Blimey! Its been so long since I made an entry, everyday i wake up i feel all ‘out of it’, not sure why, i think i am oversleeping a bit too much!!!

Anyway, it seems justin has filled in the most block parts of the day (good boy!) so i will just fill in the blanks… btw, excuse my bad typing, the spacebar on the laptop broke, so we bought an external usb keyboard… but japanese… so the keys in different places!!! lol…

We seem to have been doing quite a lot in the evenings, but the days are always spent in bed sleeping (i guess cause of the tiredness factor from staying out all night…)

Making decisions seems to cause quite a few conflicts at times, as we both want to do different things, and i think this holiday is really testing our friendship, but it seems to be holding up, hurrah! Justin seems to be quite unhappy i dont; like japanese food… sorry japanese people, but your food sux!! All the types I do like, are apparently ‘western’ anyway, so don’t count…. don’t get me wrong, i would love to like it (its so cheap!) but its just nasty… cooked in, ummm, soya bean (i think misu) which reakes and is very offputting

Ok, hmmmm… where left off… well i think i had just bought the canon iXY 500, but the photos were so white it was unbelievable… just not good quality at all so i was determined to change it. Luckily the sales people seem pretty nice, and managed to swap it for a Casio Exlim exz40 (not out in uk yet) - good camera if you dont mind shed loads of noise wanted to take it back… but its so small and cute that i will keep it.. only £200 so no big loss… it will do until a better model is released (nothing else any good either) when i will get chiakiy to send it over

Thursday night we met Seiko for first time in Roppongi… she speaks so little english it was really, really awkward, but luckily after the drink had set in from Gas Panic (see j;s post) we started to get on a lot better… still not so good english, but can talk the language of smiles

Which incidently reminds me, since i have been here, i have had to dumb down my english (cut out a lot of words that are pointless) that i am worried i will not get it back when i get home!! lol… all the people we are meeting are female, so i am copying them… i sound like a frickin japanese chick! lol… when me and justin speak, so start with we talk slow, until we realise we are both english hahahahahahahahaha….

Erm anyway, yeah, so Thurday night was to celebrate justins start of birthday, so Gas Panic and then a club called the Lexington Queen… depending on the entry price, you either got 2/3/5 or 6 free drinks. There was only a 500 yen difference between 3 and 5 (currently 190 yen to the pound) so we went for the 5 drinks…. quite why i dunno as we were blatted after just the 2… lol… very good fun night, all range of music inc 2 or 3 trance tracks,. yay!

Oh, that reminds me… cost… Quite why everyone say Japan most expensive place ion the world i dont understand… its cheap as chips I guess somethings must cost a lot, but so far, most of my money going on Arcardes!!! Clubs cheaper than UK, drinks cheaper than London Central prices (Gas panic was only £2 per drink!), food cheaper, mcdonaldcheaper transport cheaper…. i love this place… You can have a bonza night out for so little… then the trains start a 5:30 (hell yeah!) so you can get home cheap after a night out, then get some food (read whole meal) in the local noodle bar for about £2!!!!

Hehe, I’m jumping about here… really can’t remember what order… its now 2/3am or something and i am parched! lol…. erm…. oh yeah, dont buy porn mags from the convenience stores. Japanese law prohibits showing of genitalia, so porn mag = naked woman all fuzzed out.. lol… it would be more attractive if she were dressed - if you want ‘proper’ stuff, head to shibuya or shinjuku… i can’t confirm this, but word on the street says there is no censorship in the more seedy shops…..

Shibuya is a wicked place… massive tv screens on highrise buildings and many many lights (admittedly daytime it doesn’t look so good, but at night its awesome… very very pretty) - its the #teencapital# of tokyo (or one of them, the other one is apparently harajuku) and many can be seen wandering the streets with their millions of shopping bags. You get the dodgy looking ‘Ganguru Girls’ here too… they look like sh*t, with really really tanned brown faces and really bright makeup… i don’t understand… the kogal’s (just lots of brightmakeup, short skirts, loose socks etc…)
however are a lot more appealing to the eye….

