Basically...
Japan was great. Everything was so different there and it was weird to get used to some things. Bars are generally tiny and stacked up on eight floors with a bar on each floor. You can never really look in to see if you like the look of it first, so you either need to just take some chances or get recommended places to go. We managed to bump into an American who had relocated there and his Portugese friend one night and they took us to a couple of cool places. The best bar we went to was a tiny, really dark bar with the best selection of music. You basically had any punk/metal/rock cd that had ever been made to choose from, and you just told the girl working behind the bar what band you wanted via a book and a torch. Then she'd bring a bunch of that band's cds for you to choose from. It was great and would easily be my favourite bar ever at home I think. Some random Japanese guy in a suit hung out with us in there too after he got excited when I put on AC/DC.
We went to the fish market in Tokyo one morning. It all kicks off super early in the morning with the fishermen bring the fish in and there being an auction for it all. We missed that (I don't even think you're allowed in when it's on), but then after they're all preparing the fish (meaning slashing some fish throat) and setting up their stalls. It was mental/hectic/super interesting. Then we had sushi at one of the places just off the market bit. It's obviously insanely fresh and was pretty good. I'm not really a sushi fan, but I gave it a reasonable go and only really disliked the squid (which I didn't recognise as squid, and wouldn't have even tried if I'd known).
On the last day we went to the first day of the sumo championships. It was definitely the best thing we did on the trip. Sumo's a superb sport to go and watch live. It starts fairly early with the lesser known/not as good wrestlers, and goes on through to the early evening when the big boys come to play. We had to leave early unfortunately as we had to get to the airport, and it was annoying because the atmosphere was really starting to get lively. The bit we saw was great too though. The matches are fast and furious with a very short time between them. Also, the arena doesn't fill up with spectators until later on when the bigger fights are on, so you can sit wherever you want until then. We went down and sat on the floor right next to the ring (literally about two metres away). It was absolutely amazing - the intensity/noises/sweats/smells/flab really makes it come alive when you're up that close. The best moment was when some dude got thrown face down out of the ring and into the bare floor right next to one of the judges and right in front of us.
Other than that we visited a ton of different areas of Tokyo. There was Akihabara which is an electronic town with loads of electronic shops which are mental, and arcades full of young males. In the arcades there are all sorts of games machines, and then some totally pervy stuff like the maid cafes where they go and get served by Japanese girls dressed as maids. There's definitely some weird things going on in those arcades. We also went and checked out a few temple-y type things and the Imperial Palace, and then a few other suburbs with cool shops and whatever. Oh and this place where you pay to go in to this place where they just keep a bunch of cats and have them in fake trains/houses and let them roam around and stuff. The Japanese (mainly girls) pay to go in and pet them and stuff as noone really seems to have pets. It's weird.
Anyway, that'll do for Japan. All of you I'll see when I'm back can have the stories told better, the places described better, and see a couple more photos. It's too hard to write about everything!
The next blog will cover Melbourne so far!
