Yes, it’s the weekend but i’m sitting here, home at 1:30am - why you ask?

Well, I was supposed to be out with Seiko tonite (as well as last night) - but she now sleeping in the frontroom. She’s been doing manic sleeping recently, like just 3 or 4 hours a day, and is wondering why she’s tired?!?

Tonite I’m a bit annoyed though, she had work this morning from 4am-midday, then was supposed to come home and sleep so we could go out tonite, but instead went out with some friends, coming back at 5pm, which of course come 8, there was no way she was awake enough….

I think I need to make an effort to start hanging out with some new people, as I can’t rely on her for everything. Shortest case, I only have 14 weekends left, I don’t need to be wasting them like this.

To comfort myself, I went to the supermarket and bought a box of Coco Pops (£3 though for a tiny box!) - and instead of wasting all the night, I thought I should finish writing up the events of last week….

Then, I reckon, I’ll slip back into rant mode and start grumbling again…

Anyway, where was I - ah yes, part three - the last week of Nesa and up to now…. hmmm… we probably did a few things during the week, but alas I can’t remember - I do know about the weekend though - so let me begin.

Oh no wait, i wanted to post this picture up…. taken on a packed train
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Anyway, back to the weekend!
Friday, Nesa had gone to Hakone for the day - which I suspected would tire her out, and indeed it did - this left just me and Seiko to go to Roppongi together (or at least meet her there).

In usual me fashion, I was also hideously late and in real danger of missing the train, which meant I had to run all the way to Sangenjaya, meaning by the time I got on the train, I was sweating quite badly …. YUK! I hadn’t forgotten however to fill a plastic bottle with vodka, so at Aoyama Ichome station, I bought an orange juice to top it up…. quality
Not wanting to break tradition, first stop was Hub (hooray for Hub) however we only stayed for a single drink as Seiko was quite hungry, so we soon left and made our way to Jonathans (wow it’s been a long time since I went there) where we stayed for an hour or so.

Walking back down the Roppongi strip, it suddenly dawned on us, how we just did the same things over and over (same places each week), however not really liking any of the other clubs caused a certain issue here… haha….

Instead of clubbing therefore, we decided to do a bit of shopping (yes, at 3am in the morning) and headed into the large Donkihote stop where we just browsed random bits and pieces until there was nothing left to see.

On the way out however, we spotted a sign for the newly opened top floor “Cosplay” department, so jumped in the lift to the 7th floor. Cosplay if you haven’t guessed is an abbreviation for “Costume Play”, and on stepping out the lift, we were greeted with the sight of hundreds of different costumes - schoolgirls, nurses, cheerleaders, policewomen - pretty much anything (including “Sexy Gymnast Costume” lol…) - oh to have a j-girlfriend …
Not to be left out, they also had a section for men, though I think it served more as a comedy section rather than a serious “sexy” dept…

Finally, the clock struck 5am, which meant that “Maxim” was open, so we scuttled away over the road to our (my? ;)) favourite club, meaning i could finally get a good dance in… hurrah!

The night was not so much different from usual as far as the music went, except today we had the typical “extremely drunk ugly” man, trying his hand with everyone in the place. He started on Seiko at first, but after explaining she was my girlfriend (which he wouldnt believe until we had kissed…) - he finally left, only to start trying it on with our friend (who we don’t even know the name of :eek:) - by now i had used my “Boyfriend” card, so I was unable to help out too much here…

Luckily, he soon got tired of the constant rejection, so went off to try his luck with someone else. You know, I really don’t understand people like that - how they can possibly think they are going to get somewhere… and then to just ignore rejection… man, people like that give us guys a bad name…
We left around 7:30 or so and headed off to the local “Subway” to get some breakfast, before finally hitting the train home… and … sleeeeeep zzzzz

Saturday and first off was a meeting with Toshi and his friend for us all to eat in Shibuya. Things started off ok, we decided to go to the mexican place - though arriving there, there was a 30 minute wait - so it was off to find somewhere else.

