LOST IN TOKYO: I,m in a late night Manga Kissa (comic store that has late night internet access and doubles as a place to sleep if you hire a back room — you get a couch to sleep on and can lock the door. I won]t be doing that tonighht of course, but it was either come here or hire a Geisha! Hmm, maybe I should reconsider my options)
I`ve been running around Tokyo like a man on a mission, BUT ITS BEEN FUN. aGGH, please ignore the werird capitalisation and spelling. IM WRITING ON A JAPANESE KEYBOARD AND HAVEN:T QUITE GOT THE HANG OF IT
YET!
sEEN SENSO-JI TEMPLE, BEFRIENDED A FERAL STRAY CAT THAT WAS STARING AT A STATUE OF A CAT! BEEN TO ASAKUSA, DOWNTOWN TOKYO, FOLLOWED THE SAMURAI TRAIL TO IMPERIAL PALACE GARDENS AND BEEN SPEAKING IRREPRABLY BAD JAPANESE AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY (I CAN ORDER FOOD ETC, BUT ITS USUALLY BETTER IF I SMILE AND NOD). i HAVE TO ADMIT TO HAVING FELT COMPLETELY LOST — THAT SAID TONIGHT IS MY FIRTS PROPER NIGHT AS LAST 2 DAYS HAVE BEEN SPENT ON TRAVELLING AND JET LAG. iTS AMAZING HOW STRESSFUL AND TIME CONSIMING LITTLE THINGS CAN BE, LIKE FINDING A TRAIN STATION, FINDING THE ENTRRANCE TO THE SAID TRAIN STATION, AND
FINDING THE RIGTH PLACE TO CATCH THE TRAIN!
I FOUND TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICE AND BOOKED MYSELF TO STAY AT MT KOYOSAN IN A BUDDHIST TEMPLE ON THE 23RD. THIS IS A TREAT TO COMPENSATE FOR FEELING LIKE AN ALIEN AND SLEEPING IN HOSTELS — I REALLY SHOULDNT BE SHARING A BEDROOM OR KITCHEN OR BATHROOM WITH
ANYONE UNLESS I AM SLEEPING WITH THEM, OTHER PEOPLE DRIVE ME NUTS!
I:M REGRETTING NOT HAVING BROUGHT MY ALPHASMART NEO AS I WANT TO WRITE WRTITE WRITE, BUT AT LEAST I DONT HAVE TO LUG IT AROUND, AND IF I WANT
I CAN ALWAYS BUY PEN AND PAPER!
wENT TO THE TOP OF TOKY GOVT BUILDING, WHICH WAS COOL. THEY HAVE AN OBSERVATION TOWER AND THE VIEW WAS LIKE SOMETHING OUT OF BLADERUNNER. THERE WAS A BAR UP THERE BUT IT WAS "TOO POSH FOR THE LIKES OF ME", AS WAS MADE CLEAR TO ME BY THE WAITER BY HIM WHO AT FIRST IGNORING ME AND THEN POINTING OUT THAT THERE WOULD BE A 500Y SERVICE CHARGE AND A PENALTY FOR BEING ON MY OWN. I GOT A BEE IN MY BONNET, ASKED FOR A TABLE IN JAPANESE, THEN ORDERED… WAIT FOR IT… A CUP OF TEA. IT COST ME 7 POUNDS, WHICH IS THE EQUIVALENT TO THREE MEALS AT THE PLACES I:VE BEEN EATING! IT WAS WORTH IT JUST FOR THE VIEW, BUT THERE IS A STUBBORN STREAK IN ME THAT PROBABLY HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH IT TOO. ANYWAY, IA M NOW IN KABUKICHO, BOUGHT A FULL MEAL AT A PROPER NOODLE BAR FOR LESS THAN THE SERVICE CHARGE(?!) AND AM ENJOYING WONDERING
AROUND TRYING TO NOT LOOK TOO LOST!
KABUKI-ZA: I was going to visit the fish market early this morning but was too tired. Last night I saw Kabuki but was so tired and had to stand up at the back that I could hardly keep my eyes open. However, despite not understanding it I loved it — appreciated the visual comedy and spectacle, but it made me realise how tired i was so i went to bed after that., Saw it at Kabuki-Za in Ginza. Off to Nikko on Shinkansen today for a day trip — spent ages yesterday muddling through booking reserved seats in Japanese, only to lose my tickets! So now I have to do it all again or just hope for the best 
I was in Kabukochi (spelt wrong, Shinjuku area, and got propositioned lots for "massagey" which amused me, and no I didn't take them up on the offer. ANd don't worry i wont bully the Japanese! They should just play nice with me, as I am a very sensitive and easily offended SAMURAI ELF! I'm trying very hard to speak Japanese and am always very polite. The tea thing was actually quite funny, and in retrospect I am glad I paid to sit and drink tea at the top of one of the tallest buildings in Japan.
