Country: Japan.
City: Tokyo.
Currency: 1Euro = 128 Japan Yen
Arrival Date: Monday March 10th.

Date: Thursday the 13th, 10am

OK I made it!! I`m now in Japan for the first time ever!! woo hoo!! It`s so cool here though!! Well let me start with Monday the day I arrived in Tokyo! Well I did leave The States Sunday morning but it was Monday afternoon by the time I arrived here on the 11 hour flight which was pretty nice I must say. So I`m in Tokyo!! Wow!! or as they say here WAO!! heheee Lets see I got to the airport, picked up my bag which had been opened for the first time travelling anywhere!! (those straps dont open like that by themselves!!)anyway everything was fine except my shampoo was burst at the top of my bag! bummer! so i fixed it up cos it wasn`t too bad and headed for the Keisai Line train for Asakusa!! or A-sak-sa as it`s pronounced! I had a brief change in Aoto station and got to Asakusa with relative ease and not making any mistakes!! WAO!!! hehee

The trains, subways and directions are very daunting here when you`re on your own and everything is completely illegible and it`s your first time here!! But I asked numerous people where I was going, for help buying a ticket for the right train and for directions etc..etc.. and every single person was extremely helpful!! Some even walked with me to places, left their desks to show me how the ticket machine worked and spoek lots of useful stuff in Japanese only for the fact I couldn`t understand a word it would have been perfect!! hehehe None the less I can follow roughly where they were pointing and then just asked the next unsuspecting Japanese person later! It all works out in the end though and I found the hostal relatively easily considering all that!!

It`s a really nice place to stay at called the `Taito Ryokan` at 23dollars a night I was expecting to pay a lot more in Tokyo!! But it`s simple, Japanese style and I love it! I have my own fouton on the floor, sheets and a big duvet type thingy thats really heavy to sleep under and really warm!! I have a little pillow which is kinda like a bean bag and it`s a really nice place to stay at!! Be sure to TAKE YOUR SHOES OFF whenever you go in anywhere like this!! The shoes tons of shoes at the door are usually an indication of this...or a wall of little shoe boxes so look out for them!! Very important!! Anyway I settled in fine, bought some stuff in the shop for breakfast (not understanding a word!) and headed straight to bed at 8pm to get myself into the time difference straight away! Plus I was exhausted!! hehehee

I slept until 9.30am Tuesday which was great!! I must have had over 12 hours sleep and loved every minute of it!! So now I was ready to experience Tokyo Japan!! I did tons of stuff Tuesday!!
- I experienced the Japanese style squatting toilets they have here...interesting!!
- I went to the Kaminarimon Gate an on to the Asakusa Kannon Temple.
- I took a boat on the Sumida River to see the sights before arriving at the Hinode Pier.
- Then I walked to the Shiba Park and into the Temples there also, they`re so beautiful!!
- I headed straight for the Tokyo Tower after that and had a fantastic view of the entire city!! It`s kinda weird though the way the top part actually sways in the wind when you`re up there!! But what a great view of the Port of Tokyo!! WAO!!!
- I headed back to the Hinode Pier after that and took my second boat trip over to Palette Town and walked into the Huge shopping centre `Venusfort`. It was like walking into a town in Italy, they had the ceiling painted like the sky, birds singing and little Italian style coffee shops along the walk way up to the central fountain with statues and water!! the works!! They really know how to create an atmosphere!!! amazing!! All the shops were lovely but unfortunately FAR TOO EXPENSIVE for me! I glanced at one little handbag which was beautiful I must say... decorated with little pearls.. for a mere 117,000\ ...thats roughly $1000 !!!! hmm I left there pretty fast after that!
- I headed for the overground train back to the mainland and crossed over the `Rainbow Bridge` ...what a fantastic view!!
- I got off at Shimbashi stop and walked the streets half admiring the very expensive shops!! ahhh!!! they`re everywhere!! ....and half looking for a bloody bank machine that would give me more money and accept VISA!!
- I eventually found one... Citibank!! after a nice Police man in his box (they have them here.. Police Boxes!) anyway he gave me directions and hey presto I had money again!!
- I walked around through Ginza a really nice place with fancy shops until I had had enough of the expensive stuff and took the train home for a mere 190\ about $1.30 (thats more like it!!)
- By now it was dark and I was hungry so I decided I better get started on the fun of eating out here! I stopped at this small restaurant with two little tables and a bar to sit up at. I sat at one table and ordered dinner by pointing at a plastic replica of it in the window!!
- It turned out to be delicious, I had chicken with rice, onion, egg and some green vege stuff along with a bowl of miso soup with tofu and seaweed and two cups of green tea all for 800\ which is about 6Euro!! pretty good start if you ask me!!
- I was pretty worn out at this stage so I headed back to the hostal and and stopped at the shop for a coke first and then watched some Japanese cartoons for a while before heading to bed on my comfy fouton! Hang on a second...that coke I bought!! It was in a can! which is fine you`d say only it was shaped like a bottle!! A can in the shape of a bottle of coke!! hmmmm ehhh...hmmmm...ok..

