Chapter 28 – My final weekend in Tokyo
Hey gang, thanks for tuning in. I’m writing this from my bed in my apartment in Takadanobaba where I woke up this morning for the last time. That’s right. It’s my final day in Tokyo. I haven’t slept well in about a week but that’s fine because there’s too much fun to be had and…
Chapter 27 – Kagurazaka and Kaiseki
As expected, I have been cramming my schedule with fun-filled activities in celebration of my final fortnight in Japan. I’d also quite like to wrap up this blog with thirty chapters, which means I’ve got to get a fair bit of blogging in before I board the plane. So here we are, chapter 27. Last…
Chapter 26 – Nice food I have eaten this month
When I got back to Tokyo from Okinawa last month, it dawned on me how little time I have left in Japan. The days are flying by at a distressing pace and I feel weepy, panicked and emotional when I think about the fact I have just under three weeks to say goodbye to this…
Chapter 25 – The most beautiful place in the world
So I arrived on Aka Island last Tuesday. Aka Island is this tiny island in the Pacific Ocean and, as referenced in the title of this blog post, objectively the most beautiful place in the world. It’s very remote – just a small village with a petrol pump, a cafe, a few guesthouses sparsely dotted…
Chapter 24 – Fun times in Fuji
On Saturday morning I took a bus from Shinjuku to Fujikawaguchiko with three of my friends from work. Lake Kawaguchi is one of the five lakes surrounding Mount Fuji and though on a clear day you can see Fuji-san from Tokyo, it’s much better close-up. Karl, Paul, Hana and I arrived around lunch time, ate…
Chapter 23 – Cod semen and kimonos
I had a really good weekend. Since my last blog post, I have infiltrated an entirely Japanese-speaking friendship group and I can confirm that as of Saturday I am one of the gang. A few weeks ago, Reishiro and I made some new friends when we were drinking in Nakano. The new friends, all of…
Chapter 22 – A third and final trip to Kansai
Hey guys. Happy Easter, happy birthday to my mum and happy national ramen day. What a Sunday, hey. As you might be able to infer from the elusive title of this blog post, I took my third trip to Kansai this week. It is with a heavy heart that I say it was also my…
Chapter 21 – A very uneventful February
Hi friends and family. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of my life. To be honest, nothing particularly exciting has been happening to me this month. February, I think, is the most boring month of the year. It’s cold and there’s nothing to look forward to. To be fair, the sky in Tokyo is…
Chapter 20 – Isolation? Don’t mind if I do
About this time a year ago, I was walking around the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno Park with my friend Akira and we were discussing my inability to spend time alone. It was February 2020. Coronavirus was this unthreatening disease in China and anyone who was actually worried about it was massively overreacting. Akira was…
Chapter 19 – November in Tokyo
Hey everyone. Long time no blog post! It’s the last day of November and it’s bloody freezing in Tokyo. It’s a nice kind of freezing though; a blue-skied, crisp air type of cold. My housemates have taken to setting the heating to 28°C for all the common spaces in our sharehouse, even the unoccupied ones,…
Chapter 18 – The Okinawa Diaries
Morning all. My ten-day trip to the Yaeyama Islands came to a close yesterday and I am now back in my bed in the city of Tokyo. Luckily for my avid readers, I kept a detailed diary of my adventures, which I have typed up below. Enjoy! Monday 19th 10:45AM I’m on the plane in…
Chapter 17 – A wonderful day to climb Nokogiriyama
Yesterday I escaped city life and ran for the hills with two of my friends, Drew and Azri. We spent a very long day scaling Mount Nokogiri in Chiba. Bright and bushy-tailed, we met at 9:30AM at Tokyo station before taking numerous lengthy trains to our designated station, Hama-Kanaya. It was just gone midday when…
Chapter 16 – A soak in the sento
We’re now half way into September and Japanese summer finally appears to be on its way out. The past month or so has been an interesting one to say the least. The second wave of COVID-19 cases hit hard at the end of July, although they currently seem to be simmering back down again. The…
Chapter 15 – A match made in Korea town
As you might remember from Chapter 13, I spent a week in early July in the Kansai region, predominantly Kyoto. Whilst I have since retracted my decision to up and leave Tokyo and re-settle in Kansai, I have stayed in touch with a few friends I made along the way, one of whom is Morris*.…
Chapter 14 – A birthday to remember
