Godzilla found, inhibitions lost

And so, 2015's six lucky and determined Daiwa Scholars have arrived in Tokyo, complete with more luggage than a rubgy team (the Tokyo Unviersity Rugby team on the same flight were certainly travelling lighter than us), enough Yorkshire Tea to cause a shortage back home and enough Japanese to get into a taxi to the hotel. We had hoped he would ask us 'what is on the table?' as we are really good at answering that one, thanks to Lesson 4 of 'Japanese for Busy People'. Sadly, that one will have to wait.

I've been here 12 days now and am really enjoying this 'I'm in Tokyo!!!' realization time before the mission of actually LEARNING JAPANESE kicks off on Friday 2nd October at Naganuma School. Very excited, little bit nervous...

So highlights so far: Watching a Gagaku performance (court music) at a shrine for the Autumn equinox, going to a cat cafe, stumbling across festivals, going to an onsen (natural spa heated by geothermal activity where you bathe naked - hence inhibitions lost!) eating lots of tempura, going to a massive craft fair, speaking to incredibly patient people in Japanese, getting dressed up as schoolgirls and taking 'kawaii' photos, finding out what food is actually veggie and what contains 'surprise meat', wandering around and generally gawking at everything (Godzilla!)....and getting lost, in a good way.

Oh and importantly, finding a flat! A beautiful flat at that - traditional tatami flooring and a paper 'shoji' sliding door - yes! However the next list of things to do include buying a washing machine...which sounds less fun than exploring Tokyo, but pretty darn necessary.

Till next post - which will be after starting school! So it may possibly contain some Japanese - be prepared.

Yushima Seido temple near Akihabara

Hie Shrine where the gagaku was performed (apologies for blurriness, my camera has difficulties with dusk!)

First full sentence I could understand: 'The entrance is over there'. Simple but successful!

O-matsuri (festival) moving through the streets of Ikebukuro

View from the observation deck at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building