45 minutes later, we still hadn’t found somewhere (doh!) - until finally we found an izakaya style place. Problem was, both Nesa and I were very hungry and we just knew the food would be small - which indeed it was, ah well, there’s always First Kitchen
One thing that must be mentioned was what occured at the end of the meal. We all got up to leave, but the staff then informed us that we still had one dish to come (infact it had just arrived) - A YakiSobaOmelette (imagine yakisoba covered with an omelette) - by now everyone had got to the door (Except me, nesa and toshi) - but me and nesa decided it was a shame to waste it, toshi therefore went to tell the others what was going on.

We realised the implications of time here, so had to take drastic action. Splitting into two equal halves, we then devoured the whole thing in under 3 bites each I must say, I’m quite impressed with our achievement there, and indeed Toshi couldn’t believe it when he got back from telling the others (all of a minute or so at most) to find us all done…. haha….

(Dammit, I’ve just gone and made another bowl of Coco Pops, thats my third this evening, soon they will all be gone :eek:)

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It was then that the split occured, everyone departed leaving just me and Nesa to do the night alone… first stop therefore, Sunkus (convenience store) to buy a 2 litre bottle of orange juice and a 785ml bottle of vodka. Finding an “out the way” seating area, we then proceded to mix up (and mix *very* well) a vodka and orange, before (ultimately) drinking all of it
That done, we were ready for our final (or so we thought) destination of the night, a very welcome return to “Atom” - hurrah! Nesa’s last night out clubbing in Tokyo had to go with a bang.

As we didn’t have a flyer, entry this time was 3000yen (with one drink), though at the payment counter, Nesa expertly negotiated an extra one each (go Nesa! yay!) - and finally, we were back in paradise.

It was exactly as before, just a massive club full of the most gorgeous girls you can ever imagine. I would have taken a photo, but cameras had already been removed at the door (what a stupid rule) - and although i had managed to keep mine on me, i was now scared to use it incase we got thrown out.

The music this time was better than before, with it actually getting quite hard at one point - and it was safe to say, Nesa and I had a f*&king awesome time…. so good, we didn’t want to leave - but the fact it was about 1000 degrees and my hair was starting to flop badly, meant it was time to go hehe… I’ll return again once my hair is cut, haha…

Last stop of the night (after returning to our drinking point from the night before to retrieve the not-quite-finished bottle of vodka - i know, really pikey , but I DON’T CARE… haha) was “Little Spoon” to grab a morning curry, with extra hamburger, cheese and croque potato…
Sunday, for me at least was long lie in day, though Nesa got up around 11 or so to go and meet her friend Brandon.

We therefore arranged to meet at about 7:30 at Shimokitazawa to go for the “Final Meal” - again back at Bochi Bochi. It also gave me a chance to meet up with Brandon, a cool guy, and a friend of Nesa’s who works for Nokia. Shimpei turned up as well, making the circle complete.

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After “Bochi Bochi” - we then headed for “Dot”, Shimpei’s favourite bar (haha .. NOT! though I don;t know why) - where we stayed for an hour and a half or so, in which time Shimpei complained about pretty much everything on the planet. I think dad would get on well with him
Finally, tiredness was too much for Nesa, so we made the treck home. Unfortunately this meant we didn’t have time for karaoke, nor did we remember to do the obligatory japanese Photo-Me booths…. doh!

(Jumping forward a night —>)

Come 7:30am or so and it was time for Nesa to go. She didn’t even say goodbye (pah! her excuse was something about letting me sleep) - but luckily I had not bothered to go to bed, so once I heard the door go I ran out after her
And then she was gone, my English speaking household sharing member had departed, oh how I cried….
Thus brings us to the start of last week, during which was just pretty much work and not a lot else. I need to save a bit of cash ready for Kyoto on Thursday, so I guess it’s not such a bad thing.

Tomorrow is the “new work staff” party, which will probably be a quiet affair, so I might liven things up a bit, by getting wasted first …. lol… welcome indeed… haha…

So phew, there you have it, up to date - I appreciate it’s not the most exciting read, but I just needed to get everything down. Once again, I promise not to fall so far behind again - which I am sure I will break sooner or later, but hey, at least you got photos!
I have a few other bits and pieces to add, though I’ll do these another time, it’s now 3:30, which means I have been typing this (on and off) for 2 hours - I DON’T WANT TO WRITE ANYMORE !!! pah!
Nite!

