Culture shock in 3...2...1...

Hi All.

Well we've been in Japan for a week, so it's probably time for a blog post. Since we landed on Monday, we have been going non stop thanks to all the people Daniel knows in Japan (Hi Marie, Yoko S, Yoko T, Yoshi, Anna, Dan...). I can tell it's a lot more fun when you know some local people as they know where everything is (especially the bars) and it just makes travelling so much easier.

So far in Japan we have Visited an Onsen (Japanese spa), went to a sushi restaurant (and yes, I ate everything there, much to the amusement of Japenese dining companions who loved the different looks on my face),　Shibuya, where we met Hachiko (Dog statue) and saw a level crossing which just boggles the mind (I swear about one thousand people crossed it each time the lights went) and this was just in Toyko.

The onsen has to be in the most interesting place we visted in our two days in Toyko. An onsen is a big spa bath place were pretty much you get naked and sit in rideciously hot water with other guys and in the onsen we were out had an outside area were with bathers the sexes could imntermingle (and I could uncross my legs). The first pool we entered was a mild pool and not very warm or thats what we were told, this turned out to be a complete fabrication (or at least in our opionon) as Daniel actually yelled as he entered the water and I did my best to not copy him. It was Friggin boiling! In the end it was tolerable if I didn't move and stared foward thinking about how cold Europe was. Still it was an interesting experiance, especially considering I was the only white guy in the entire place, which aparently made me a bit of an attraction.

After two days in Toyko we headed down to Osaka, to meet Yoko and Yoko, Who we spent the next few days with. Together we visited the aquarium, Kyoto's main temples, a Karoke bar and many, many resteraunts. One of our traveling companions a certain Yoko S has a hunger that defies logic, one time just walking out a resteraunt (having finshed her own plate and helped Daniel and Yoko T finsh hers) she saw another resteraunt and declared we should eat there...and she ment right then.　

I will have to admit the most fun thing we have done in Japan has been Karoke! For the price of 2200 yen per person you get a room and unlimted drinks for 2 hourｓ, and they're not slow with the drink service. With enough alcohol even my singing voice is tolerable (not really, we just cared less -Dan), or in the case of a certain Yoko mabye a bit too much alcohol. While I won't go into too much details carrying her down the stairs was quite difficult and her decision to have a sleep on the stairs when the last train was leaving 5 minutes may not have been the best decisions. This was the cause of Wongo and I's first criminal activity of the trip as we both jumped the turnstile to carry her up to the platform. An entertaining night to say the least.

Kyoto was beautiful, the view and the temples were amazing. We spent a whole day walking around the hillside of Kyoto and it even started snowing as we neared the top - truly amazing given it was fairly temperate and the skies were half clear. Hopefully I'll be able to add some photos just to show because I will not be able to describe the view!

Anyways hope you'reall having an excellent time back home.

Cheers Biddo