The first week

The first week has been full-on. There's been a lot to absorb. I'm still coming to terms with the levels of social hierarchy here - it's pretty evident how service attendants at shops and hotels put themselves below you, which I'm not completely comfortable with to be honest.

I left Osaka on Monday the 19th, and took the train to Kyoto. As soon as I stepped out of the station there I was in a completely different place. It's really beautiful. The city itself is bordered by mountains on three sides, and from all angles there are temples and pagodas carving out their outlines in the distance. I decided to stay in more of an upper class Ryokan, and I was blown away by the level of service. There are traditionally robed attendants everywhere - making sure you have absolutely everything you need. The room itself was really nice. The flooring was traditional Japanese Tatami mats - very high quality and to a certain extent I was nervous that I may accidentally mark them or spill something on them. You have to take off shoes before walking on the floor too - it's a huge deal if you don't respect this custom.

In the morning I was brought Japanese breakfast by a couple of lovely old ladies. Their English was quite poor (and my Japanese is even worse), but they were perfectionists and would even kneel right down and bow their heads to the ground as they closed the door and left the room. The breakfast itself consisted of rice, fish, miso soup, tea, tofu and a few other little salad and dressing type dishes. Actually, each food had its own special little dish, beautifully decorated - either painted or carved. I even like the coffee better in Japan. Perhaps they use different coffee beans, or maybe I'm just imagining it, but it's really nice - even the hotel coffees!

I had a look at quite a lot of temples and touristy stuff in Kyoto - simply amazing!! Some of the highlights were Sanjusangendo temple, with 1001 Buddhas standing like an army on one side of a long hall, and Kiyumizu-dera temple, a huge big wooden temple sitting on the east side of the mountain range looking down on the city.

At night-time, Geishas (or Geiko as they like to call themselves in Kyoto) wander the streets accompanied by wealthy looking businessmen, or just in ones or twos if they are apprentice Geisha. Some of the seedier streets are lined with girls bars and 'massage' parlours, and the hustlers will try to get you to come as you walk past.

I left Kyoto yesterday and arrived in Tokyo by bullet train, called Shinkansen, which took about 3 hours. Every time you stop at a station you're greeted with some sort of videogame chiming music, and each station seems to have its own chime - pretty cool and funny.

I checked into my hotel in Tokyo and saw an Aussie guy who was staying at the same hotel as me in Osaka. I said gday and we had a few beers and decided to go out on the town with an asian friend he was travelling with. We went by train to Roppongi district, which is full of clubs and bars, but it was raining so there wasn't a huge crowd. The drinks are ridiculously expensive in Japan - sometimes the equivalent of 20 Aussie dollars just for a bottled beer like a Corona. It's so easy to spend too much money, and one needs to be aware of just how much they are handing over when paying for a 1000 yen drink.

Tomorrow I've arranged to go in to ANZ's Tokyo branch for 2 hours and have a look at how they do things in the business world. I'm expecting to get some more shocks and I'll just try to absorb as much as I can.

I'm sure I've forgotten heaps of things, but unfortunately this internet service at the hotel is about $7 an hour so I'll post again in a few days. Yeah?