Part two of the “quick” summary …. lol ….

Vanessa arrived back at maybe 6 or so - however none of us in the apartment knew as we couldn’t hear the doorbell… whoops! She was eventually let in the main door by someone making a delivery downstairs, so was able to bash on the door until someone up here noticed
Oh course, she was now extremely tired and was debating on whether to stay home It was decided that she should get a bit of sleep, to recharge ….

Luckily this seemed to do the trick and we were able to get out the house by about 11:50 or so, just in time to catch the last train …. ahh, except it seemed the times had now changed and last train was long gone, with the only one left terminating at Shibuya.

Due to there being two of us though, it meant a taxi wasn’t quite such an expensive idea (about £3 each) - so all was not lost - and from Shibuya station we were whisked to Roppongi, stepping out just as the heavens opened - meaning we had to make a mad dash for Hub so as not to get soaked!

Here we met up with Seiko’s friend “S…. (something)” - god I’m so bad with names, it’s appauling. I would like to say it’s because they are tricky Japanese, but I always had this problem in the UK as well!

After a couple of drinks, it was decided that we wanted some proper food - so an izakaya seemed like the natural choice. We therefore headed along to the building where club Hideout is located, but caught the lift up (instead of down) to the izakaya Seiko and I had been once before.

Inside, the food and drinks were pretty normal… however one poster seemed to stand out “Sexy Fried Rice” … hmmm… what could this be? There was only one way to find out, so order it we did ….. Can you guess what arrived???

Go on, you won’t believe it !
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I don’t think any explanation is required ….
After all was done topside, we headed down to Hideout below (where I had to take the role of Seiko’s boyfriend, due to the large Korean attention she was getting) - where we partied until about 5am

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Come 5am however, iLounge (or Maxim as it’s now known) was open, so we headed over the road to get in a few extra hours clubbing.. as you can see, Nesa loved it
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I’m not sure what time we stayed until, though I reckon about 7ish, before finally departing (via McDonalds) to the warmth of home
Sunday was never going to be very hectic, though we had planned to go to Shinjuku to get a new memory card for Nesa along with a battery charger (her camera had died and she had neglected to bring the UK one) - in true me style, we got out the house at about 7pm or so (giving us 2 hours to do everything) - though I’m pleased to say it was mission accomplised - I even had time to go to Kinokuniya to buy the Japanese book I had read at Haruka’s… w00t!

Before heading home however, there was one special task which had to be undertaken - take Nesa to “Kabukicho”, the red light district of Tokyo, which is home to many, many host clubs. You know you are in the right place when you start to see huge billboards of guys in suits with flash hair everyone. Suprisingly though, Nesa wasn’t at all impressed, commenting they looked like “gay boys” rather than the attractive guys she had been expecting… pah… no pleasing some people
Mission failed, we then went to check out some of the UFO catcher parlours to see if anything great was on offer. In about the 4th place, we came across a machine with Ninendo DS’s in abundance, which actually looked pretty easy to grab.

I therefore set about the task of retrieving one, and on the 6th go, I got one!!! w00000t! Opening the box however, something wasn’t quite right… for a start it didn’t weigh much, and looked kinda cheap…. our suspisions were confirmed when we realised that there was no catridge slot, not any slots at all - they were just all fakes…. what was it you ask? A bloody voice recorder!!! Quite why anyone would want a replica DS recorder I just don’t know (infact, it seems no-one, hence the reason the machine was full of them ;)) - of course, it said voice recorder on the box, but we had both assumed this was a feature, not the whole thing!!! pah!!!

I was a bit peeved to say the least…. mew!!!

We made one more stop off (at the Shinjuku Hub - believe it or not ;)) before finally getting the train back, then getting an early(ish) night - due to having to work overtime the next day….

Part 3 coming tomorrow ….