TOKYO CITY BLUES: Nikko looks like a dump when you first get there but is much nicer at the top, full of a massive temple complex that took me 2–3 hours to walk round, and sacred bridge etc. there's also a theme park where you can watch Samurai and Ninja etc in recreations of Edo times but i didnt have time to do both, and there's some nearby Onsen but I have avoided getting wet! I don't know much about Hakone. I'm thinking of leaving Tokyo early and spending lots of days in Kyoto, so can do daytrips to Hiroshima Nagasaki etc, and also want to see Nara. Im getting Tokyo City Blues, which i think would make a great title for a novel ort book of short stories. Today I wash clothes etc, might check out tomorrow and head down to Kyoto overnight. Theres a fire festival near there on Monday night and im getting restless. it feels like I:ve been in Tokyo for years, and enjoyed trip to Nikko (and being fed by uber friendly Japanese with Yaki Udon and yakitori whilst there) and im sick of the hostel — coming back at 4am to drunk people sleeping in my bed etc. Hope to see the Fish market and that sushi place you recommended, I pronounce today Sushi sunday! I found the market today but was closed, and went into a temple for Amida Buddha (coincidence for me and saw there services, very privileged. Gotta run!
SASHIMI SHOCK: Sushi is goooood, though I get what I call sashimi shock cos when I eat sashimi (slabs of raw fish) my body goes into shock saying "good god man, that was raw!" and I always need to have a cup of tea afterwards.
SUSHI SUNDAY: I just wanted to let you know that thanks to your great advice Sushi Sunday was a huge success. I had EXCELLENT sushi and sashimi today for just over a fiver (stuffed my face with raw fish, no euphemism intended). Oh and I picked up some porn… well, by that i mean Japanese adverts for the latest shiny metal Apple Macs from a bizarre massive Japanese electronics store where they shout at you over a megaphone to encourage you to `enjoy your shopping experience` and `spend more money`.
LOST IN TRANSLATION ive decided ive had enough of Tokyo for now as will probably end up back up here before go to the airport. so tomorrow morning im off to Kyoto in time for the Fire Festival. I've just found out that my hostel wants me to have a sex change, as they only have rooms for women and said we are unable to provide you with a room as a man, can you change the reservation 
Not to worry, I can easily sort something else out, but no i will not be getting the snip!!!
BURNED AT THE FIRE FESTIVAL AND HOMELESS IN KYOTO:
After the Fire Festival — bizarre and I did get singed — I had no accommodation, and so have spent the night three ways in order of most time spent first:
1) homeless, 2) in a newsagents! and 3) in an internet cafe after some
very kind Japanese guy showed me where it was — with the language
barrier I actually thought he was going to murder or mug me, so just
shows how wrong you can be! In a few minutes my time is up here and
as ive used the cafe as a place to sleep rather than surf, I thought
it made sense to actually reply to your email especially as it was so
entertaining, then im off on a round trip to spent tonight in a
buddhist temple. I need sleeeeeeeep!
I'm still in Japan, and yes I have a notebook to scribble in, which is
good for my sanity considering that I left my alphasmart at home! Doh!
Japan is obviously not the way I imagined it since I was little (ie. it is real), and there has been extremes of good and bad experiences (more in my feelings than in anything that has actually happened of course… travelling is stressful and exhausting, especially for a cat who likes his own company a little bit too much for his own good), but I definitely still want to teach here. Infact my plans for when I get back consist of finding ways to come back to Japan (applying for the JET scheme, becoming a hitman for the Yakuza etc… I have a long coat and the look and everything afterall!)
I am currently in a hotel (thank god!) in Hiroshima (here for 5 days), having spent most of my time in Tokyo and Kyoto so far in hostels and what I can only describe as the Bates Motel of Ryokan (traditional Japanese accommodation) — instead of being greeted by Geisha I was greeted by a seedy old man with an attitude problem
Was ill for most of my time in Kyoto — it really isn't a good idea to have a cold etc in a country where it is ok to piss in the street but completely unforgivable to blow your nose in public! Anyway, I showered and bathed for about 2 hours and then went out to play. Explored Hiroshima properly today, and plan to make day trips to Nagasaki and Beppu.
