Oho, this is too good to be true - my host family have internet!　Too good because I have a sneaking suspicion Japan, as my most `unknown` destination, is looking likely to yield 1001 interesting stories...

Even before I left England I started as I obviously mean to go on, as, James Bond-esque, I became the first person ever to have run the entirety of Heathrow Terminal 5 from security to plane in less than 7 minutes. Arriving with impeccable time at the new, incredibly glitzy T5, I quickly got onto the (in hindsight, admittedly last minute) task of travellers cheques. A disastrous and lengthy dealing with Travelex proved unfruitful, so mum and I raced to Thomas Cook...whilst being told that if I didn`t go through security in 2 minutes I would miss my plane. Words which struck terror into my heart! So, rather than the leisurely acquaintance with T5`s shop selection that I had hoped for, instead I ended up pelting through it, arriving panting and sweating onto a flight which had been calling `final passengers` but which was as yet barely full! Still, my spirits improved significantly when a tall, handsome man stepped on board...

11 hours is a lot of time to watch films in, the　undoing of someone like me. By halfway through the flight I had already watched 4 films, and was officially cross-eyed. The coolest moment came when we flew across what must have been Siberia. It looked like we`d gone to Mars!

I got a flavour for the Japanese with this trip alone - two things stuck out - about 20 minutes in I thought what IS that smell? A powerful fishy pong was in the air. The source was my two neighbours, enthusiastically chewing on dried cuttlefish. I actually don`t have a problem with eating it (the Chinese girls at school used to take great glee in force-feeding us stuff like this), but 2nd hand wafts of it are NOT GOOD. Second, was the noodle-schluuuurrrrping. This is something that, as a polite westerner, I am cringing to overcome! Thankfully Yumi, my homestay　hostess, is helping me achieve my slurp-potential.

Narita airport was a dream. So calm, clean and efficient. I whizzed through, rented a mobile phone, bought an underground pass and hey presto! Except, in spite of diligent pre-trip map study, I couldn`t for the life of me find Oshagie station. Cue for my knight in shining armour to appear - an extremely friendly Japanese policeman (or some authority figure), complete with huge grin, white gloves and a seemingly overwhelming desire to help me. Which we managed, in spite of not sharing a single word of mutual langue. He set me safely on my way to Oshagie...

...an hour and a half later, slightly dozy and overwhelmed with new impressressions of the Japanese, I arrived, and Yumi and Mai (my new best friend, and 1 year old `little sister`) were waiting.　Yumi is absolutely delightful, and we`re already pottering happily along, with her Englsh and my 。。。English. Though I`ve already mastered a few phrases of Japanese!

I`ve got a lovely little room wtih a tiny foldaway futon bed. It`s 8pm here now, but post my first little wonder round Asakusa`s temple, and dealing with thousands of schoolchildren deciding I was their most likely target to practise their English on, I was pretty wiped out, so I came back and conked out。

I`m already realising how difficult it will be to stumble round finding things with no words of English anywhere, but I find smiles and gesticulations are doing me well so far! Though I`ve yet to brave any eating establishments...(Yumi has today made me a delicious lunch and dinner, so I`ve not had to worry.)

Happy as Larry so far!　Will add my photos when I can figure it out on this computer xxx