Well it’s got to the point, the blog is so far behind, that catching it all up has pretty much become an impossibility. I’ve decided therefore to cut my loses and start again from now.. otherwise, it would just slip and slip, and become not much use to anyone.

So, lets do a real quick summary of the weeks gone past…

The first weekend after Kyoto was also Yumi’s last night in Tokyo, so we went out to a new “all you can drink” place in Shimokitazawa. To cut a long story short, Shiho got absolutely wasted (she never drinks, remember!) and at one point it looked like we were going to have to take her home…. however, she pulled through and made it out to the Karaoke afterwards
So there you have it, bye bye Yumi - we shall miss you
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The next weekend, it was decided that we would head out on Friday to Roppongi. After the usual “Hub” starter drinks, we headed to “Hideout” where we stayed until about 5am when it was decided we should check out “i-Louge” over the road (which had now changed it’s name to “Maxim”).

Entrance was 1000yen, however once inside and realising it actually played decent music (it was actually pretty banging, w00t!) - plus the fact you got a free drink, it didn’t seem so bad.

Seiko had now done a usual and got pretty smashed (so was propping up the bar) leaving me on my own to jump around manicly to the very good music. After a while, I was joined by a group of girls and, I guess due to the influx of alcohol inside me, suddenly had the confidence to start talking to them (in Japanese…. duh!) - I can’t remember the girl’s name, but she was originally from Thailand, spoke no English, but really liked the club.

I stayed talking with her for about an hour and a half, before, situations over at the bar meant I had to intervene. Seiko had managed to find herself not one, but TWO guys, who were intent on dragging her off home with them - I know she might have wanted this, but the fact she seemed to keep passing out on the bar and being propped back up by them, kinda suggested she didn’t know what she wanted!!!

A swift intervention later (which rather bizarely involved me shouting out “they are bad men, they are bad men” - which they could of course hear) and we had Seiko on the way home. Rather worryingly, not 10 minutes after we had left, I mentioned to Seiko that “you really need to be careful”, to which she replied “Why? What happened??” She wouldn’t believe me at all until I told her to check in her pocket where the guy’s phone number had been put!!

We got back to Wakabayashi station at about 9am (after taking a strange detour through a graveyard - much to the amusement of the gardener) when suddenly Seiko shouts out “Ah, I have work now!! I have to catch this train…” - and off she went!?!?!

Needless to say, we didn’t go out on Saturday night!
Monday after, Vanessa arrived - so we did the official “welcome to Japan” evening out, by taking her to Bochi Bochi (any excuse ;)) - she then left for Kyoto on the Tuesday, returning on the Saturday.

Friday night was Ryoko’s birthday, so once I had finished work, I headed off to Roppongi to meet up with her, seiko, shiho and toshi. No prizes for guessing our first point of call
We did find this strange drunk guy though ….
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Final stop was club “Vanilla”, a swanky place just up the road. It was a bit of fun and games at first though….

Clubs and bars here don’t have cloakrooms, but just lockers. This is generally a good idea, until you have a massive club, with no where near enough lockers to cater for everyone. So picture the scene, Saturday night in a really hot club with loads of coats and bags, but no lockers.

We stand around for a bit, before deciding this just isn’t going to work and we’re better off just holding on to everything, until suddenly a group of people standing around the lockers leave and suddenly some locker keys are glistening in the club light…..

Going on instinct, we charge for the lockers and not a moment too soon before suddenly all hell breaks lose and a huge crowd of people start rushing towards us. It was total carnage with everyone pushing a shoving everyone out the way to try and secure their locker!!!
Once all sorted, we headed to the R’n'B room, which had nice comfy sofas - where we actually just sat until the end of the night just chatting and having a good laugh
So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYOKO!!
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Once the club had come to an end, we headed to the Turkish restaurant to get some kebabs (and a bottle of wine ;)) - before, at about 8am or so, heading back home to get some rest in ready for the night ahead… (and Vanessa’s return…)

I awoke at about 6am or so, to be greeted by the site of Kyoto.. w00t! Except of course Haruka had arranged to meet us at 7, so it seemed like quite a bit of waiting around would be in order. The bus stopped just outside the station and we stepped out into what can only be described as EXTREME COLD with strong as winds…

We therefore headed into the station to shelter for a bit and await the arrival of Haruka.

