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Day 1 – Sleepless sashay [4th April 2009]

Now on JST! I had not been furnished with headphones for the seat-back display and asking a flight attendant proved fruitless, thankfully the films were either too lengthy or heavy going to be of interest (Australia by Baz Luhrmann, Changeling by Clint Eastwood) or were kid orientated (Bolt, Madagascar 2, The Incredibles) so it wasn’t too much of a loss. Unfortunately sitting in cattle class meant the films weren’t even video-on-demand and were more “tune in half way through” which meant watching more than a couple of films was protracted at best. Read full post »

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7 May 2009

Cherry blossom overdrive

Hit Akihabara yesterday but got there early (before 9am) which meant that everything was closed but it meant I could explored the strip without the crowd. Went into a coffee shop for a spell before going to a couple of arcades once they were open. Also couldn’t help going into shops like AsoBitCity and Sofmap as it seemed a waste not to…

After that went to Harajuku for food then wandering the back streets where I got thoroughly trapped in a people jam. Headed back to the hotel with blisters playing up then went to Hie-jinja for a bed of sedate cherry blossom watching, a big difference from the crowds of Ueno.

Met up with the rest of the group in the evening and had some excellent food and drinks. Evidently still had jet lag as I was up at half two in the morning! Cest la vie. First day of the full tour now. Tsukiji was earlier (much earlier) for some awesome sushi.

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6 April 2009

Crikey… I’m in freaking Tokyo

And these keyboards are very strange to type on, I accidentally hit the Japanese key a short while ago an the level of panic I felt when I couldn’t change it back was great. I also keep missing the shift key but that’s likely because of my lack of coordination at the moment.

Won’t write a huge epic rundown of what happened so in short: journey was fine, planes delayed slightly but not by much. Manchester terminal one security is like one of the circles of hell described by Dante, an utterly dehumanising experience. SAS flights are just like every other really but I managed to sleep somewhat. Landed and met up with the tour leader and a couple of others from the group, got straight into my room so had a shower and felt slightly more human. Went over to Ginza and had a wander around (read: got lost) and then headed to Ueno park for some Hanami. The park was packed but everyone was having such a good time it was hard not to get swept up in it all. Managed to get some tea and met up with the two from before again and went to Ueno again for some night shots, shame it was raining a bit. Got to sleep at nine, slept pretty much straight through till six, no sign of my aeroplan throat this morning.

Now, to Akiba and Harajuku!

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5 April 2009