Day 3 - 11th March

So today started off at 3 am. I'd woken up and failed to sleep, and ended up killing time until about 7, but ignoring that, today has been the best day here so far :D although, that's not hard, there haven't been many!

Today I was assaulted by many high schoolers, mostly female but a couple of males, asking for photographs with me because I'm foreign (it's meant to be a normal occurrence here in Japan and luckily I was prepared!) They got me doing funny things like making love hearts with our hands and these two here. One group thrust a piece of fresh melon bread they'd just bought into my hands. I didn't have time to finish before I was asked for pictures by the next group. I had a conversation with one of the first groups that went a bit like this.

Them: "How old?"
Me: "JuuHachi!" (18)
Them: "EEEHH?!? Almost the same as us, 17! Where are you from?"
Me: "Igirisu" (England)
Them: "Boyfriendo?"
Me: *Pause*Blush* "Hai" (Yes)
Them: *Laugh* "KAWAAIII!"

I got a lot of 'Kawai's' and 'Very Beautiful!' comments which cheered me up greatly.

Two other people that asked for my time however were these lovely children who were out on what I presume was a school trip to practice their English. After we finished they gave me a bag with some of the cutest drawings I have ever seen and some food + the instructions on how to prepare them in English (which will definitely come in handy :P) and someone who wanted me to right a message to those affected by the tsunami today last year.

I then took touristy pictures of Sensoji Temple which are all on my Facebook Page. And made my first vlog on youtube ^-^

The man in the video actually worked out where I was staying, and when I told him that I was staying for a while longer he said "oh! well we'll probably meet again then as I'm always walking around this area"... so I have made a mental note to avoid the area if I want to get somewhere in a hurry :P

A few pieces I tried for the first time today and luckily all of them turned out delicious!

Custard Cream filled Taiyaki

Nikuman - Pork Bun

Lipton Apple Iced Tea

Kare Pan - Curry Bread

Day 2 - 10th March

Today was my first full day in Japan.
Because I'd gone to bed so early I woke up at 7 to find it snowing outside ... not what I expected.
I stayed in the Hostel until between 9 - 10am when we made our way to the National Tokyo Museum, some of my favourites being ...

In one room we found this, 

and she explained that it was a map of the Museum taking examples of fabric and other items from the rooms so that people were able to feel what certain things felt like. I thought it was a really nice touch ^-^ (accidental bad pun)

We then walked around trying to find a place to eat lunch, and on our way we found these guys in Ueno station. 

There were women dancing just before but they stopped when I got my camera out to record :(

Finding a place to eat is basically trying to find a place that's either in english or has pictures :P when we eventually found somewhere in Ueno and I had this, and to finish off we were given gum \(^-^)/

We then decided to spend the afternoon in Akihabara, which was probably not the best idea as it was a Saturday, so it was packed! Luckily, it wasn't as overwhelming as I thought but I still didn't bother buying anything.

When we were walking around this guy just randomly pointed his camera at me and took a picture, I must have looked like a right fool because I was mid frown! He wasn't even Japanese!

Angel Beats!

FFX13-2 - Lightning

The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya

Aegis - Persona 3

Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome - Macross frontier

We then grabbed a Starbucks, which was very complicated as she talking to me in Japanese and I was like "aahh! Wakarimasen (I don't understand)", she then said "in or away" then it was all hunky dory ^-^

Just had my first taste of Melon Bread, it's alright, something to eat if I'm feeling lazy and its absolutely covered in sugar! I want to say that it tastes like brioche but I could be totally wrong, it's a long time since i ate it.

Day 1 - 8th/9th March

I'm ashamed today hasn't been as magical as one would expect, I got upset at the airport, more than once.
I think it had only really hit that I'm going to be by myself for six weeks.

On the plane I was sat next to a really sweet Japanese guy that I guessed was around my age, however the only time there was conversation between us was me asking to get past him to the toilet and saying sorry for elbowing him :P Whoops! I know I was nervous about speaking to him (the first Japanese word I've said to a Japanese person was thank you, be proud!) and he was probably nervous speaking to me too, and then after a certain amount of time it would have been awkward starting conversation. But he was very nice ^-^

I did have a conversation with a bloke on the plane though when we were waiting for the toilet and I found out that he used to live in the city near me.

The food on the flight was simply amazing!!! we had Soy Sauce covered noodles and Edamane beans, a beef and stuffing type dish with mash and veggies, and a passion fruit and chocolate GU dessert, not two flavours I'd mix but it was nice enough. Dinner was a choice between pizza and sausage role (I went for the pizza, delicious again) and then an english breakfast before we landed.

However, the flight itself wasn't great as my seat didn't go back and my screen stopped working halfway through the flight. I did get some nice typical flight pictures though, the first was sunset and the second was sunrise.

The sunset was actually much prettier, the camera doesn't do it justice. The purple on the horizon was magnificent and the moon was an amazing deep red!

The Japanese airport was surprisingly easy to manoeuvre as I was met by friendly English speaking staff everywhere and it was quiet. One man was even dancing in front of me! I was just asked where I was staying and how long for, and you have to fill out some forms on the flight too, but it was all really quick.

When I finished that I went to the underground (access from inside the airport by the exit) and bought a Suica and N'EX deal. This is what my card looks like.

I just top that up with yen and swipe it over the machines, super handy ^-^

The underground was pretty easy to use too if you've used one before. I have experience with the London Underground so I got hang of it pretty quickly, and managed to make my way to my hostel, however the weather was pretty crummy and had to buy an umbrella.

Now when I got here I ended up getting upset again, I felt sick when I ate but I knew I had to, I was sweaty and uncomfortable from carrying my suitcase up stairs, I'd been up since 6:20am the previous morning and it was now 1:30pm Japanese time the next day without any sleep, and my stomach was playing havoc with me. So I had a shower which helped, but when I went downstairs to go onto the internet which wasn't working, and that just set me off again. I decided the best thing to do was get a bit of sleep, and after an hours sleep my laptop decided to be friends with me and worked.

But by this time it was getting dark outside, it was raining, I hadn't had a chance to look around, it was still raining and I felt really sick (a mix of hunger and nervousness). I decided the only thing I could do was to hope that someone at the hostel would be willing to point me in the direction of a place to buy some food, so  I went up to someone who I knew spoke english and was about my age and just said "I dont suppose you're travelling alone are you?" ... he was ^-^ I mentioned dinner and he said he was willing to come with me. I managed to squeeze in some rice, and it was just enough to stop me from feeling sick. So I'll now have friendly human contact for the next three days until I go on my tour and he goes to South Korea (jealous).

And that's about it, I should have expected to feel overwhelmed when I got here but I wasn't really expecting it. I think if t was sunny I would have just gone out for a walk, but we can't have it all :P

I'm glad that I seem to have the courage to speak to people and I'll happily ask for help. 

I have also had a broken conversation with three Japanese girls I'm sharing my dorm with and a Japanese guy speaking at me, I don't think he realised that we couldn't understand him.

I just hope that the weather picks up and I become a lot more comfortable with things such as which foods I will and wont like, and speaking to more people ^-^ But I think I'm going to be ok!!