Hey guys. I am back from my weekend in Atami where I celebrated my 23rd birthday with seven of my housemates. Thank you to everyone who sent birthday messages and a special thank you to those of you posted Dairy Milk (you know who you are). Also thank you to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for…
Chapter 13 – Kansai Take 2
It’s Wednesday afternoon and I have just returned to work after a week-long holiday in the Kansai region. Whilst we are now over a month out of lockdown, on Saturday the governor of Tokyo urged all residents to refrain from making non-essential trips to other prefectures. Unfortunately I was already firmly planted in the Kyoto…
Chapter 12 – Shopping in Shibuya
It’s a very rainy day in Tokyo today. Nevertheless, I ventured out of the sharehouse firstly for content purposes and secondly because it now happens to be less than a month until my 23rd birthday. [Hint to anyone who wants to post me a card/present/dairy milk: postage takes about three weeks so the sooner the…
Chapter 11 – Japannabel goes dating
Japanese lockdown is over and so this week Japannabel ventured further into unchartered territories–the world of dating. Today was my day-off so I went on not one, but two dates. The territories actually weren’t that unchartered as my first date of choice was regrettably Duncan*, 26, Southampton. Disclaimer: this blog post gives no real coverage…
Chapter 10 – Michelin Star Ramen
Hello all! This post is coming to you live from the office as starting today I am officially back to work. The state of emergency has been lifted in Japan so hopefully things will be returning to usual over the next few weeks. (Sorry.) In my opinion, the best thing about Japan is the food…
Chapter 9 – Month one of isolation plus reminiscing about Kamakura
Hi everyone! Sorry for the recent radio silence. Not a lot has been happening on my end so there hasn’t been much point in putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard even. Tokyo is now five and a half weeks into its state of emergency and I am rapidly dropping all of my new…
Chapter 8 – Week one of isolation
Konnichiwa friends and family and Happy Easter! I hope everyone is doing well wherever you are isolating at the mo! Prime Minister Abe finally announced a state of emergency on Tuesday meaning that I have been off work as of Wednesday (semi-good news as I was meant to have a 7am lesson on Wednesday morning,…
Chapter 7 – Corona outbreak and cherry blossom season
Good morning everyone! I hope everybody is keeping themselves safe during this stressful time. Here’s an update on what’s happening over here: Yesterday it was finally announced that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be postponed until next year. So far in Japan, the situation has been very relaxed. I went back to work on Monday…
Chapter 6 – Kyoto (and a brief trip to Osaka)
Good evening friends and family! It’s been a couple of days since I got back from my four-day trip to Kyoto. I took a night bus back to Tokyo on Wednesday night, arriving at ten past seven Thursday morning and since then I have done nothing but catch up on sleep and rest that I…
Chapter 5 – Sarushima Island
Good evening friends and family! Today marks the end of my first week off work due to coronavirus. I should be back at work next Monday so until then I have a bit of time to do some Tokyo travelling. For my first week off work, I didn’t really get up to very much until…
Chapter 4 – Hakone
Hi everyone! Due to the recent coronavirus panic, I have been given two weeks off work so I have a bit of time to catch up on all my Japan-antics (Japantics?) since the last post. In case anyone is worried for my personal safety, I am almost one hundred percent sure that I won’t catch…
Chapter 3 – The Valentine’s Special
Hello friends! Welcome to post number san (three)! It’s been a while since my last post because I have been very busy with my first visitor. Kate landed at 7am on Friday 14th February and with her she brought a massive bar of Dairy Milk, which sits untouched in my drawer right now. Being the…
Chapter 2 – Shinjuku, Kichijoji and Setsubun
Evening everyone!! It is ten to twelve in Tokyo and I have just finished a very long day at work. This week has been full-on as I have completed my first full week of teaching. I am teaching one-to-one English lessons in a booth, so I have a variety of students who come and go…
Chapter 1 – My first week in Tokyo
Konnichiwa friends and family! Thanks very much for tuning in. I am happy to announce that I have completed my first week living in Tokyo and have (almost) completed my training for my new job so I am pretty much all settled in. After a fairly emotional 20 hour journey, I touched down in rainy…
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