After leaving the Philippines it was time to visit the other country that I intended to see when i left the UK in November, Japan. After 5 nights in Taipei, Taiwan (which isn’t enough time by the way) I booked a flight to Tokyo just in time for the incoming tropical storm about to hit Taiwan.

I arrived in Tokyo at about 6am at Haneda airport. I was tired and had only briefly looked at the route to my accomodation at Sakura Hostel in Jimbocho. I stood looking at the ticket machine with a load of other confused tourists and took a punt and bought a ticket that I thought was the correct one. Too early to try and figure out how the lines worked I asked an american guy if he knew how to get to Jimbocho, my phone battery dead at this point. He told me to take the train to the same stop as him and then change there to another station. Seconds after leaving him at the next station, I was lost and walking around looking for someone to ask whilst carrying my heavy backpack and sweating like a pig. The people working didn’t speak english but somehow I managed to work out with them that, I had gotten off at the wrong stop and had to change somewhere else, thanks american guy. After about 2 hours of walking around Japan like a idiot, I got to Jimbocho. I got into the hostel at breakfast time and asked the staff member if I could book private room as I needed a good sleep and couldn’t be bothered with the hostel dorm at this stage. Luckily the person checked out early so I could get some much needed sleep. The room was tiny and it was a small single bed probably big enough for a child but, right now I could sleep anywhere.

After a good nights sleep I got up early the next day and planned to go see some tourist attractions that day. I got a map of the metro from the hostel, which was massive and headed on out first to pick up a sim card. When I took the metro from the airport on my arrival I did think “wow, I am in Japan” as everyone began there commute to work but, when I got to Shinjuku that evening it really hit me. The neon signs, the busy streets, the umbrellas, the technology. It felt surreal to finally be here.

A lot of people told me that Japan was expensive and that I wouldn’t meet a lot of other people here as there isn’t the same hostel lifestyle there. I would say in my opinion it wasn’t expesive, most of the time I could eat a meal for £7 or £8 and the hostel dorms were somthing like £20-£30 a night, a lot more then south east asia but, a lot cheaper the Western Europe. After a couple of nights exploring Tokyo, I made some friends in the hostel and we soon formed a small social group and had a couple of interesting nights out in Tokyo. There was a scottish guy, english girl and her australian boyfriend, dutch guy, belgian guy and a couple of other nationatilities. It was a good mix and a pretty wild group. The next day I met up with my Irish friend I had met in Laos 5 months earlier. He was visiting Japan with his dad. We met up and checked out a robot cafe. This place was pretty cool, robots would serve you and in another admiration of Japanese peoples attitude, the people speaking for the robot were disabled people who wanted to work and earn money like the rest of us but, were not physically able to. After this we went to a bar for a beer, my friend had an online meeting with one of his students and insited we only have a couple. In true Irish/Enlgish fashion we got carried away and had 5 or 6 before he cancelled his meeting and we met up with his dad for dinner.

The Japanese cultutre is really amazing. The people are so polite and I loved the things that they considered rude. Not speaking on the phone whilst on the train was one, I get sick off hearing people speaking loudly on the phone whilst im on the train to work to or from London. Nobody else wants to hear your conversation and I agree it is rude to talk loudly whilst on the phone in a public area. The super clean streets where it is rare to see a bin. London is piled with litter everywhere and there is not a shortage of bins, I cant imagine what it would be like with barely any bins around.

After 5 nights in Tokyo, I decided to head and see Mt fuji. I intended to come back to Tokyo before leaving Japan but, there was alot of cities I wanted to see first.

Unfortunately it wasn’t climbing season for Mt Fuji when I arrived in June. The season starts from July – September although, I think you can climb it but without a guide? So I just spent the day cycling around the lake and getting some good views of the mountain, luckily it was a clear day and I could see the summit. I am planning to go back in 2025 to climb the mountain. I stayed one night and then headed down to Osaka. I had heard great things about the food here. When I arrived I checked into my hostel and went to find some food at a revolving sushi bar. The resturant was Kura Sushi Dotonburi, a big franchise, it was so cheap it cost me around 1,500 yen and I was stuffed. I met up with the dutch guy from Tokyo after and we checked out some bars and nightclubs. We spent a couple of days trying the street food, Ramen resturants (I recommend Ichiran Ramen, Dotonburi) and mainly just eating. I left Osaka the next day with again, the intention of coming back this way on my way back towards Tokyo. Next I would travel down to Kyoto, where i planned to meet the socttish guy from my hostel in Tokyo.

End of part one.