My apologies for failing to update yesterday! After my standard breakfast I felt a little bit under the weather, not ill persay, but very weak. Deciding I was suffering from exhaustion, I resolved to have a quiet day in and around the hotel, only advancing beyond its confines to visit the local convenience store for supplies. I did watch a lot of news on the CNN channel provided in my room and I was amazed by the snowy nature of the UK. I was also disappointed to note the disruption to the Olympic Torch procession through our capital. Although I do not agree with Chinese policy in Tibet, I would like to support the approach taken by Paula Radcliffe amongst others, namely that the Olympic games should be about the pinnacle of sporting achievement, not politics.

Anyway, enough of the deep and meaningful comments! Today I started, as usual, with a simple yet hearty breakfast a the hotel. I did, however, discover two things that I wish I had noticed before. The first of these was the supply of English Tea sachets (as much as i have grown to love green tea during my time here, I have been starting to crave a good old cup of English!). The second was a supply of Japanese breakfast soup. Not unlike cup-a-soups back home, these were created by merely adding hot water to a powder, and would have gone some way towards providing me with cheap evening meals. Resolving to provision myself for the days ahead on the morrow, I departed the hotel for the morning.

My first port of call today was to be the local post office, in order to send a package home to England. I was pleasantly surprised at the cost of this, around three pounds for both the box and the postage. On leaving the facilities, however, I was completely caught out by the weather. On my entrance to the Post Office, the day had been dry and bright, if a little cloudy. On my departure from the aforementioned public facility, the clouds had opened and let forth a incessant, if not heavy, rain shower. In search of cover, I decided to sample one of Osaka's many trendy cafe-bars. The place I chose was Chic personified, complete with overhead spot lighting and flat screen TVs. It was a very well presented joint, and the warm tea after the surprisingly cold rain went down a treat. I would have stayed longer in this establishment but for two things. Firstly, it was not the cheapest place I had stopped, the cost of one cup of tea exceeding that of the postage of my package to England. Secondly, it was here that the language barrier was at its most immovable, and rather than sit in silence on my own, I decided to seek pastures new.

After this I attempted to further my exploration of Osaka. Luckily for me, most of the city is set out in what I would call a Colonial style, meaning it is formed of equal size blocks of buildings. This makes it easy to wander in ever increasing circles without getting too disorientated. I was, however, quickly defeated by the awful weather and return to the hotel to dry off. I did stop off at a local store to buy my lunch, a Japanese style sandwich, and some crisps covered in chocolate that had been introduced to me on my first night in Tokyo by Ken.

I spent a fair bit of time in the afternoon keeping out of the rain and trying to sort out the next leg of my trip, the move down the coast to Hiroshima. It was during this time that I had a chance to collate some of my thoughts on my experiences so far. One of things that has really surprised me so far is the fact that the people in Japan and are so friendly and trustworthy, always willing to help. An example of this is that in a country of many bicycles, I am yet to see one chained up when it is not in use. They are just left standing on the side of the road, and they are still there when they get back. To do so in a town like Reading in the UK would be paramount to mobility suicide! I also had a chance to revise my newly acquired Japanese, which I am proud to say has been increasing by at least one a day since I have arrived hehe! I can say hello/goodbye, please/thank you, yes/no, station, cheers (as in with drinks), delicious, how much and the numbers 1-5 and 9-10 from memory. Not that that leaves me with many viable sentences lol!

After I while I gave up trying to outlast the rain, and left the hotel in search of food. As I wandered away, I came across a fantastic Irish bar, right in the middle of a very Japanese style area. Intrigued, I entered, to find I was the only person in the bar. The place turned out to be fairly expensive, but I decided as it was my last night in Osaka to stop and treat myself to some Irish bitter and Japanese food, a surprisingly innovative mix. The atmosphere in this Irish-cum-Japanese establishment was brilliant and solely created by the host, a man by the name of Mito. He told me how he was very proud of the door to his pub, as it was genuine English and featured stained glass, a art form they do not have in Japan. In his broken English and my even more crippled Japanese we talked about everything from football and rugby to the comparison of English and Japanese trains, my trip to the events in Tibet and the British smoking ban. It was a great evening, and I was sad to have leave when I did, but I had to return to my abode in order to start packing, for tomorrow I leave Osaka and head off to Hiroshima, my last stop on my quick-fire tour of Japan.