Maybe an hour and 45 later (go Haruka! ;)) she finally arrived and it was time to go back to her house…

…. except she couldn’t seem to work out how to get there!?!?

Lol… after spinning around and around a few times, she finally decided on a route and we headed up through the station to a different train line platform. But it was all not all done, as again she seemed a little lost and we had to walk up and down a few platforms until we were finally on the right one
The train journey to Haruka’s stop (Makino) took about 30 minutes (it’s about half way between Kyoto and Osaka) but took us out of the city background and allowed us to see some countryside. This was awesome as I am kinda sick up of the “buildupness” of Tokyo and this made a great change - oh how I wish I lived out here instead… ah well…

Makino itself was even better, the station has a massive bowling alley situated next to it, along with a 24 hour Karaoke centre and a McDonalds (so basically everything you need for a night out) - a small shopping arcade just over the street (so you can buy all you need) - but apart from, NOTHING…. so cool! Just mountains in view, and little houses….

After walking about 10/15 minutes from the station, we finally got to Haruka’s place (or room I should say…)

Here you go, welcome to the Home Of Haruka
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Do come into the front room and say Hello!! w00t!

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Again, as with the area, her place is also pretty awesome! It’s certainly not the biggest of abodes, but has everything you need. Kitchen area, shower room, toilet, then the main room (as seen in the pictures) which is both the front room and bedroom. Oh and the rent, about £200 a month!!! (our place is £1300 or so!!) - let me tell you, I was so jealous!!

We were then very kindly cooked breakfast (Yaki Udon) before settling down in various places on the floor to get to sleep (except Helen who had taken a turn for the worse, so had had Haruka’s bed donated to her). It must have been about 12/1 or so, when I was woken by Haruka leaving to go to her part time job - leaving a map and some keys so we could get out.

A few hours later, we were finally ready to head out, with first job being to find an ATM. No mean feat in England, but as I’ve been ranting over the last year - out here, can be kinda tricky. After looking around the local area for a good 20 minutes, we finally found the Post Office and Helen was able to draw some cash (I couldn’t as my card didn’t work there) and we could start out on our journey.

The train took about 30 minutes to deliver us to “Shijo” - a place I remembered well as it was were Justin and I had gone before (in fact, I remembered lots of places due to having gone there before, I suspect Helen got quite sick of me going “ah I went here with Justin”… lol). Here I was able to go in an AM:PM and get some cash out, before we started off on our little tour of Kyoto.

Admittedly we didn’t see so much, as it was a bit late and things were starting to close (all the temples and what not generally shut up shop around 4/5ish) however we didn’t miss everything…

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Timing a little off now, but I think at around 8 o’clock or so (from within the coffee shop “Dotour”) we sorted out the nights plan, to head away from Kyoto to Osaka (and Shinsaibashi) were we would meet up with Haruka and head off on the night out.

We arrived there in good time, and headed directly to Helen’s new favourite haunt - Starbucks Where we waited for Haruka to show… and waited… and waited some more, before finally she turned up (though she did seem quite apologetic) and whisked us away to a nearby izakaya where her friend worked.

Once in, we were introduced to “Yuuka” who worked in the bar just part time, in order to save up some money so she can come to England in July! She’s pretty hot too…. maybe coming home in August isn’t such a bad idea…. haha … lol…

She had to carry on working for the first few hours, so in the meantime we ordered some food and drinks (of which only the food got put through the computer ;)) - including a HUGE bowl of sake for Helen (which unbelieveably she DIDN’T manage to finish :eek:)

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Once Yuuka had finished work, she then joined us at the table, where we chatted for an hour or so (or at least everyone tried to, but more on that later…) until it was time to go. The girls wanted to go to a Drum n Bass event, though it was pretty obvious this would be a bad idea for Helen - so they were “persuaded” against this, and instead we headed down the street to another bar (run by another one of Haruka’s friends) - this wasn’t however, before the manager of Yuuka’s restaurant gave us a discount on the (already “incorrect”) bill …. w00t!

