Current location:	Nishi-Kasai, Tokyo
Current mood:	curious

...with a new continent and many new experiences.
Well hello people,

Here I am in sunny (but mildly chilly) Tokyo, Japan.

We managed to fly in yesterday morning with no serious problems. Next time I am flying in at a time where the next thing I do after arriving is sleep. I can`t kip on planes and so by the time I got here I was exhausted, and yet it was still 10am so I couldn`t do more than have an hours kip without messing up my body clock totally.

Japan is a very different place to anywhere I have been before. Nowhere in Europe or the US resembles it in any significant fashion. And that significant is significant. It seems odd to have to say it but the media does draw you into the belief that if you have a map and a smattering of the language you have it cracked. This is not the truth. On the face of things Japan is very like the US and the UK, buildings generally have walls, doors, many of the shops are similar as are the travel options.

However... what things mean and how things are Done are different. The systems, rules and manners and expectations result in a mental discontinuity.. a little edginess that finds you watching yourself and the people around you a little more closely that you would usually do. Comparing your actions to their responses becomes a habit very quickly. Things that seemed　obvious to my (Japanese) travelling companion came as a serious surprise to me. I am collecting notes in my moleskeine and will happily relate things as I can. I may even add pictures if I have access to Wi-Fi rather than having to come to a "Manga Kissa" (Manga Cafe) filled with Internets, Manga and Complete Privacy (*shudders*).