First catch up post

A small backstreet in Akihabara

Sorry about not posting at all, Ive been really lazy about it and if Im honest I really couldnt be bothered to update the blog. However here I am now, about to copy and paste from an email to my parents, laziness all the way.

When we arrived after 30 odd hours of travelling we were fairly knackered after barely sleeping on the plane and being smacked in the face with jet lag, but we perservered and eventually got through customs/immigration (the tightest immigration control EVER with a fingerprint scanner, a photograph taken and several forms filled out for every single person going through). Eventually, through my amazing sense of direction and navigation, we made our way through Narita airport and got our bags sent off to our soon-to-be homes aand got bus tickets to Shibuya where we met up with Mai and Aiko, two girls who volunteered to take us to the volunteer centre. We then stayed in Shibuya for a few days in hotel suave, being shown around Tokyo and having meals paid for us left right and centre.

All in all a great first few days with karaoke and sightseeing (to an extent), didnt really take many pictures Im afraid, mostly due to laziness - who'd hav guessed? In these few induction days we also visited the Earthquake centre where we shown how to react in an earthquake, how to navigate through a burning house and how to use a fire extinguisher (however it was all in japanese so really it was just a joke). On the saturday we got taken to Junten High School and our flat in Oji. Oji is a reeeeeally nice place, our flat isnt what Id call nice but its still great - its got character. Despite being a fair distance from the centre of Tokyo, Oji is still a really lively place with its share of skyscrapers (well, buildings alot taller than any in england anyways, not quite skyscrapers). After being shown around the school and our flat, the teachers then took us out for a meal, which was ace - the food around here is seriously amazing, I dont think Im going to be able to eat when I get back home (if I come back home that is).

View from our appartment

The next morning I woke up at 6 in the morning (the first of many early mornings) because the girls were flying up to hokkaido so I took a train to shibuya but got there far too early so I had a McBreakfast (I assumed it might be easy to order in there with it being a western establishment, I was wrong, oh so wrong "cheeseburger please" "random japanese and then pointing at breakfast menu" "oh breakfast only? ok ill have this please" "random japanese" "ehhh?"). Anyhow I then made my way to hotel suave and then went with them to Haneda airport and then found myself with nothing to do on the other side of tokyo, only to use my previously mentioned amazing nagivational abilities to make my way to akihabara (electric town) for a half day sightseeing trip. Akiba is... interesting to say the least. Imagine an entire city where shops only sell electronics, video games, anime and manga... and then throw in some girls wandering around dressed like maids and some arcades and then you have a fairly acurate image of what Akihabara is like.I then made my way back to Oji, arriving back only to be met by Mike (previous volunteer), Lynsey (another previous volunteer) and Erling to go out for a meal followed by karaoke.