The next place was an “American Style” diner, which meant nice comfy seats - and again, cheap drinks.

Now the fun and games began …
Of course naturally everyone would sit and chat in a bar. This was fine for me as my Japanese seemed to have suddenly accelerated itself and I could actually hold a conversation, meaning I was able to speak in pretty much straight English. This wasn’t such a good thing for Helen though (obviously) - so the girls did their best to talk in English…

However, it seemed accents caused quite a few problems (much to my amusement, sorry Helen)

It would go like this:

Yuuka or Haruka would ask Helen a question in English.
Helen wouldn’t understand, so it would be repeated a few times.
Finally, after it looked like someone was going to punch someone else, I would repeat it for her.
Helen would then reply (in pretty basic English)
But then neither Yuuka or Haruka would understand.
So I would then have to repeat in Japanese (or in my super dumb English Accent)

It was just bizarre, but highly amusing (well for me at least).

It reminded me of the time Haruka stayed over at Jamie’s the first time she visited, the conversation went like this.

Jamie: What airline are you going back on?
Haruka: ?
Jamie: Airline…
Haruka: ?
Jamie: A-I-R-L-I-N-E
Haruka: ?
Me: Airline
Haruka: Ahh… JAL…

I can only think that due to all the Japanese I have spent time with (both here and in England before) and the fact I have had to practise kindergarden for so long, I can now natually speak on an easy level….. for anyone else involved though, it does seem to be quite frustrating.

We must have stayed at the bar until about 3 or 4am (in which time, I got in like SOOOO much J-practise, it was awesome) until Haruka got a call from her boyfriend to say he was outside and would be able to give us a lift back to the house.

We therefore trekked outside and across the street, to be greeted by the site of what must be one of the smallest cars to ever exist, complete with boyfriend and best mate already inside (and then the four of us) - there was only one option, and that was to go for a complete squeeze. I really wish I had a photo of the car, as it’s quite hard to appreciate just how small the thing was, but suffice to say - there was some serious bone crushing action going on in the back for the hour or it took to get to the first drop off point where Yuuka and then Haruka’s boyfriend’s (Shuuhi) mate… so finally there was room to breath
Haruka’s house was another hour or so drive from Yuuka’s, which left me and Helen wondering where everyone was intending to stay… this became apparent on the arrival home, when extra futons were put out, and it became obvious we were all going to share the single room - to their credit, we did get given the bed, meaning Haruka and Shuuhi had the floor - but it was still very tight and I had to really watch I didn’t roll to the left and end up on top of him!!
Sleep was difficult, due to the massive heat (the aircon was left on) and apparently I then stole all the blankets… sorry!

The next day was another late start, with Haruka once again dissapearing off to work, leaving us with Shuuhi who then gave us a lift to the station when we were all up and dressed - in time for us to catch the express back into town.

Once there, we attempted to get a bit more done this time and headed directly for the guidebook trail.

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We then walked along through the park until we reached one of the major temple tourist attractions… which of course was closed… doh!

Luckily, Helen wasn’t in the mood to waste time, so we kept on going until we found the “old town”, steep streets full of traditional shops (which looked so cool) before finally reaching the top of the hill and finding a massive shrine area. We had to be quick as we only had 15 minutes until it closed, so we rushed around it as best we could…

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Not too much to tell here really, I guess you need more photos to really appreciate the place, so you are going to have to take my word for it that it was nice… but it was
For the evening entertainment, a night club again didn’t seem like such a good idea (due to the having to stay out until 5) so it was instead decided to go to the local Karaoke rooms near Haruka’s house. (where we were joined by Shuuhi) … not before first going to the convenience store to smuggle in some drinks
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I did have some photos of Helen, but she took the camera when I was in the toilet and then deleted them
We must have left karaoke at about 4:08am (that time sticks in my head) - paid our bills, then headed back home - where me and Shuuhi got into a bit of an animated conversation, until rolling eyes from Haruka and Helen made it clear we were to shut up so everyone could go to bed
Sunday and our final day, Kyoto wasn’t on the menu - and instead we were going to visit “Nara” - very famous for a large temple and also having a park full of deer. We were in a bit of a rush as it closed at 5, however left at around 2, leaving us plenty of time….

