Day 1 - Tokyo

Arriving in Tokyo with no sleep the night before and little sleep on the airplane, I was not particularly hungry, especially after having to eat not-so-nice airline food. I hopped onto an airport bus(no one takes taxis from the airport here, its ridiculously expensive) to meet Neil at Tokyo station. It was about 5pm when we met so he took me to an izakaya called Tofuro in Kyobashi, near Ginza .

As we stepped into the cavernous interior, my mouth began to water as I smelled the smoky air. Behind the bar, there was a charcoal grill where various things on a stick were grilled. With a bottle of Asahi Super Dry to get me going, I ordered a deep fried tuna thingy, some meat on a stick and a grilled anchovy rice ball(sorry I was too lazy to write down names).

I have a new love for partially cooked tuna, this was damm nice lah. Hell it didn't even taste like fish. Went well with the finely shredded leeks and onions that came on the side.

The grilled chicken rolls were freshly prepared, and we had the ones wrapped in beancurd skin and another 2 topped with the paste of some kind of fish roe. Too good!

More of a rice pyramid than a rice ball, but was warm and tasty.

I didn't want to order anything else as I wanted to have dinner later, so we left for Neil's apartment which is not in Tokyo but Baraki Nakayama, in Chiba prefecture, about 50minutes away by train from Ginza. Packing ourselves into the crowded subway, I got a taste of commuting during rush-hour on Tokyo's infamously packed trains. It was not that unpleasant but it seems that the Japanese have got no regard for personal space (Neil told me that if you get pushed, just push back). Arriving in the Baraki Nakayama station, we are greeted with noise coming from not one but 2 Pachinko palours. The ten minute walk in the cool air to Neil's flat was an insight to what suburbia in Japan is like.....boring.

Upon entering the apartment, I was just shocked by its sheer miniscule size .Neil did refer to it before as a shoebox, but standing in it just felt weird initially. I inspected the space for a minute, wondering how I was going to live in this tiny space with a chain-smoking, flatulent englishman. I guess I have to fight fire with fire...chain-smoke and get gassy myself.

The fart meister himself.

Showering is quite difficult. The bathroom feels like a port-a-loo. It is 1.2mx1.2m and holds the tub, WC and washbasin.The tub is short and narrow so I had to face the wall not the shower head while i bathed. Obviously not designed for plus-sized non-natives like Neil and I.

You can take a shit and brush yr teeth at the same time since everything is just next to each other.

After catching up with Neil over beer and sake, I started to feel comfortable in the shoebox but mebbe it was just the alcohol doing its magic. And as usual with excessive alcohol consumption, I started to get the munchies so Neil took me to the convenience store for some food. And we came back with food and more drinks. We cleared out the space between the bed and his desk and laid out a towel and had a little pignick on the floor. I had the curry rice, and Neil had a bento and we shared a Gyoza platter. Quite yummy for convenience food I must say.