September 7th 2012 - Day 1

The beginning of a long and hopefully very great adventure. For years I have loved Japan, and have talked about doing a gap year once I finished University. Well that has somehow spiralled and, with no idea how it happened, I have wound up working and living in Tokyo for 3 years.....not complaining just want to know which God I should thank first.

I wish i could say it was unbridled fun from the get go, but that is never the case with big stories. Once I'd said goodbye to my parents and the tears had stopped flowing I got on a plane and landed in tokyo at 5 a.m; no problems so far. Upon arriving at the hotel I have to stay in until my flat is furnished, the driver got into a little spat with a bus driver who couldn't get past him up the road; unnerving but nothing unusual if you've ever driven with my family members. No the first problem really arose when the hotel said they don't do check in until 2 p.m. For those who can do the maths, thats a long wait with nowhere to go since most of the shops in the area (Akihabara) don't open until 11 a.m, and this hotel has no internet service (a shocker for today's standards). Fortunately this problem was sorted by a simple exchange of "early registration fees" and I was able to dump my stuff of before rushing over to see a friend (At least I hope I can call her a friend since she works for my fathers company branch in Tokyo and has been very kind to me in helping me arrange several important procedures).

First meal of the new life - a delicious kara-age (fried chicken) in a Japanese mayonnaise (until I learn the proper names, that's all I can offer for description). And this friend has been very kind and collected my first 'inkan' (signature stamp) for me, which is simply bad ass in a way that will only be bad ass to Japan fans.

To keep myself going for the rest of day 1, I arranged to meet the estate agent I had been dealing with in the afternoon in order to collect the Keys to my First apartment ever. Which is conveniently situated in Akihabara - the centre of Anime and Manga in 5 known universes and heard of by 3 more. Once I had completed the paper work, and Spoken to him about arranging internet in the apartment asap, I had just about enough energy to buy a bento supper, and check emails in the nearby Starbucks (Yes, they literally are everywhere).

So although my First day can't be called a roaring success, it was one hell of a good start. And who knows, perhaps furniture shopping tomorrow will be enough to make my forget the faults of today.