Or not….

The place was absolutely MILES away involving a drive over what can only be described as one of the largest and steepest hills in the world (so steep infact, it seemed on quite a few occassions that the car just wouldn’t make it over!!)

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Finally, at about 5:20 (yup…) we arrived to be of course greeted by the main buildings being closed… we were however, able to browse the grounds and run after numerous deer…
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All was not complete doom and gloom though, as upon asking a local guard, we were directed up a hill towards the “observation point” - high up and overlooking everything… even better, we got there just in time for the sunset… finally, something is going our way
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Of course, this good luck wouldnt’ be complete without something going wrong, so it was at that point, as we peacefully looked over the setting sun, that I got a text message from England letting me know the database server was down…. great…. this then shattered all peacefullness, and now all I could worry about what “why”….

I tried my best to push it out my mind (though not very successfully) and we then headed back to Osaka to buy bus tickets, get some dinner, and, go to an internet cafe to see what was going on.

Our last meal with our friends was an okonomiyaki restaurant, where instead of doing a “mix up”, just bought one each. Whilst this was good, i think it’s nicer to get a mixture, so will go the share route again next time.

We then browsed a few UFO catcher shops, before I popped into an internet cafe for about 20 minutes to sort out some company work…

Alas, all too soon it was time to get the bus It was therefore sadly that we queued up in the bus line to get back on (I so wanted to stay) and said a fond farewell to the Kyoto’ers who had looked after us so well over the weekend… before finally climbing aboard (to a now full packed) nightbus, settling down, and starting the journey back….

BENS RAMBLINGS: I just wanted to make some memory notes here, and just to say a few things.

I just remembered back in 2004, when I first got in contact with Haruka and asked if she wanted to come over a stay - everyone thought I was mad, having some stranger Japanese girl over. But, back then we had a great time. Indeed again in 2005 when she came over with Nagisa (thanks Mum + Dad) - again, people were a bit sceptical and were actually talking about “using” me…

But here, it’s all proved wrong! I think the kindness shown to us over the weekend, very much shows that there are some really nice people in the world and it was nice to know I have some good friends down South Of course, the invitation has been given for them to visit here in Tokyo, which I hope they will do sometime soon…. show them how we party in the capital
Will definately look into more homestays when back in the UK…. whenever that might be ….

Wow, now I *really* am behind… two weeks to catch up on. I was debating on whether or not to just let it all slip, but figured I’ll want to look back over this, so should get as much down as possible. I’ll admit though, I’m going to skip some bits as 1) it would take me too long to fill in everything and 2) I’ve started to forget it already anyhow
Ok, so we were off to the station to meet Helen. Usually such a simple task, you arrange to meet, you go there, you can’t find them - you call them. Well, this being Japan and all and with the “no import” phone situations, this wasn’t going to happen. (Indeed the lack of a cellphone cased a number of problems later on during the week). Luckily Helen called me from a payphone, and I was able to advise her to go to South Exit. Again, this wasn’t quite as simple as it seemed, however I trusted her judgement and was sure she would be able to make it there
I wandered around S. Exit a bit until finally we met up. Admittedly it’s usually harder to find her, but with her being the same height as the Japanese, it was still a bit of a chore. Infact, she found me, I was just aimlessly looking around … haha….

First stop was back to mine for a shower (not together, obviously) so we headed on the train back. On getting off at Setagaya Daita and facing the walk back, it quickly obvious her suitcase was made for… well someone her size To pull it on it’s wheels I litterally had to stoop - and with the weight it was, there was no way to carry the thing. Needless to say, getting home took a little while ….

So finally after getting back, the plan was for the quick shower and then to head out. However maybe things god delayed somewhat or so, as we actually finally managed to get out the house at about 3 - this didn’t really give me time to do much, so we went to Shibuya, got some lunch in the local Matsuya then hung out in Starbucks until I had to head off to work, leaving Helen to make her way to Shinagawa to meet her school trip chums.

