I don't know where to begin!!

So I'll start at the very beginning, what a very good place to start...

Well, it's not quite the beginning. It's day 8 (i think) but I just felt a little julie andrews melody coming on...



Day 6
So... Saturday I met up with Noriko at Tabata Station and the fun began... We went to sooo many different places! First of all I dropped my bag off at her house and met her parents (i spent the whole tube ride saying "hajimemashite hajimemayshite hajimemayshite" to myself... japanese for "pleased to meet you"!) Norikos mum and dad are really sweet but dont speak a word of english so I had to practise my japanese! We were going to to go to The Imperial Palace gardens but Barack Obama was in Tokyo and apparently it would have been impossible to get to... turns out Orlando Bloom was also staying local to there too and there was masses of people crowded in that area... i wonder who was more popular ha ha 　
So we went on a huge tour.... first to Ikebukuro, which is large commercial and entertainment district of Tokyo - we saw loads of games arcades and loads of huoooge department stores. Then we went to Harajuku which is renowned for crazy and unique fashion... and it definitely lived up to its reputation! We walked from there to Shibuya and on the way there were lots of flash shops - Prada, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, Louis Vuitton etc.. and lots of beautiful christmas decorations! Shibuya is another famous shopping district and the masses ｏｆ　neon lights looked amazing in the dark. Then we went to Ginza which is famous for being one of the most luxurious shopping districts in the world. From Ginza we walked to Tokyo central and had something to eat a noodle-bar type restaurant which was fab. Eventually we headed home and Noriko's mum was still up and had cheesecake waiting for us! sweet! Then Norikos dad decided i should try Shochu which is a japanese distilled liquor! Ooh that was strong but good! I was out for the count when my head hit the pillow!! I found out that Noriko's Dad makes tatami mats... traditional japanese flooring... he makes them for the Imperial Palace too - oooerr. It is a craft that has been handed down from generation to generation throughout their family and their house was very traditionally japanese from the tatami mat flooring to the dinner table which is hard to explain but basically it was a very low table but rather than sitting cross legged on cushions, when you put your feet/legs under the table there was a big hole in the floor under the table and there were heated bars to put your feet on - it was luuurvely after hours and hours of nonstop walking!
Sunday morning we had breakfast of scrambled eggs, weeners and minestrone soup! I learnt how to say delicious in Japanese which was ensued by lots of cheering and loud noises from Norikos mum! haha! We headed of to Rikugien gardens, a famous japanese garden which was BEAUTIFUL! when we got there, it turned out it was the anniversary of the emperors enthronement (20 years ago) and so to commemorate the occassion, entrance was free - whoopee! The garden was so lovely and there were hundreds of the biggest koi carp ive ever seen! From there, we went back to Noriko's and her dad drove us to The Imperial Palace gardens. There was so much going on there because of the anniversary.... lots of commemorative exhibitions about the emperor and empress and we got a stamped certificate to say we'd been there on that day etc.. it was lovely. From there we went to a Noodle and Tempura bar and had..... noodles and tempura! I tried a food which translates to "devils tongue" and looked like green cubes of fish eggs but it was actually really nice but no-one can (or wants to) explain whats actually in it!! From there we went to Ahikibara which is known as "electric town" and is full of japanese girls in maid costumes.. apparently cos the geeks and anime maniacs that like the computer games at electric town love women dressed as maids and the place is home to a famous maid cafe. Although it's mostly popular with men for obvious reasons, Noriko and I decided we would go anyway... we got to the door to be told there was an hour long queue so we decided we would not bother seeing as we werent overly bothered about being greeted with "Welcome home, master" and having a maid sit on our laps and stir our drinks. ha ha ha.
From there we went to the National Sumo Stadium Kokugikan but sadly the sumo wrestlers are not in Tokyo until January - they just left a week or so ago :( boo so i wont get to see any sumo wrestling, but we had a look around the building and the shop anyway. I didnt realise but there are malaysian and russian sumo wrestlers as well as japanese - apparently the malaysian are top of the league at the moment! From there, we went to the Edo museum (again, free because of the emperors enthronement anniversary!) that was really cool and I learnt loads there.... AND i sat on a penny farthing woop! ha ha! By that time it was quite late so we headed back to Norikos where her mum was waiting with dinner for us... some sort of japanese style chicken broth with peppers marinated in soy and ginger which was yummy. She had done a salad too and asked me to try a salad dressing of ponsa mixed with mayonnaise which was amazingly good!! Noriko translated that I had made her mum very happy because i tried whatever she gave me to eat without questioning what it was! Not sure if i think that is good thing or not but she seemed happy and said to go and stay again which was sweet. We looked through Norikos old photo albums of uni and graduation and saw loads of old faces and people i know/knew which made me feel old!! it was good to see though!! About 10pm I went to Tabata station and got the metro/subway to Tokyo central where I waited for the vengabus to arrive. Muddling through with my Japanese and hoping I was getting on the right bus, I gave my bag to the bus attendant and climbed aboard... I was on the top deck and sat next to a Japanese girl and amazingly (seeing as we had a very crazy driver that kept doing emergency stops) i got about 5 hours sleep... hoooray!