Right, so now we are up to Friday… i have a feeling i was asleep all day until late… but knwoing justin we probably went shopping at some point… i have managed to aquire about 10 Kanji t-shirts, so am quite happy, but there is a shop in Harajuku with some Kanji Style jeans!!! Well gow you always wanted to get me in jeans, maybe now you will… if they can get my size in i will buy there

Ahhhh… which reminds me… kanji clothing… so hard to come across… The japanese love english charatcers, so everything in flipping english… grrr… its funny though, justin bought a tshirt which makes heck all sense… it does go on about having sex with little children though?!?!!? and mudmud! wtf!!

Harajuku is our local walking distance shopping place.. its quite nice, big screens again and right next to Yoyogi park, which is very beautiful and houses a japanese temple (well its not going to be american now is it?!?! haha) There is a place called ‘KiddyWorld’ there… just a huge 5 floor toyshop.. but its awesome! any money i have left over at the end of this holiday will be spent there.. they have a lifesize (human size) Doromon (sp?) which costs over £200!!!! I have bought a fwe things so far, but will definately return…

Friday night for Justins birthday, we went out to Chiakiys house in Arakawoki (in Ibaraki) where her mother took us to a traditional japanese restaurant. Was very nice (see i do like some of the food!) but i dont want to imagine the cost… Chiakiys mother has been so kind to us this holiday, i am trying to think of something really nice to do for her… maybe something in Kyoto, or take her out or something… Afterwards, we went to a 24hour karaoke bar (so different to how i imagines, you get your own room rather than sing to otherr people, good in a way, but it would be nice to have an audience) - so if you see the photos, its me and j, Chiakiy (the non japanese looking girl ;)), Michiko (Micha) Chaikiys best friend and Tdu (works at Burtons, (snow board shop) with Chiakiy)

That ended at about 5:30 or something, when we had to go get the train back to Tokyo, to sleep ready for the big saturday night out in Shibuya… Unfortuntely, we also had to get up a 3pm to go get Chiakiy from the station, so it wasn’t all bed of roses… Didn’t do too badly though and was up by 2 to pick her up… didn’t show until 3:30… doh!

Chiakiy had not been Tokyo before, so we figured it would be a good time to go for a bit of a sightsee.. Decided on Tokyo Central as it sounded important… but not really anything there… Did walk to the Imperial Park though, there should be some photos… very beautiful and some cool trees which you dont get here.. Walked around it for a bit then followed the road to Ginza, the most expensive part of tokyo. Kinda same thing, big buildings lots of lights, but very nice all the same. Bought the new GunsnRoses cd from HMV for only £9 (see, japan cheeeeep!) though was pissed when the sales guy took the Kanji bit out to put in another one… grrrrrrrrrr….

For night out, decided on Club Pure in Shibuya as it was only 2500 yen (£13) with all you can drink… wicked idea, wicked club.. worked very well. We had been warned off the place, but inside it was so nice, loads of sofas, films on big screens for if you get tired (with english subtitles, oh yes!) and of course the free drink policy… ya ta!

That finished at about 5am, when we went to the arcades and then to a noodle bar to get some breakfast (noodles with fried beef… yummy!) then home to bed.

Sunday was really boring as it just rained all day, and did absolutely nothing… so no photos… nothing to write…

Today, hurrah! I can’t believe it, i’ve only been writing 45 minutes and i am up to now… yip!

Woke up so late, but didn’t want to get up… Justin left to go (suprise suprise) harajuku, went and met him later on at about 5pm… soooo sleeeppy!

Decided to meet up with Seiko again, which is cool… its good to have friends here to go and play pool. Went to some pool hall, which charged per hour not per game.. Cool, except Chiakiy and Seiko never played before, so we didn;t excatly get the most for our money. Especially when only after 2 hours and 1 drink each the bill came to over £35!!!! feck! Not worth it, stupid place! Should have gone bowling like i wanted to! ha! Which reminds me, Chiakiy and Sekio now becoming friends. This is good as C not know anyone in Tokyo, but S say she can come and stay at her house awww… teamtokyo bring people together! nice one !

