After 17 hours flight, with some dramatic turbulence over Germany (not quite Castaway level, but close) and two 20min bus journeys to and from the planes in Doha, I finally arrived in Japan. Passing through the 'Foreigners' section of passport control and the most polite customs officer I've ever met, I was looking forward to the 'Airport Limousine' service offered to the city for only 1000yen (150yen = 1GBP). Unfortunately this was the Japanese interpretation of 'Coach'. An hour of air-conditioned coach ride later I finally arrived at the hotel at 9pm local time, time for a desperately needed shower and change of clothes.

Having marveled at the simple soap and shampoo dispenser unit in the hotel bathroom, I thought it prudent to eat before drugging myself to sleep (the first attempt having only knocked me out for 3 hours). Despite it being the dead of night, the streets were bustling with locals and (I later found out) Chinese party go-ers ( The hotel was opposite the red-light district, of course this being japan the streets were cleaner and people more respectable than the center of Manchester on a weeknight). The humidity was also nearly unbearable, lick walking through a Turkish bath for blocks and blocks.

After fumbling around the streets nearest the hotel, I settled on a outside street vendor. I'd stumbled upon Osaka's specialty dish, 'Takoyaki', dumpling sized balls of squid in omelet. I ordered 3 of these in a giant crisp (bright orange, 30cm long and 10cm wide, peppery and looking like cardboard) and a beer by pointing at pictures and dug in.

Delicious and totally unlike anything I've eaten before, I ordered a second when 2 Italians joined the bar, and the owner's brother walked from across the street. He asked where they were from and tried talking about AC Milan, he then asked about me, to which I replied 'Manchester, England'

'Manchester....... Manchester United!?!' He was a very excitable chap and laughed a lot when I talked as much as i could about Man Utd (not much). His friend then joined the two owners and the Italian asked if I watched F1, after which I tried to talk about the drivers, while he talked about how Ferrari was better than any other team for a variety of reasons. After a couple of pints I decided to hit the hay. A great start to the expedition which culminated in instant sleep thanks to a small white pill.