Day 7
Arrived in Osaka about 7am and thought it was a pretty ugly place to be honest... but I hadn't given it a chance...
After a tube ride and a very confusing walk, i found the hostel tucked down a back street in the middle of nowhere! I dropped my bags off and thought "er what the hell do i do now" because EVERYTHING was in japanese... so i had no touristy leaflets etc.. I decided to head for the metro station and hopefully find an information office. Which i did... they didnt speak english but i managed to get an english leaflet out of them and saw there was a boat which did a tour round osaka bay etc.. so i thought it'd be a good idea to do that then I could see what there was and go from there! When I got there, there was a ferris wheel claiming to be the largest in the world... so i decided to go on that instead as it looked more fun. it was a bit like the london eye but far less stable! I was the only one on there as it was about 8.30am!　
I had a wander round the shops there and then decided I would try and find osaka castle by metro. Got there eventually and it was definitely worth it!! The gardens were amazing and the castle itself was beautiful! I went into the museum and so got a view from the very top of the castle - the autumn colours of the trees in the surrounding area were gorgeous and then I got invited to dress up as a Samurai Warrior and stupidly said yes! haha! Actually it was really fun but a little embarrasing! 6.30pm (check in time at the hostel) eventually came round so I headed straight there．　Ａｓ　Ｉ　ｗａｓ　ｗａｉｔｉｎｇ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｄｏｏｒ　ｔｏ　ｏｐｅｎ，　ｔｈｅ　ｂｉｇｇｅｓｔ　ｒａｔ　Ｉ　ｈａｖｅ　ｅｖｅｒ　ｓｅｅｎ　ｉｎ　ｍｙ　ｌｉｆｅ　ｒａｎ　ｐａｓｔ　ｍｅ．．　ｉ　ｔｈｏｕｇｈｔ　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ａ　ｃａｔ　ａｔ　ｆｉｒｓｔ！！　Ａｎｙｗａｙ　Ｉ　ｍｅｔ Yumi, the lady who runs the hostel who is really sweet and really friendly and told me about loads of places to visit etc.. Also made friends with a french and an australian guy who are both really nice - the australian guy teaches english here and gave me tips about looking for work on the east coast as thats where he is from. yipee. I am sharing a room with one korean girl and 4 empty bunks. The girls here are really sweet too but none of them speak much english except Yumi. After a bit of e-mailing and researching what to do around here, I went to bed about 10.30 and slept like a baby!!

