In Japan

Here are some pics so far of the visit, the one`s on the coast are near a shrine about 30 minutes to the coast from Anjo. Can`t remember the name. The other is Nagoya city from the Mall next to the Shinkansen station.

The shrine goes right out on to an island, you can walk there by bridge. Lot`s of people come here at this time of year for wishing good luck. Some students come everyday praying for good exam results etc.

You can shake a can for about 50P which gives out a random prediction of love, luck and life. Mine was rather unlucky according to a translation. Nether the less I tied this piece of paper with my unfortunate fortune to a tree near by with hundreads of others. It`s very peacefull around the shrine, you can make also a wish at the main shrine building.

It takes about 20 mins to walk from the coast across to the island but it`s well worth it.

These photo`s were taken with a Digital mini Olympus. The camera`s out here a very cheap 30% less than the UK and about 2 years ahead in models and technology.

I`ve also brought my Lomo L-CA so I`ll post some pics when I get back to the UK.

Konichiwa,

Well I`m currently in Japan, so I thought it may be interesting to do you a few blog entries while I`m over here (1 month).

I`m staying with a friends family just outside of Nagoya. The flight over here　was pretty painless, as I was given a free upgrade to business class from the Frankfurt connection. Lot`s of people are coming home and travelling at this time of year so the flight somehow was overbooked. I`ve never flown business class before because the cost is simply astronomical. People who were I thought we`re either in the same boat as me; Pretending I do this all the time or had it paid for them by their employer.

A few things struck me when I arrived in Japan. Firstly this is an extremely safe place to live and work. Japan seems to look after everybody, old and young. I noticed that older drivers have a heart shaped sticker in the rear Window, so that other drivers are aware.

To travel to Nagoya I caught a train from Osaka, about 1.5 hours south of Nagoya. Before I was allowed on the train a team of young cleaners smartly dressed in jump suits whisked around pretending to clean a train from the Camden underground. Fortunately it wasn`t, this was a Shinkansen which was already spotless. I just wanted to jump on and rest my tired legs but there was a saftely chain preventing me at the entrance to the train.

Whilst out shopping I popped into Uni Clo for some bargain hunting. The shop assistants are so polite. They have this way of making you feel wanted and important. They`re tone is sweet and a small bow is included upon completion of a transaction.

Flicking through some magazine fodder (Flash - how Apt!) in a cafe I noticed there are smatterings of soft porn. This isn`t a top shelfer or anything like that it`s the equivalent of a gossip magazine combined with a sunday supplement. It`s basically for everyone and it`s everywhere.　In Japan there are strict controls on what you can and cannnot see in adult films, unlike the UK. Without going into details there are pixilations of `bits`. Anyway, this got me thinking that it`s kind of put in your face so that there is no big mystery and no demand for censorship rights to the adult films? To me this is an intelligent way of protecting people from becoming corrupt at an impressionable age?

So far my forth day I haven`t got up to much apart from Kareoke and a mega Posh Tempura meal (Arigato, Okasan!!). My friend has been catching up with family etc. Tonight I`m off somewhere which is a suprise for my Christmas present so hopefully my experience will become richer.

P.S I had my first blow fish yesterday and I`m still alive!

I thought I would start my first blog entry with some Smena pictures. This is a cheap russian camera which is part of the Lomo family. I bought it off a Russian guy on eBay for £12. The results are rather random which something I like about it.