"Oh my god I can't believe it, I've never been this far away from home"
-Oh My God, Kaiser Chiefs

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD COME TO JAPAN!!!! And I don’t mean it in the “What kind of mistake have I made in coming here and must recruit other unfortunate souls to make the move with me.” No, I mean it in the “This is incredible and I can’ believe it” sort of way.

So why should you come visit us in Japan? I offer you a selection:

Karaoke- It’s all in private rooms (nice ones, not like seedy ones in Toronto). For a mere 780 yen per hour (about $7 Cdn), you get an hour of karaoke…but wait! There’s more: UNLIMTED DRINKS. Of the alcoholic variety. Who cares if you even sing? You can just drink and sing louder. I made my Japanese karaoke debut with U2’s “Desire.” We’ve been twice in the 4 days I’ve been here, one nigh of which there was many a drink spilled, along with some ketchup and mayonnaise. Note to Shane: Although I would have agreed that "Bohemian Rhapsody" may not be the best choice, there are the rare occasions when too much free drinks make it sound a whole lot better...especially if you're jumping on a couch. I would say that it's "hey Jude" that no one really wants to hear because it's all fun and games until you realize that the song never ends and no one wants to sing the "Na na na na...Hey jude" 2 dozen times.

Food- not only delicious but so much cheaper than in Canada. Sure, there’s still the famed $30 perfectly round watermelon, but $23 of groceries here would have cost about $55 in Toronto. I have had so many delicious things to eat including grilled cheese sandwiches (very Japanese). Also of delicious note is Mos Burger, the burger chain here which is fantastic. As well, for about $9.50 you can get 3 course meals: salad, bread, pasta, and 2 desserts for that price. Or a little gyoza (dumpling) dinner with beer, soup, salad, and dessert for $7 a person. Since I love food, I’m in heaven.

The scenery- it is fantastic everywhere. Fukushima is surrounded by mountains. In act, on one of these mountains we are going to take up “ninja training” where we can run obstacle courses and become ninjas. I haven’t decided on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles persona yet…possibly Donatello or Michelangelo. Whichever one was the bigger jerk.

HMV- Yes, I know, you all have HMV’s too and the reason I was able to afford this trip was by NOT shopping at HMV. Pleased to say that my fist purchase in Japan was at HMV…I bought a Q magazine, one of my favourite beloved British imports which in Toronto can cost $13…but here: $8 and that includes the CD (this month was 14 cover songs by cool artists like Franz Ferdinand, Editors, Nick Cave, etc.) HMV has awesome vinyl records that are all in Japanese except for “Kaiser Chiefs” or something like that- I don’t know what they say but they are special. I also discovered an awesome Japanese band called Asian Kung-Fu Generation which sounds brit-popy.

People- okay Fukushima is a small town, but in Tokyo I saw the best thing ever: A woman. In a suit. With high heels. Walking a pot bellied pig on a harness. Also, gentlemen, 20-something Japanese women are the most gorgeous creatures I have ever seen…the men, not so much. But seriously male population, they love foreign men here…
The dollar store- 100 yen shops are amazing. Puts Dollarama to shame. Clearly these are the greatest shops on earth where you can get everything from towels and tea sets to pirate hats.


Tokyo- there is so much going on that it’s incredible. Planning to hit it up again next weekend for some dancing (I was told its techno-y pop music, so insert collective sigh here as I will enjoy it ironically).

Signs and t-shirts- The Japanese want to use English. It doesn’t matter if it is being used in the correct order or if it even makes sense, but the results are all awesome. Example: A shirt that said “Twin Sister Cherries. When am I to be happy? Any time the weather is nice on good Sunday.” Or this sign, which made me laugh:

And apologies to everyone who sent me emails that I didn’t have time to get back to before I left. Our internet connection is also very temperamental here- it comes in and out if we even get a signal at all. I’ve seen some incredible things so far so I will update my legitimate travel blog with details and pictures of all things travel-related and will try not to repeat everything. As well, fellow ex-3rd Lanarkerers, our old res fellow Natalie Bay sent me the liink to her photography portfolio site, including many a picture from when she spent time in Japan teaching English (after graduating wiht her film degree...like me!)

"It don't matter to me, 'Cos all I wanted to be, Was a million miles from here"