I am taking advantage of the free internet at the "Yahoo Lounge" in Narita Airport to kill some time before　my flight. Japan has been amazing - I would reccommend that everyone should visit but I fear the place would become overrun by Westerners or "gaijin"! One thing I will not miss is the ridiculously small space bar on all their keyboards which is inconveniently located next to the button which changes the keyboard from standard A-Z to Japanese figures.

I can not remember when I last updated so sorry if their is repitition...just skip on a bit! I arrived back in Tokyo on Sunday. Made it to my hostel and dumped my bag. Although this is a 14 bed dorm each person has a capsule (more like a coffin) so it is nice and private. However, in Tokyo you are never far away from roads/rail/both so although the people in the room were quiet the outside was not. Add in the annoying habit of emergency service vehicles wailing a siren while shouting out a loud speaker (but still driving at a normal speed) my three nights were not the best. This means I have been regularly falling asleep on trains - the Japanese sleep anywhere/anytime (I presume for the same reason).

After dumping the bag I left for Harajuku which is where all the "werid" people go on Sundays. I walked out the station and walked straight into two Americans I met on the way to Kyoto which was strange. I left to look around the park. It was a little dissapointing really - I think like how Prague is now just full of Westerners, the park was full of tourists trying to be "kooky". There was a big group of people playing drums, some little kids street dancing, a skateboarding dog, a man with hundreds of little dogs that look like rats, people doing some weird breakdancing/martial art combo. And of course some people were dressed quite strangely - it just looked like they had come out in fancy dress! After leaving the park I heard a girl calling my name which I obviously ignored thinking that there was no way someone would actually be calling me! However, it was the Canadian couple I met in my hostel in Beppu which was very strange. I wandered around with them and their Japanese friend (who spent the whole time saying he didn't like Japanese girls, only English girls which was a little bit disconcerting) and we had some dinner. And here is where the nightmare began. I got lost in Shinjuku station for nearly an hour! I asked two different staff members who both sent me the wrong way then I asked two Japanese girls who ran around the station with me for a good 25 minutes - they even looked on the internet on their phones to try and find the line! Eventually I saw the signs and tried to communicate that I would be fine now but they insisted on walking me right up to the ticket machine! Eventually I headed back to the hostel intending to sleep but ended up staying up quite late with some people who were in the common room.

Woke up on Monday for a loooooooooong busy day. First stop was Yebisu Garden Place, a huge shop/office/entertainment complex (what else) but it had some kitschy building which Ithink was meant to be a Chateu and fountains which I imagine the Japanese find very European. Then to Ginza and the Sony Building. This is where they showcase new products. A lot of these were cameras which I didn't find that interesting but they had a computer which looked like a tv with a folding keyboard. And a robotic speaker which works by the vibrations through the surface it is on and has moving parts and lights! I had a quick look at Ginza (loud, bright, busy) before going to Odaiba. This is an island built on reclaimed land (which I found slightly concerning given the Japanese tendency for earthquakes. The Canadians actually experienced one here!). Some of the buildings were crazy - they seem to like putting big holes in the middle, and sticking big balls on them! All the buildings here are very futuristic and you get a train similar to DLR with no driver which does a big loop before going onto a bridge. I had a look at Pallette town and the Venus Fort - a shopping centre aimed at women. This was hilarious! It was like the hotel in Las Vegas that has the river in and the changing sky (The Venetian???). Again, loads of statues and fountains. Then I headed for the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. This has to be, without doubt, one of the best museums I have ever been to! Pretty much everything was interactive. They had a robotic seal cub that you could stroke and pat and he moved accordingly and blinked and made noises. There was a robotic dog which did a similar thing. A table you drew on and certain drawings produced certain effects. For example, by drawing a line the table produced a flower, a hexagon created stars etc etc. They had computer games where you were riding a horse but the controls were actually reigns. A real space shuttle. You could perform nano-surgery (obviously not on a real person). Overlooking it all was a huge globe made out of what looked like thousands of screens which showed the Earth. Weather patterns etc could be laid on top. OK, it probably is a little geeky but I did do physics!! (Probably why I liked the huge machine they had which demonstrated how the internet works using ping pong balls!). I left here when it closed and countinued my walk, passing the Statue of Liberty! More shops, restaurants then back on the train.

I headed for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Offices which is a huge complex with two towers at the centre. You can go up to the top (I think it was 46 floors) and it offered a great nighttime view of Tokyo. The carbon dioxide emissions must be huge with all their lights! (Although at the museum they did say that now blue LCD is possible things would improve.)

Then it was straight to Roppongi to meet two people I met in Kyoto. One of them has irish parents so wanted to celebrate St Patricks Day and I felt in need of a night out. We went to an irish bar as it had cheap drinks - it was packed unsurprisingly but with a good mix of people. The band were either drowned out or too quiet. Ran for the last subway home and made it!

Tuesday (late start unsurprisingly) I went to Ueno koen (park) which is filled with museums (and also Tokyo's homeless population who seemed to be having some sort of rally! But a polite one obviously). I went to the Tokyo National Museum which was quite good as they had a lot of different items on display. Spread over four buildings, the first houses Japanese art, sculpture, clothing, caligraphy, household objects, pottery, laquerware etc. The second contains Asian art which was interesting as they had quite a lot of Iranian/Iragi/Syrian stuff as well. The third housed archaeological finds and the last "The National Treasures". Not only were the objects interesting all of the buildings were good as well. I treated myself to a nice lunch in quite a posh restaurant. There were 6 women of varying ages all having tea wearing beautiful kimono's. I then looked at the Maeyoko Arcade which post-war was the black market area and is pretty raucous! There were lots of fish sellers - fresh and dried. It seems if it moves the Japanese will eat it fresh/raw/dried (they even eat raw chicken!). I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space which apparently had a big escalator but I don't quite know where that had gone! Back to the hostel to pack and once again a reasonably late night!

So today I pottered about and went to the Shibuyu crossing (the really famous one where hundreds of people all cross the road in all directions). I went to a cafe which looked over it and talked to a Japanese girl who has studied Englsih (Ithink she wanted to practice) and is now studying French. Then it was time for the Narita Express to the airport. I find having no actual ticket for my flights quite disconcerting but neverless everything has gone without a hitch!

I arrive in Cairns at 4.50 in the morning so I imagine I will have to loiter at the airport for a little while before heading to my hostel which sounds like its a pretty lively place! Although I feel I could easily spend a lot more time here in Japan Australia will be a nice change with all the adventurous things you can do!

Seyonara (even though absolutely nobody says that in Japan!)

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