My blog from my last trip to Tokyo met a somewhat untimely end after I started doing intense, serious research (read: having too much fun). Now thanks to a wonderful exchange programme that Cambridge has with Nihon University, I am now back for a 3 month course of Japanese and for more curry doughnuts.
My story can only begin with the journey because things didn't exactly go smoothly. Firstly, I managed to tip 250ml of water into my handbag, saturating the contents, including my boarding pass. It was still legible but despite my protestations, the lady at the gate referred me to another desk in order to get it reprinted. I promptly approached this desk with the announcement of "Hello! I am water leakage girl!" Don't ever refer to "leakage" and yourself in the same sentence unless you want people to regard you with barely-concealed horror.
To top off this general leakage theme, I managed to get the seat on the plane with the fold-out tray that doesn't lie straight. The wonderful slant angles everything towards my lap. In an attempt to cut a slice of chicken breast, I near-catapulted a cup of apple juice over the elderly Japanese man next to me.
So....so far so good. After being greeted at Narita and then Shinjuku station, Antony and I lugged our stuff into the taxi and then into our raaaather nice accommodation (bedroom, kitchen, bathroom - and spacious by Tokyo standards!) to then be given a tour of the area where we're staying: Shimotakaido. Now, it's only 5 mins walk to that station but somehow we ended up..."admiring the view" along several other streets before we finally found our way back. By that point, I had been on the go for 26 hours. Whew.
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Today, my fellow students and I took a stroll round Asakusa and Ueno in the unusally high temperatures for this time of year (33degC+) but the not-so-unusual humidity. Highlight was possibly watching the wildlife in the the lake in Ueno Park. Turtles and carp and a duck all battled valiantly for bread. As a result, I can now introduce you to a world exclusive game: Duck, Fish, Turtle. Rules are the same as Rock, Paper, Scissors. Duck beats fish, fish beats turtle, turtle beats duck. Invent your own hand signs as necessary.
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