IRASHAIMASEEEEEEE!!!

Ticket to Sunshine City Tower, Ikebukuro
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Well I landed in Tokyo yesterday and after that flight (9 hours) it feels like the longest, fullest day ever.

The flight over was great: I got placed on the isle of a four-seater with only one other guy (who was on the other isle). The two seater next to me was reserved for flight attendants so it was pretty much empty the entire time; even when it was being used, it had a curtain the occupants could pull over for privacy. I didn't watch any of the movies (shock!) and slept for most of the 9 hour flight.

I swear I've seen 6-7 dead ringers for David Bowie since I got here

Photo from Sunshine City Tower at night
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Phil and Wakako picked me up from the airport and we caught a bus to Ikebukuro. Once in Tokyo, I was surprised at how similar it really is to Sydney, just larger. The biggest difference, of course, being that noone speaks English as a native language. Sure, I studied Japanese at school, but that means almost nothing. "Almost", however, is not nothing; knowing a little, including how the sentences are pieced together, is actually very useful. I basically only read things that are written in katakana, because anything written in hiragana is littered with kanji, which I can't read.

Another photo from Sunshine City Tower at night
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I'm staying in a hotel in Ikebukuro, which is about 15 minutes train from the main CBD. The hotel is basically for business men who need to stay over night: the room is small, the bathroom is smaller. None of this bothers me, of course, as its just a hotel room. I was surprised that as small as the bathroom is (photos coming in a future post), there's still a bath in the shower. Those crazy Japanese cats.

The people in Japan are interesting to say the least. A fair percentage of people walking the streets are business men, all wearing what appears to be the exact same suit. The youth, however, seem to want to place themselves so fair away from this same-ness that they ended dressed pretty crazily. I'll try to get a picture of someone who fits the bill before the week is out. Also worth noting is hair styles: the youth love crazy outthere hair styles. In fact, I swear I've seen 6-7 dead ringers for David Bowie since I got here, not to mention the girl who looked like a witch from Hamlet green/brown/white hair and all.

Walking down the streets, being caucasian really makes a big difference. If they don't know you can see them (like via sunglasses) alot of people just look at you as you pass. Also apparent is what my mate Phil calls the Gaijin nod, a passing aknowledgement given between caucasians.

Bicycle riders have a strange god-like power here: they can ride on the road or the street and have overriding right of way. That right of way is generally ignored on the foodpaths and the bikes navigate through crowds of people with ease; I would have killed 10 people by now if I were riding around.

After picking up lunch, the three of us headed back to their place in Fujimino via a train. After a bit of catching up over some xbox, we headed to their local bowling alley. Once my arse was sufficiently kicked, we trained back to Ikebukuro by about 6pm.

I'm defiantely impressed with the train system here (although coming from Sydney, I'd be impressed by a rundown train cart being pulled by a donkey). The trains are always on time, efficient, and there's always one at the station (or less than 1 minute away). There are three levels of "express"ness the trains follow: local (all stops), semi-express (fewer stops), and express (major stops only).

Train stations, however, do not get my aforementioned praised. The Ikebukuro station makes the Labyrinth look like a crossroad. To say you could get lost in there is a mass understatement. There is a set of exit stairs that I can navigate back to my hotel from and the best thing I have done is learn how to say "where is exit number 8" (hachiban no deguchi wa doko desu ka for those wondering) as it will probably such me much heartache in the days to come.

Once back in Ikebukuro we went up the top of Sunshine City Tower, 60 levels up. I have attached a few photos of the view from the top, but it was night time and it had been raining so most of them didn't come out right. I'll go back during the day later in the week and get some more photos. It's incredible how high up it is, and you certain get a bit of vertigo when you look down. The other insane part of the tower is the elevator; once it starts, everything goes dark and the walls/roof/floor light up with patterns of dolphins. All you can hear are underwater sounds as you fly up 60 floors in less than 30 seconds. I filmed the elevator journey and hope to put it on Youtube from London in Stepember.

Well this post is definately more than I was planning to write, so I think I'll leave it there for now.