2nd Oct 2006

Right... I've been intending to write this since I got here but have been a horrible combination of being horribly jetlagged and run off my feet doing the most boring and essential things in moving oneself to the otherside of the world...this is an overview of the first 4 (or so) days in Tokyo, Japan.

Had spent last night, and more of the early hours of today than is sensible, packing and repacking all my junk into dad's suitcase, only to discover that it's broken in more than one way. The zippers are missing the convenient little tag which enables un-zipping and re-zipping with greater ease than threading an needle with frayed thread...not only this but the exentdable pull along handle (making any suitcase, irrespective of size, a nuisance to any one with or without legs trying to negotiate someone using said suitcase, for experience of this just go to Waterloo station at rush hour and try and get from one end of the concourse to the other...say platform 1 to the Eurostar terminal... in the shortest time possible) refuses to extend. Despite dad's assertions of the positive aspects with regard to the security of the contents and existence of a top handle to lugg all 50million kilos* of the carfully selected items i refuse to leave behind Quan is *amazing* and seeks out a suitable replacement so that i don't have to try and buy a humungous suitcase today... he enlists Jo's help, who kindly (thank you soooo much) donates her suitcase, with more wheels than is really necessary, to the war effort.Bearing in mind that my ticket (which also says that it cost GBP2675?!?!??!?!?) says that i'm only allowed 20kg of checked baggage and that i have more than 30kg judging by the bathroom scales...which i seriously think *LIE*...and having already packed all my lead-based text books into my handluggage regulation carry on wheely bag [of-people-stupid-enough-to -even-contenplate-walking-behind-me doom] and anything else heavy... i'm left with the dilemma of what to take out from the monster suitcase...after removing 2 items i manage to find other things around the house that i forgot to pack and have probably already made backup +extra what i just took out. Sod it, i say...i'll just try my luck at the check-in desk and cry if they don't let me on...

Anyway, after doing the suitcase equivalent to the 'hokey-kokey' with the contents of said suitcase in a vain attempt to loose some weight... i was packed. ish. Hence, finally go to bed...
SO. This morning, mum drops me off at Morden station, i make my way to the Japanese Consulate in Green Park to collect my visa...which all goes rather too well...suspicious...it's even free, which is nice. Then head over to Covent Garden Marks and Sparks to buy some money...because i'm a retard and forgot that if you buy foreign currency on your credit card you get charged a cash advance fee *DUH*...anyway i now have some money to buy things like bus fare and sushi when i actually get there.

I wonder back via the map shop....which doesn't happen to have any bilingual tokyo city maps...but buy one of the whole of japan instead...mainly because it looks pretty and might encourage me to travel outside Tokyo and see some sights, god-forbid i should leave the lab...

Eventually get home at about 1pm. To check my luggage again..

We leave for the airport past 3pm and get there ridiculously early so i attempt to check in. weirdly all the staff of Japan Airlines keep talking in japanese to me until they see the puzzelled look in my eyes and then try english...had to refrain from saying anything incrinimating...not even for the fun of it... So, i get called to a desk and try to haul my suitcase on to the conveyor belt...it's not that i'm weak, it's just that the suitcase is stronger...does not look good. i nervously squint at the digital dial which tells you how bad you are at packing and it hits 31.6kg...not bad...taking into account the hand luggage wheely bag that mum is babysitting out of sight from the counter staff is about 20kg...hmmm that's near my body weight in stuff...hmmmm :S i get ready to wail at full pelt. The dude at the counter, looks at the digital display and then at me and asks 'so, what are you doing in Japan then?' ...i whimper 'i'm going to study' fully expecting him to tut at me and tell me i need to pay my life savings in excess baggage fees...but yet nothing...he looks at my passport and we're good to go! hurrah!!! :D not only that but apparently i'm allowed to use the 'buisness lounge'...hmmmm

i'm so relieved i could implode...i bounce over to where mum is sitting and blurt out the good news...well it's exciting for me. Dad turns up from parking the car in outer mongolia...the terminal 3 carpark is currently being destroyed for the fun of it and the replacement appears to be in another county. oh well, i don't have to walk back there...and i've got 30kg on to the plane so who cares!?!

we hunt for a place to sit for a coffee...and wait for Quan to arrive from work...dad takes photos of us, presumably so he doesn't forget who i am or what everyone else looks like. we give up on the coffee and i'm escorted to the departures...an unexpectedly (but very nice) farewell to my family and i'm getting my passport checked...then X-ray, reveals that someone has to look through my hand luggage, which means unpacking the damn thing...and that i have to RE-pack it AGAIN. at least they aren't trying to destroy anything from there...i make my way to boots, the only place that will sell toothpaste plane-side of the security checks only to find that there's a toothpaste shortage...panic-buying has engulfed the plane-travelling public. By the time i have bought things to make sure my skin doesn't completely dehydrate an hour into the flight it's time to head to the gate....ahhhh no time for the buisness class lounge of joy...such a shame :(getting on the plane is fine, it's the trying to lift 20kg of handluggage when you're only meant to have a max of 10kg into an overhead bin whilst staying out of the isles and not falling over backwards form the weight which is the challenge. the Japanese guy sitting behind me gives me a hand...injuring my collossal ego no end.

the flight i mainly preoccupied with watching Luckly Slevin, Da Vinci Code, eating vegan meals (not bad....the first one was really good! but the second involved the trauma of microwaved tinned asparagus...) napping and stealing cutlery...i haven't packed any OKAY?!?! they probably don't even have forks in Japan... oh yeah, and i find out that i needn't have bought the toothpaste in Heathrow...they have lots of little toothbrushes in the plane toilets! hurrah! i can clean my teeth! nice...

*may be a slight exaggeration...