Visiting the peace park here was a bit of a pilgrimage for me — I take it you know all about the paper cranes as a symbol of peace thing and the story behind that, well when I was in Leeds I attended a Samurai event at Royal Armouries and at an Origami workshop made a paper crane and left it in the peace garden there. This is a couple of years ago now, and all of those cranes were sent over to be put in the Peace Garden in Hiroshima, so finally after all this time I am catching up with the crane that I sent before me! That said, the crane I sent has by the looks of things gone (they get so many I think they move them). I spent most of the day on the verge of tears (and rightly so — Peace Memorial Museum, Atomic Dome, and the math of 140,000 dead in one instant). And it was a bittersweet moment to realise that the crane I sent had long since gone, as I;d entertained some bizarre notion of being able to see it and bring one circle to a close. (But no, I'm not a writer or anything hehehehe… you should see some of the things I have scribbled in that notebook!, I oscillate between being a 4-year-old going WOW at everything, and a teenage goth having a panic attack!).
I return to Blighty on the 8th of November. I don't know what I'm going to do for the remainder of my trip after Hiroshima — I'm torn between bumming around the country on trains (sleeping on them overnight or ending up on park benches etc) and going back to Tokyo to re-enact "Lost in Translation". As for when I get back home, my inner 4 year old has the following to say: "Fuck that! I don't wanna! Getting a job sucks ass!" I don't know where my inner child got such a potty mouth but you get the idea
PAN'S LABYRINTH IN HIROSHIMA I'm off back up to Tokyo tomorrow. I think Hiroshima is going to be put down as my first choice for where to teach on the JET scheme. Just back from watching Pans Labyrinth (I know it's the 4th time, but you know me and my foreign films and did you really think Id pass up the chance to see a film whilst over here!). It was in original language but with Japanese subtitles… this was ace, as I watched the whole thing for the performances, understood it all completely despite not properly speaking either language, but also remembered most of the dialogue by heart! Salon cinema in Hiroshima is ace, very comfy large purple seats and lots of space (you even get a bench in front of you on which you can put your snacks — luckily I had a flask of tea with me!).
BIG APPLE Thought you would appreciate this — I am in Tokyo, in the APPLE BUILDING! Better than any temple I have been to hehehe. It has 4 floors of Macs, including a cinema (for Mac propaganda) and on the top floor free internet on the new shiny metal Imacs — which is where I am now, tapping away on a metal japanese keyboard! And Amy Whinehouse is playing on their sound system. And when I am a teacher in Japan I will qualify for a Japanese Educational Discount! Woo hoo!
Anyway, enough gloating, I just wanted to tell you. I have tried to take photos of it from outside, but they're not coming out too great. Id try and take photos in here but would be escorted off the premises pretty sharpish by the Mac Police (or should that be Mac Yakuza?)
See you very soon. Remember I will be back in Manky for 9.30 your time — though the clocks changing etc are going to confuse me just a little but with the time difference on top!
I think they should do Mac Hotels, Mac Cafes etc — you know when I am rich and famous and eventually sell my soul to the devil (or maybe the other way around, I am a shyster afterall), well I've decided that when I sell out and do adverts, I shall be sponsored by Apple. Would that be so wrong? Would Bill Hicks forgive me? 
Had a great time in Japan, but also a little bit frazzled. If I see another shrine or temple I am going to start shooting strangers. I tried to find you a tea towel as requested for a laugh, but my Japanese language skills don't stretch that far! Noodles, sushi, sex and drugs — no problem… but tea towels?!
I'm dreading my return as I have seen my bank balance! Only thing I miss about UK is family and friends, so you are moving to Japan!
BACK IN THE UK Japan was amazing — clearly it was never going to be as I'd imagined it all these years (because it is real), but I definitely want to work there next year. I travelled around for 3 weeks — and although I visited a lot of the 'must see' sites, you know me, I don't like tourists, so I tried to get a sense of what it would be like to live in the places I visited. I lived on noodles, raw fish, and custard donuts! I was lost in Tokyo, homeless in Kyoto, and set on fire at the Kurama Fire Festival. I had a blast in Hiroshima (no pun intended, tragic history notwithstanding it was my absolute favourite city and is now my first preference for where to work… and no I did not sing 'Enola Gay'!), and also visited Nagasaki, Nikko, and Osaka among other places. I fed Deer biscuits in Nara (and a Deer ate my map in Miyajima!), stayed overnight in a Buddhist Temple on Mount Koya in Koyasan (like Butlins, but holy) and joined in their morning prayers. I used my truly terrible Japanese speaking ability at every opportunity and learnt more about Japan, the language, and about myself, in those 3 weeks than I had in years of head scratching in the UK. When I was on the plane coming back, I burst into tears as we left Japan (in a manly stoic way of course) — I didn't know it was possible to feel homesick for somewhere you'd never been to before!
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