, its OK, here's not Yakuza, he's Scottish'

The Ferry accross the Mersey...oh sorry Gulf of Finland my mistake

This ferry requires special mention for it complete overload of people and stress. The set up was much like an airport. All the ships where apparently full, even though they were just cramming people on anyway. We waited and queued and then waited and then queued again. When we finally got on, amidst a crowd of idiot women, we ended up sat next to some idiot Canadians. Good Times.

It cost 25 bloody quid as well.

The whole process was an endless stress and it took us nearly all day to get to Finland and then onto Soumellina. (The Island off the coast of Helsinki not some sort of pudding)

Fortunately Helsinki made up for this.

However not in price.