Work turned into a nice day due to the cancellation of some of my lessons! This meant I was able to work on my “Realia Project” - so I sat in the reception happily cutting out magazine articles when suddenly, in walks Helen! It seemes that the flight had finally taken it’s toll on her and she couldn’t stay awake…. It was left to me then to tentativly ask my manager if she would be allowed to sleep in a hidden section of the sales area, to which he reluctantly agreed - so off she trotted to the seating area, slouched down over a table and promply fell asleep!
3 hours later, when my shift finished, it was time to get the stragler out of the building and head off to meet Seiko, Shiho and Toshi to go to “Bochi Bochi” for Helen’s first proper Japanese meal (a miso soup at matsuya doesn’t count!) We were then later joined by Shimpei, before heading off to “Trouble Peach” to have some after meal drinks Yumi then turned up too, so the circle of friends meeting was complete. Everything ended at about 3am or so, when it was agreed we would meet up with Shimpei the next day to go around Asakusa.

Wednesday morning and despite attemping to get up early to meet Shimpei, we didn’t quite make it and he left without us - all wasn’t too bad however, as it gave us a bit longer to get ready and head there by ourselves. Once there, we simply gave him a call and he came to meet us. We spent a nice couple of hours looking around and had a very nice lunch, before I had to head to work - but not before Seiko and Shiho had turned up, to whisk Helen away to Odaiba.

After work, I headed to Shibuya to meet up with the girls (by which time the heavens had opened) before we headed to Sangenjaya to get some food and a drink. Unfortunately, it seemed Helens Jetlag hadn’t been jetlag at all, but the start of a very nasty cold - which was now properly starting to rear it’s head. We therefore didn’t stay too late as she was feeling a bit poorly awww…
Thursday was the day we had to go to Shinjuku to buy our bus tickets for Kyoto, however first early morning impressions were not looking too good. Helen was in a terrible state, the cold was really starting to take over and we weren’t sure if going was really gonna be such a good idea. We therefore left off buying the tickets then, but leaving the bus details with Helen, so if she felt better - all she had to do was go to the station and get the tickets.

Mark from Nova was also leaving, so after work was a “get together” drinking session - I knew I had to be careful here as to not stay too late and miss the bus (if we were going) so tried not to get too comfy. At about 10pm or so (I think) I got a call from Helen to say it was on, and that the bus left at 11:20. It was decided I should leave at about 10:30, which I almost did (about 10:35) - however I had neglected to get any money out, so now had to run around Shimo looking for a cash machine (which I didn’t actually find) - I did however have enough money for a train ticket, so gave up and got the train to Shinjuku (arriving very late… ).

Due to my lateness, there was now no time either to find an ATM, so we headed directly to the bus station to find our carriage to freedom… (or something like that :)). Upon getting on, there was one thing that immediately stuck out (well for me anyway)… the height of the ceilings!! They must have been about 5′7″ at most this became even more amusing when it was time to go to the toilet, the thing was only small and it took a lot of manouvering just to be able to climb in the thing in the first place… haha…

What was cool though was that NO ONE else was on the buses ground floor (it was a double decker) - this meant we basically had the whole bus to ourselves In the end, this turned out to be a godsend as the seats weren’t so big and trying to have slept on just one would have been quite impossible.

So the journey started out and Helen had began to worry about where we would stay (bless) - I therefore decided to mail Haruka and see if she could suggest anywhere. After about two minutes a reply came - “No problem, you can stay in my room!”. Awesome! To confirm this, I decided to take the plunge and try calling her (all in Japanese…) - and by jove, I did it We arranged everything over the phone (in Jap) with her even suggesting she would come to the bus garage at 7am to collect us!!! Things were definately looking up!

That then just left me the task of trying to get to sleep, which was now going to be difficult as I was quite exciting and not really ready for bed… however, after an hour or two of playing Tetris, common sense prevailed and, stretching over 3 seats, I was finally able to nod off