Catch-up Post 1: Traveling and Initial Days

Well, day one started with us (Japan volunteers or JPK as we like to be known) all meeting up at the airport and getting through the check-in bit fine with our web tickets and we even got to bump quite a few people in the line since we messed up the automated machine. Soon after this though Tom was stopped for having two bags when only only one is allowed so after a bit of shifting of luggage into the rest of our bags and the putting on of about 5 layers Tom was able to get through the gates. We then had a decent, however delayed flight to Paris. This late flight meant that we missed our connecting plane, which of course at the time was very scary, but we managed to sort it all out and we were put on spare seats on the next flight to Tokyo. I was next to a Japanese man who slept about 85% of the time and the other 15% of the time watched movies. He did however talk to me a couple of times when he had been asleep and I gave him the stuff they were handing out, or when I woke him up for tea and he returned the favour for me for breakfast. He also showed me Mount Fuji out of the window as we were coming down in Japan. The girl next to me however, slept approximately 99.9% of the time, as when entering and exiting the place she was surprisingly awake for a change.

Arriving in the airport we had to fill out the forms and things, which took quite a long time as our job description `volunteer‘ confused Japanese customs. We finally got through that only to be met with the pleasant surprise that our bags wouldn’t arrive till later in the week. I was quite gutted because this now meant I had no toiletries of any kind since I`d slipped them in my main bag to avoid the fuss of the whole liquids thing.

Anyway, after posting our bags to our various workplaces across Japan we waited around in the airport to get the bus to Shibuya. We finally got into Tokyo after driving through some rather amazing views of the countryside and then later on the city itself (even Rainbow Bridge). We arrived at a very posh hotel and all though (wahoo!) only to be greeted by Yukiko who promptly informed us that this was not where we were staying. She took us to the top of Carrot Tower for us to see Tokyo from over 20 floors up and also to eat. It was here we also met Satomi and Kouichirou (who was renamed to Jack later that night) who took us to our hotel and then out to the restaurant in Shibuya where we were later going to meet back up with Yuki. We didn`t go straight there though, we were taken to a `Purikura` which I think is short for `Purinto Kurabu` which is a club with a lot of photo taking machines, all of which produce stickers at the end that you can draw on. It’s pretty hard to explain but when I get some pictures up on here you`ll see what I am talking about. To the meal afterwards, Yuki also brought her friend Mai and we all had some really random food and things before heading back to the hotel for some well deserved sleep, however I didn`t go to sleep without checking what crazy stuff would be on television. Luckily for me there was some Japanese wrestling that involved a fat guy who spat green paint on people against a woman and Tajiri, the old WWE star. It was immensely random, but after that match was over I went to sleep.

We got up and had a fun filled, however confusing breakfast including rice and some odd potato dish. We got up early so we could get to Akihabara in decent time and we took the Yamanote line (the main line in Tokyo) to get there. We looked around for a bit but didn’t have much time unfortunately, but we managed to get some arcade gaming in (which Tom claimed himself amazing at). We got the train back and met Mai back near Shibuya. She took us for a walk to Yukiko`s office in Sangen-jaya. In the office we received our time tables for the initial few days as well as witness some strange noodles and just generally talked to Yuki and Mai. About an hour or so later went up to Ikebukuro to the `Bosaikan` which means `Natural Disaster Building`. This building was filled with several sections each for learning how to cope with disasters. There was a fire extinguisher room, an earthquake room and a smoke maze. After this we took a quick trip to Harajuku and went for a snack (I had some awesome pancakes). While walking around we also were handed some Dragon Ash fans and flyers so I was pretty happy about that. (For those who are unaware, Dragon Ash is my favourite band). Later, we once again met Yukiko for tea. This time we had Shabu-Shabu, a traditional Japanese style of cooking. You get a hot pot (between several people) which has oil or soy or another kind of hot liquid in it and you cook your own meat and vegetables in it. It`s quite similar to Fondue, like an Asian version of that. It`s name comes from the way you shake the article you are cooking. After this we went for a wander around town with Mai, Yukiko and Jack. We hit a couple of arcades to play the Taiko Drum game and then of course when to another Purikura. Later on in the evening after Jack and Yukiko had gone home, Mai took us to an all night karaoke session, which we managed to do from 11pm to 5am, even after thinking this an impossible feat before we went in. I even tried to Dragon Ash songs, but my reading is a bit too slow for some of them just yet…

Anyhow, that`s how the first few days went. I hope you have enjoyed finding out what I have been doing. Unfortunately, I don’t have time to write about anything in detail, but once I have caught everything up, the new stuff will definitely be in detail and more entertaining, I promise!