Wednesday was fun too!! I got up an had breakfast before heading off out to see the Imperial Palace! I grabbed a quick sandwich and a hot chocolate and hopped on the subway to my stop. It`s not so daunting anymore...in fact I dont know what I was thinking of before cos it`s quite simple really ...I guess I was just worrying myself over nothing!! So with that down I got to the Palace and it has these amazing walls and gardens all around the perimeter. You`re not allowed into the grounds but I walk all around the outer gardens and continued walking past Japans Supreme Court, stopped into the National Theatre for a minute. Passed by a few other moats and headed towards the Yasukuni Jinja or `Shrine of Peace for the Nation` before walking through the National Gardens and saw the octagonal `Nippon Budokan` where I had a live performance from `KISS`!! ok so they were inside and I was outside but I could hear them rehearsing!!!

I decided to make a move and head for home after all that excitement!! I stopped off at another little place and had dinner!! lucky I can use chopsticks eh!! I got back at about 6 or 7 and decided to pamper myself for the evening!! So I asked `Sotashi` the guy from the hostal where the hot springs were! He gave me directions and a few hints and off I went! So first of all I got shouted at cos I forgot to take my shoes off!! I said sorry lots and she was a bit more forgiving after that. I paid my 3 quid and headed inside to change. OK so this is a place where you strip off maked and go and wash yourself along with lots of other women also washing!

So one of the women told me I should get a little towel for washing from reception after I was already naked.. so she offered to get one for me, how nice of her. I said thanks and in I went into the wash room. I just did as everyone else was doing and picked up a little stool the size of a potty and little basin and sat in front of two taps (hot and cold) and m,y own mirror and... well... washed!! hehehee Then there was a huge tub of steaming water!! and this was a HOT TUB!! oh my god it took me ages just to get into the thing!! It was boiling!!! so there I was surrounded by lots of naked wrinkly Japanese women!! After the hot tub I had a steam and a cold shower and was just about to pass out with the heat so decided that was enough washing for one day! But Sotashi was right!! my skin has never felt so soft in all my life!! I just checked my mail before heading to bed for a great sleep!

This morning I was changed to another bigger room and decided to head out to see the Meiji Shrine today!! So I`m off for my last day in Tokyo and I`m heading over to Hong Kong tomorrow so I can read up on my book that I managed to buy here of all places! How I managed to find a book shop with an English travel section with a book on Hong Kong I`ll never know! Someone`s looking out for me I`ll tell you that!! Anyway I`m off to experience the wonder of Tokyo and watch the amazing fashions that they have here!! I`ve never seen anything like the combination of clothes that they wear here!! What would make you want to wear these weird combinations I`ll never know but they seem to do it everywhere!! MAD!! but very interesting to watch!! hehehee

Date: Thursday the 14th, 10pm

OK I`m off to HONG KONG Island in the morning!!! Japan is over and done with!! Today I headed out to one of the most impressive Shrine`s in Tokyo called The Mei-ji Shrine. I walked all around in the park in the outer gardens and then up past the Yoyogi National Stadium and watched these Japanese breakdancers for a while!! they were amazing...they were breakdancing with skipping ropes!! wow!! ok so you know when people do that double dutch skipping...well they were doing that only breakdancing between teh ropes instead of skipping!! just unbelievable the sights you see here!! After I strolled up to `Shibuya` which is a huge bustling place with lots of cool shopping and very interesting people about. There`s one thing I noticed about the people here is that they wear these face masks all the time if they have a cold!!

They look like doctors with these big white masks covering their faces but what looks odd for me is just normal everyday for them I guess!! So I managed to find myself outside an Irish bar and decided to have a quick bite to eat and a pint!! hehehee then on my way back to the train station I walked through the most impressive cross roads I`ve ever seen!!! There were about five roads at this one junction but there were hundreads of Japanese people crossing the roads in all directions when the lights turned red for the cars and I`ve never seen that many people crossing so many roads in one place at one time!! I just had to stop there and watch a few times while the lights turned red it was nuts!!

So then tonight I arranged a hostel in Hong Kong for myself and now I`m heading off to bed after checking my mail for a while and having a nice chat with Paulie in Dublin!! ahh it`s nice to chat to a friend every once in a while!! it was great talking to you Paulie! hehehee oh and a thank you to Bob for making that call for me!! I do miss you guys in Dublin you know!! I would absolutly love to head out with you all tomorrow night, friday...have a few drinks and go for a dance!! aahhh that`d be nice!! But I have to settle for Hong Kong!!! hehehe I think I`ll be able to manage it just about!!! hehehee ok I`m off to bed!! Definitely loved Japan though!! what a cool, interesting, bizarre, funny place it is!! I`ll have to come back here soon!!

Here will be the photos!!

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