Going out in Tokyo is a great deal of fun. Infact, randomly hopping on the train and going exploring with nothing but a camera and a handful of Yen is one pastime I really missed whilst in Sheffield. So yesterday was a welcome return to the party lifestyle and weirdness of this city that I’d first fallen in love with way back in ‘06.

To start off this great day, I got in contact with Sven, who I think I’ve mentioned before, but is an Australian living in Kawaguchi. As he’s leaving Japan soon after 2-3 years, we thought we’d mark the occasion first by meeting a celebrity…

…then by buying classy t-shirts…

…and finally by heading over to see the Emperor’s house.

Then in the evening I met up with ex-volunteer Lynsey, just-graduated from Sheffield Lianne, and Lu, expert in the field of alcohol. We had a great meal and, having missed it so sorely for a year, a great night of Karaoke. I’m glad to report the Karaoke empire has been very good in adding recent hits to the system, and we had a great evening, even if I was made to sing Material Girl.

Currently I’m still struggling to find a reliable internet connection. I’m relying on Junten still, but as I mentioned dinosaurs built their computers, so I’m limited in what I can do. According to a friend the stations provide free wi-fi, but I can’t seem to find any in Oji station, and I don’t really want to trek to Ikebukuro every day. Tomorrow I’m going to try Starbucks, hopefully I’ll have better luck there.

So basically I have no way of telling what’s going to happen to the blog. Yesterday I was in BIC Camera (a big electronics retailer) and there was a stall to try the new iPhone, so I checked my email on it. Desperate times call for desperate measure.

So stay tuned, but not that tuned.

Hello from Japan! I have successfully arrived, after a long and tiring journey.

I’m going to jump right in with the bad news – as I can’t steal wireless internet from the dormitories like I could last year, I’m relying on my ability to sneak into Junten and upload things as quick as a I can. As a result, there probably won’t be any updates for a while, then a whole bunch will appear at once. Furthermore, anyone waiting to get in contact with me will have to wait for some time. Again, apologies for that.

Anyway, I rocked in with no sleep at 9am Tokyo time, and determined not to fall asleep during the day, I kept busy. After travelling across the city and getting to Junten, I settled into the dorms, then went back to the school again. It didn’t matter that I was pretty tired, as the huge, harmonious screech of the English oriented class pierced through the fatigue. It was great seeing everyone again, especially some of the teachers I’ve not had contact with since I left. After that, I met up with some of the exchange students who’d left Sheffield in February for a drink, then headed back to Oji for a welcome party, with lots of drinks, at a local Izakaya.

I don’t know if it was the fatigue or the hunger, but I felt overwhelmed the whole day. I think now I just need to get back the confidence I had during the last few weeks of my stay. It gives me new found respect for people coming to live here, especially the volunteers.

Anyway, onto my plans. My big one at the moment is to find some work teaching, then get on with my Youtube films. On Saturday, I have the school sports day to look forward to, a day that proved to be one of my favourite from last year, simply for the energy of everyone involved. I hope that’s repeated again this year.

As it’d be a terrible shame for me to update without any pictures, I’m going to finish with two really, really boring ones. They’re views from my window. I know, I’ve done them before. They’re not good photos or anything, but if I don’t post any images, the blog flash mob will get me…

So yes. Sorry it’s a bit dull. I wrote this from the school computers, which I believe are from 1845, so I can’t even tell how this post will look, so sorry if it’s all broken.

Woohoo! It’s finally time! I’m currently sitting at home, the last of my packing on my bed behind me, finishing up a few things. At around 6pm I’ll head down to Sheffield station and take the train to London. I’m staying there overnight, and I *might* write an update about London, although it’s very likely I’ll just get there and crash out. I fly at 1pm tomorrow, and apparently I’ll arrive in Japan at 9am local time on the 18th.

From then on, I’m planning to catch up with everyone I’ve missed for the last year, then get on with some exploring. A friend of mine very kindly leant me his camcorder, so I am going to try to launch my Youtube career, then get bored of that and just post the vids on here.

Reguarding the blog, I don’t know how often it’ll be updated. I’m staying in the Junten dorm, and the last time I was there I was able to get a wireless connection from a business across the road, but I have no idea what the state of play is there nowadays. So the blog may go a while at a time with no updates. Apologies for that.

Anyway, I wanted to practice my video making skills. Apologies in advance…

(Music: Dream Theater - Overture)

All the videos I will make will end up on my Youtube channel, and it would be a huge help if you subscribe, so please do check it out :)

Anyway, to Japan!