Chapter one

I’ve been residing in this county for 3 months now. After toying with the idea of blogging for awhile it took a few persuasive people to finally convince me to put pen to paper. Or finger to keyboard if you will.

Much of the difficulties I have faced so far have to do with the fact that there is very much a ‘them and me’ kind thing going on. And no I’m not referring to any kind of racism I’ve encountered. I’m talking about my complete lack of understanding of the Japanese language. I’ll be the first to admit that the situation I’m in is entirely my own fault. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sulk and complain about it any less.

That aside, my time in Japan thus far has been entertaining and enjoyable. And if only for those I left behind I shall try to keep you up to date with my discoveries…

This week things have been getting progressively hotter in Tokyo. I’m constantly told that I’ve yet to see the full force of the Japanese summer and I’m not quite sure I want to. With temperatures at the moment reaching 32 degrees not to mention the intense humidity I spend most my time feeling like I just got out of the shower or I am in desperate need of having a shower.

My weekend started on Friday night by heading into Ginza to meet my roommate and some friends for dinner and few drinks. The evening was fun, we went to an Italian restaurant and all was well as we headed to the station set to catch one of the last trains home. I especially was looking forward to the air-conditioned carriages. My excitement however was short lived as I was set to experience my first real ‘rush hour’ on the Tokyo subway. It’s difficult to explain unless you’ve really experienced it. I believe this video is the best way to help you to understand: (and no its not a joke)

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=BE35onlIySk&eurl=http://3dudesintokyo.com/

Saturday was another beautiful (aka so hot I may die) day. I made plans with some friends to go to China Town in Yokohama. It seems that no matter which country you visit in the world you are never very far from China. The place was mostly full of restaurants and Chinese souvenir shops. It was basically heaven for anyone with a panda fetish. Because of course pandas are the only thing you will ever find in China…that's right. The only thing. I guess if there’s one thing I’ve learned in Japan it’s that they really like to do one thing and do it well.
We also stumbled across an art type interactive exhibition while there. The pictures were painted in a 3-D way so that when you positioned yourself in front of them it often looked like you were part of the photo.

When I could no longer stand the Pandas or Holograms we decided to grab something to eat. We settled upon a buffet style all you can eat place with a set price of around NZ$30 and one hundred different items on the menu. This whole concept of all you can eat or all you can drink is very popular in Japan although usually it comes with a time limit which is why when we discovered this place didn't have one we really went all out. Around 30 plates later we decided it was time to admit defeat and headed home.

Sunday I woke up with an initial desire to do nothing more than spend the day alternating between lying on the couch and taking a series of cold showers. I decided this would be a waste of a day and an opportunity to gather some photos for this post. Today was to be the day I would make my second attempt at finding the American Apparel store in Shibuya. I say second because Japan does this thing where they don't really believe in having street names and sometimes when you’re not the best at reading maps you don't have the best luck in finding places. This time around I was successful and even managed to spend a fair bit of money.

I spent some time strolling the streets of Shibuya before making my way down to Omote-Sando (will definitely have to do a post on this place in the future, it’s possibly my favourite place I’ve discovered so far), then onto the craziness of Harajuku before calling it a day and returning to the safety of my air-conditioned subway. Again it really is hard to explain the overall feel of these places and sometimes I really dislike taking photos, as mine never really seem to capture what I want people to appreciate about a place or a situation. Regardless I will leave you with some of my pictures from the past few days.

Ginza- Friday night

ChinaTown- Yokohama

Sunday around Shibuya