First Impressions

Well what can I say – the flight was pretty good, cool plane, ate a Japanese/Italian meal on the plane with chopsticks!?! and had a fry-up when we woke which I also ate with chopsticks. Drank Japanese beer which was nice too.

Got off the plane and was immediately hit with warm, wet heat. Not as bad as I had prepared myself for though surprisingly. It was 32 degrees centigrade and 70% humidity – it’s really sunny and nice but you do sweat a lot with just doing everyday tasks like walking. The toilets are both weird and cool, in the airport there were urinals, a normal toilet, a cubicle with a hole in the ground and a toilet with crazy controls!

Got a bus from the airport to Shinjinku district – a very posh boutique business type area with loads of skyscrapers which took us about 1 ½ to 2 hours to get there but luckily there was an Irish guy called Dave who was chatting to us all the way letting us know what to expect on the Orientation. Were staying in the Keio Plaza, a 5 star hotel for 3 days so were pretty chuffed! Made friends with a group of 5 or 6 people, one guy in particular called Joe from Rochdale (basically next door to Bury where I was born) turns out he’s my roomie too so were currently just chilling in our room on the 18^th floor listening to music and checking out the view of Tokyo while I write this and he experiments with the bum washer on the electric toilet! He seems pleased with the results.

The one thing I must mention is how organised and calm the Japanese are. Everything just runs so smoothly and everyone is so polite and charming. Also I didn’t see one bit of graffiti on the way here – it’s so clean. I asked Dave the Irish guy why it was so clean and he said that at 3.30 or 4pm everyday all the kids at school clean their whole school from top to bottom and they are taught from an early age to look after their environment.

Anyway can’t spend too much time on this laptop. Were off to meet the posse on the 48^th floor (roof with a pool) for a swim and a few beers. Nothing on tonight so off out to eat in Tokyo after. Tomorrow is up early, lectures and workshops all day and a night out with our Embassy in Tokyo. (Apparently only the British Embassy do this). Next day is much of the same but ending with a Karaoke night out (all you can drink for 2 or 3 hours for €25) with all the peeps from my Prefecture.

So far Japan rules! :o)

Cheap Flights to Tokyo

Hey peeps,

I haven't done tonnes of research into flights but I believe a return to Tokyo from London is about £650.  Funnily enough, a single is about the same if not more!

Anyway when I was in Manchester I was reading a metro and found an Ad which I ripped out.  It's for Finnair.  They are offering flights from Manchester and London to Tokyo for £479 it includes all taxes and charges.  It's worth checking out if your thinking of coming over.  You have to book within a certain timeframe and fly within another but when I ripped it I missed those dates. oops

I looked at the site and you can go from Manchester for £511 and London for £522 return to Tokyo.

Click here for the link to the Finnair website.

Bobb x

First pictures of my wee hoosie

I got some pictures from my predecessor of the apartment I'll be moving into.  Thought I'd put them up for you all to see.  Here's the sunset from my apartment.  I'm just outside the city of Kobe up the side of a wooded mountain/hill - which means fresh air, bigger apartment and all the good things associated with living in the country.  But also Bugs and a 20 min ride on the train to downtown.

Here's my bathroom (with Japanese style top loading washing machine) and bedroom - with hardwood floor and a double bed, thank god!  I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on a single Futon for a year, I love a big bed plus it keeps me off the floor where there may be Mukade lurking occasionally! :o(  I have got a Futon tho so there's plenty of space to crash for those visiting.

Here's my kitchen, I don't think the Japanese really do ovens... You can see my balcony too

The last one is my sitting room.  In Japan they don't use feet and inches or even metric measurements for room sizes, instead they use Tatami mats which measure 2 x 1 meters each. My sitting room is 6 mats in size.  That's pretty big by Japanese standards apparently.

You have to walk barefoot or in socks on Tatami mats.  In other places indoors in Japan where there aren't Tatami mats you can war shoes or slippers but they can't be ones you wear outside. That means at school too!  So I'll have to travel to school in one pair and change into another when I'm there.  Apparently loads of teachers go to work in suits and ties and black smart shoes only to change into a pair of Nike running shoes that have never seen tarmac once they get there.

When you go to the toilet in a restaurant or pub there are toilet slippers to wear.  So picture this;

Arrive at pub, take off shoes, put on slippers, go into pub to drink, go to toilet, leave slippers outside toilet and change into toilet slippers, finish in toilet, change into slippers yada, yada, yada...

Walking back into a restaurant slightly boozy and sitting down still wearing your toilet slippers is a bit of a social faux pas apparently.  Hmm, bets on how long I last without breaking this one anyone!?!