Day 8
TODAY... I woke up about 9am!!! The longest sleep I have had in months :) it was chucking it down today so I decided to go to Spa World (the biggest spa in the WORLD) which is about 15 minutes walk. Yumi told me about it yesterday and the fact they are running a special offer so entry was about the equivalent of 7quid instead of the usual 20quid equivalent. It was OUT　OF　THIS　WORLD!　There were 5 floors - 1st floor was reception,shops,information desk, lockers for valuables. 2nd floor was restaurants and machines where you can put your feet and hands in and you get a massage. 3rd floor was women only, 4th floor men only and 5th floor women and men and slides and a pool where you have to weaｒ a bathing suit. On the 3rd and 4th floor you are NOT allowed to wear anything!!! I knew about this before i went but i decided to brave it!! You are not allowed in if you have a tattoo so I had to walk around with my hand over my left bum cheek the whole time - the other women must have thought i was a bit odd!!! It was a bit surreal seeing hundreds of women just wondering around completely naked! Anyway there were so many cool "areas" - a bath full of what smelt like peppermint tea, hot springs, an outdoor hot bath with waterfall, sauna, steam room, loads and loads of different types of hot baths with different things/smells, one with fish in a tank underneath the bath which you could watch as you relax, another in a dark room with the whole solar system lit up on the ceiling, some had beds actually in the water so you could lie in the hot bath and fall asleep.. （and try not to drown) then there were rooms with salt and mud scrubs where you just covered yourself in either and then sat there for a while and then washed it off. It was so funny - we were all just stood in this room completely in the nud, splashing mud over ourselves and up the walls! When you've finished in the spa, there was shampoos, conditioners and a million facecreams, toothbrushes, hairdryers, robes and towels all provided!! it was like being in a 5 star spa! Anyway so i was there for about 5 hours and then left about 6 and walked to the local cinema and watched "this is it" - the michael jackon film(recordings of his last rehearsals etc) it was ｂｒｉｌｌｏ！It was funny because nobody in the cinema moved until the very very very very end after all the credits etc and then japanese writing came on the screen which i assume read "the end" or "you can go now" haha. there are such neat ideas here - like in the cinema each seat has a hook for a bag, a coat and a stand for an umbrella! When it rains here, it is just like a sea of umbrellas - and everyone has the same type - see through with a white handle! I am now sat on a big poooufy cushion at a big wooden table in the hostel im staying in. People are on the internet and watching crazy japanese tv (lots of people in bright clothes jumping around and shouting) and eating noodles! Tommorow im going to get up early and go to Nara which is home to several world heritage sites and a huge deer park! very exciting!!
Ｔｈｅ　ｐｅｏｐｌｅ　ｉｎ　Ｏｓａｋａ　ａｒｅ　ｖｅｒｙ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｙ　ａｎｄ　ｃｈａｔｔｙ　ａｎｄ　ａｐｐａｒｅｎｔｌｙ　ｔｈｅ　ａｔｔｒａｃｔｉｏｎ　ｈｅｒｅ　ｉｓ　ｔｈｅ　ａｔｍｏｓｐｈｅｒｅ　ａｎｄ　ｔｈｅ　ｆｏｏｄ　ａｎｄ　ｄｒｉｎｋ　ａｎｄ　ｆｒｉｅｎｄｌｉｎｅｓｓ　ｒａｔｈｅｒ　ｔｈａｎ　ｔｈｅ　ｌｏｏｋ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　ｐｌａｃｅ．．　ｓｏ　ｎｏｗ　ｉ　ｕｎｄｅｒｓｔａｎｄ！　Ｍｙ　ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　ｉｓ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｂｅｔｔｅｒ　－　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｗｈｏｌｅ　ｃｏｎｖｅｒｓａｔｉｏｎ　ｙｅｓｔｅｒｄａｙ　ｉｎ　ｊａｐａｎｅｓｅ　（ａｃｃｏｍｐａｎｉｅｄ　ｂｙ　ｓｉｇｎ　ｌａｎｇｕａｇｅ　ａｎｄ　ａ　ｆｅｗ　ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ　ｗｏｒｄｓ　ｔｈｒｏｗｎ　ｉｎ）　ａｂｏｕｔ　ｆｉｌｍｓ　ａｎｄ　ｔｉｍｅｓ　ｏｆ　ｆｉｌｍｓ　ａｔ　ｔｈｅ　ｃｉｎｅｍａ！　ｗｏｏｐ！ｘｘ