Japan: It's like a dream.

Morning all! Or, ohayo gozaimasu ^_^

6am from our hostel after our first (very early!) night. Managed to beat the weather and me, Emma and Antonia have reached TOKYO, Japan! When we landed we were greeted by beautiful winter weather- clear blue skies and very bright, warm sunlight. Really lovely change from the current drizzle and darkness from the UK... I only saw the sun in England once in the two weeks I was back from Fiji on Christmas day.

So far, Japan is really exciting and a has lots of things we expected and lots of things unexpected. Initial toilet experience - crazy electronic Japanese toilets! Even in our youth hostel the loos have heated seats (which was quite surprising) and about 12 different buttons which look terrifying and we're avoiding!People are extremely friendly and I'm really surprised at how far my broken Japanese is getting us. It's really, really fun getting to speak Japanese and I'm really glad People are responding! There's lots of English signage which is amazing as otherwise the trains and roads would be impossible- it's just huge here! However, it's interesting (and confusing) as only main roads are named. Other streets aren't named and buildings are given numbers according to when they were built, not ascending along the road. So, maps can be very confusing, but the plethora of 7/11 convenience stores, tiny family-run restaurants and shrines make navigating from landmarks a bit easier.

I'm aware we've only been here less than 24 hours, but we haven't got lost on the trains or roads yet!! As we got the train from Narita, where the airport is to Tokyo it was so amazing looking out the window. It's strange, it felt similar but not quite. There's squares of farmland like England and I guess the climate is the same, but dotted in-between the fields are houses built in Japanese style. The architecture of the domestic houses is really lovely and looks so archaic and old fashioned. We slowly saw the city build up into a metropolis as the train gathered ground and the in-between houses turned into cylindrical apartment buildings and the fields replaced by taller and taller buildings fronted with neon adverts. It was interesting to see Shinto cemeteries which would be in the towns and also, just seeing living Japan all around. On our train people were watching tv on their phones and outside on the roads would be lots of Toyotas and bicycles!

It's strange, after years of watching Japanese films and anime and reading manga and Japanese novels, the scenes around me didn't feel that foreign at all. In fact, I felt strangely at home. Even the sounds of the numerous level crossings were familiar (they feature very importantly in a great film that's a favourite of mine 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'). I've been a Japanophile for more than 10 years, when I was 6 I first asked if we could go on holiday to Japan (!), and so being here feels a bit like a dream and a lot like the culmination to a massive achievement.... But to summarise 'Suki desu!' - I love it!