Chiakiy had to go home for work tomorrow, so took her back to station and went out for some dinner .., lovely, chicken curry with burger, sausage, prawns and scrambled eggs for only £4!! i LOVE japanese food, hahaha, i’m sure justin will have something to say about that…

Now then, just back home writing this, when i should be sleeping as we need to be up early tomorrow to catch the BulletTrain to Kyoto… gonna be about £150 return, so only gonna make the trip once. But staying over 1 or maybe 2 nights to get the most out of the place. Credit cards can be useful after all (even if the fricking payments take one month to process!!!!)

re the Sakurs house rules… seems everyone just says ‘f*ck it’ so its not as strict and crap as we thought it would be.. MSN and ICQ work (though I have so far had anough will power not to log on) and the FTP to put the pictures up works great…

One shocking thing.. we think our 1 meg broadband is fast (or 2 meg if you really push it) here in Japan you get for 4500 yen (22ish pounds) 100meg broadband.. yes… thats right, you did read that correctly.. i will try and scan in the advert to prove it… would love it at home, though the upstream is not so good, but then i guess you can#t have everything….!!!

People are really nice and friendly, no trouble seen yet (unless you count the 60 person fight / double mafia murder outside gas panic… but that was Yakuza related, so doesn’t really count) - Chiakiy even dropped her purse in an arcade, abd someone came running out to give it back… i wonder in england if the same thing would have happened.

A lot of the people in our block are here for a year teaching english. It seems like such a simple thing to do, maybe I would like to do it when I finish Uni…. i will see… but definately something i will think about… Everyone have so much fun and you only work 4 hours a day, not bad considering you get to take home about £1000 a month…

Phew… well now I am knackered, if i think of anything more, i will write,,, but probably not for a few days unless we net cafe in Kyoto or something. I need to pack my clothes now, though Justin is sparko, so will need to get it done in the morning.

Bai Bai!

Posted by Justin

It rained all day today. I was so looking forwards to the Sakura party at yoyogi park but it had to rain. could have done with a game of footie. argh!

Spent most of the day indoors, Sat in the kitchen watching MTV Japan while learning some jap and caught up on my stuff. Dave(who also lives upstairs) said he tried fish sperm. I’ve been told directions to try out, raw horse meet, fish eye balls, pregnant fish,

Was also told to try out the TSUKIJI FISH MARKET - need to be there at 5am to see 10 foot long tuna being killed and sliced up. Then eat it on the spot - you don’t get fresher than that!

George taught me to say: ‘I’ll gave 3 beers please and do you know how to teleport?’
supposed to though the bar tender right off haha. sounds damn cool, but i’ve forgotten.

Had sushi and more sushi, across the road - too lazy to find other restaurants. Shima should be arriving in tokyo tomorrow, should be meeting up with her soon. Planning to go to kyoto on tuesday - see what the weather is like.
I hope it’s sunny tomorrow….

Posted by Justin

Woke up at 14:30 after only 3 hours of sleep… I’ve got to take care of myself!
Decided to go to Central Tokyo. Nice place - if i had to equate it to a part of london it would be Canary Warf, just offices everywhere. Walked round the parks and saw Tokyo tower in the distance.

Strolled down to Ginza which really impressed me. The headquaters of many japanese companies. SONY HQ but no time to see the museum.
Sat in the Nissan 350Z - lovely car but i still prefer my skyline (seen so many of them around here in japan!),

we let ben choose where to eat…. no suprise that it was a burger joint again ‘HAMBURGERS AT WENDY’S) argh!

Tried to find a VISA cash point for ages… no luck - started to get cold!
Got back to sendagaya at 10pm and was supposed to meet Seiko and her friends at Shibuya! always late.

Luckity Shibuya is 4 minutes (2 stops) from our station, went to ‘CLUB PURE’ Hip-hop and R&B night - cost 2500 yen for guys, 2000yen for the ladies. OPEN BAR! amazing!!! and the great thing was… no pikies!

We all got super cained, Kamikazes, sex on the beaches, karsesu’s and the regualar beverages.

Aparently Steven Segal was suppost to be there but he was held up doing a video shoot. I didn’t care - the guy can’t act. The fat guy from marshall law would probably kick his ass.

Finished at 5am, went to some arcades and took some sticker photos…
6am got back to our station and went to another noodle bar.

seems to be quite a routine…

no sleep!!! help!!!

