It official, the Japanese are kinda crazy. Since I've been in happone I've been having a great time. The guys that live in the pal house are great and we've been out drinking several times and hang out in the common room every night. We meet up for every meal and have made some good friends in the short time I've been here. Work has been ok too. The job is simple and therefore mundane. i wipe down tables and clean away dishes and feed them into the dish washer. I've been made "hall captain" which simply means i get to tell the part timers what to do and when.

Xmas and New Year here were fun and also very similar. There is a local pub called "the pub" it's where all the gaijin in the area end up and when we go out this is where we go. Xmas eve was spent there as was new years and the staff now knows us by name which is kinda cool.

New Year 's Day I was surprised not to be hung-over and presumed I may still be drunk. i headed to work with Marcus as usual. By midday however I was starting to feel rough. Turns out i have the flu, and a good dose of it too. By the afternoon I had a fever and felt weak. I was coughing and generally felt like death. They tried to send me home a couple of times but I wasn't having it. i need money. That night I felt worse and was dizzy and a little delirious. I skipped work the following day. The manger of the building a little Japanese man that no one can understand and constantly laughs was good enough to bring me a steam machine and my meals from the kitchen he also gave me some green tea. About midday he told me I had a phone call....it was the hospital. i could understand very little but told them no thank you. I don't need to go to the hospital unless I'm dying or I've broken something. I spent the day necking orange juice and sweating out the flu while i slept. and by the evening i felt better but still had the cough. i went to work the next day.

Marcus is ill. He's coughing and spluttering and looks pretty unhealthy he lasted until about 10:30 before he asked to go home. This is when it got crazy. They said to him he had to go to the hospital and that I had to too. I feel great other than a cough and we are all wearing masks now. They were adamant. We had to go to hospital to check its not swine flu. We protested as much as we could, saying it wasn't necessary but they wouldn't back down. we got changed and headed back to the dorm. 30 mins later we were picked up and carted to the hospital which seemed more like a gp's. We were put in a room away from the waiting room and spent just over an hour in there. Both me and Marcus were asleep by the time they came for us.

I went first and some old nurse started pulling at my top so the doctor could stethoscope my chest and back. He spoke some English and I explained that yesterday I felt bad but today I just have a cough. He then said he was gonna do a test for influenza. I knew that meant he was gonna stick a thing up my nose so I lent my head back. The old nurse applied what felt like a sleeper hold that caught me by surprise. I resisted the jujitsu reflex to kick the old biddy's ass and this doctor shoved a stick so far up my nose I'm sure he tickled my brain. They carted me off to another room to wait for results and shepherded in Marcus for the same treatment. A few minutes later he was out and they put him in a different room too. We talked through the wall like a scene out of a prison movie. After 15 mins I was asked back in. I have "influenza type A" he prescribed "Tamiflu" and tried to give me fever medicine which I repeated that I did not need. Marcus was told that they were not sure what he had yet and that if he felt worse tomorrow to come back and they would test again...he was not impressed. Then they busted out the bill, 11,060 yen for me and 9,050 for Marcus. That's 2 days wages here, its around £70 also I've now had 2 days off work and they say I can't go back tomorrow as I'm still contagious. So I'm switching my holidays to cover the last 2 days. Means I've no holiday till the 12th now but it pays off the doctor. If Marcus goes back tomorrow he will most likely end up with another bill. Crazyness!!