Posted by Justin

day 6 was my birthday! since we got home at 8am from ropongi, we woke up around 2am… damnit

I decided to walk down to Harajuko to buy some clothes and then headed out of Tokyo to Iberaki around 8:30pm. I forgot my phone which was such a pain!

Went to Chiraki’s house and her mum bought me the latest Utada CD. Really good!!
Also recieved a hello kitty stuffed toy from Chiraki.

Proceeded to a traditional jap restaurant (don’t know the name but the sign is in the gallery) Had some very nice and interesting food washed down with many exotic cocktails. The Raw Wasabi Octopus wish was soooo delicious. It’s got to be my favourite.

After dinner we proceeded to a 24 hour karoke bar. Sang our hearts out till 5am. Tdu is a really good singer, a PRO. But towards the end he decided to sing the bon jovi hit but the chorus was just too high, major voice breaking - frickin funny, we have it recorded and should be available to download as soon in the movie section.

Chiakiy and Mitceco sang utada/ayumi/ in contrast, ben and I sang Outkast, Blue(argh), oasis, rhcp’s, etc all good fun.

Left the karoke at 5am - watched the sunrise and cruised around a bit.
Headed back to Tokyo around 6am.

Got on the EXPRESS train to Nipori by accident - the fee should be almost double. The conductor could speek good english and tried to tell us we had to buy a premium ticket but we acted really really r-e-a-l-l-y dumb!

It was hilarious! ‘passport??? do we need a passport??, we have ticket,’

The conductor spent 30 minutes trying to explain and got all of his other friends to try and expain… they did a good job! but we did an even better one. GOT AWAY WITH IT.

Got back to yoyohgi station just before 8am. I went to the local noodle bar and ordered udon. I’m a pro now! getting into the routine. Ben says he hates the bars… “it’s the smell”. It must be the MISU. Delicious!!!

Got home, phoned becks and co. oh and the folks. Did a bit of jounal and went to sleep at 11am - needed to wake up at 2pm to fetch Chiakiy at the station.

Posted by Justin

Decided to look at the Sakura since it was such a warm sunny day. Decided to go to Yoyogi Park which is about 10 minutes from our apartment. George(Guy from Norwich who lives upstairs) told us that there’s a Sakura ‘rave’ in the park on Sunday. should be interesting. Unfortunately, we have double booked with terrence on that day - supposed to go to a car show in Odabai.

Walked past Harajuko, excellent place to shop! went to kiddy land which is the a the place my girlfriend becky dreams about. five floors full of hello kitty, doraemon, gundam, dragon ball, argh you name it… so cool these jap kids are so lucky. Soft toys everywhere!!! damn cute I must ship some back.

Yoyogi park is just at the end of harajuko, don’t know why it’s called yoyogi as it’s in harajuko… The park is beautiful, cherry blossom, traditional japanese trees, shrines, temples, so peaceful.

>>> I can’t believe i’m writting this now… just been singing karoke all night >>>and can only sleep for 3 hours as we’re meeting chaiki at the station at 3pm

Well anyway.. after that, went to electric city - ben wanted to return his digital camera (ixy 500) fussy boy…haha the japanese sales people were so helpful, they all crowded round to help ben out - trying to figure out the white balence or something, in the end he exchanged ti to a casio exilim.

Had to rush back as I had to meet Seiko at 8pm at roppongi station… turned out we arrived around 10sih.

Roppongi is such a western part of tokyo. I hardly seen any policemen on the streets but in roppongi, there are plenty - I wasn’t suprised. You get bouncers trying to force you into their clubs, hading you so called drink tokens haha. pissing off, they targetted ben the most due to his striking blond hair.

Well met Seiko infront of the mitsubishi bank and proceeded to the ‘911′ bar. Drinks seems to be over 5 quid everywhere you go…but luckily she showed us ‘Gas Panic’ 400Yen a drink. Slowly all of us got very… very… pissed.

Eventually ended up at a club called ‘LEX’ 3000 yen with 5 drinks.

–I’ll fill in the details later–

The club finised at 5am, shops were still open at this time and it was daylight. I guess it’s why Japan’s called the land of the rising sun???

Got the train at 5:29am back to yoyogi station. Ate at the local restaurant bar - rice with kimchee and some other stuff thrown in.

A nice start to my birthday