Day 58: Last day in Tokyo

I spent most of the day packing and cleaning, it needed to be done so it wasn't like I wasted the day. I had to prepare mind and body for my Sayonara Party. It was going to be a tough evening saying goodbye to all my friends :(. I had decided to go for the "GO OUT ALL NIGHT, GET THE FIRST TRAIN HOME AND THEN GO STRAIGHT TO THE AIRPORT" option because my flight to Seoul was at 9.15am... Only god could tell me if I would achieve this. It seemed doubtful though. When I had gotten myself ready I headed to Shinjuku to meet everyone. Nat grabbed my ass at the crossing so her and Alex was first to arrive and then everyone arrived at once at Studio Alta. Some people were running late so we just headed to the restaurant to meet the others. It was only round the corner which was useful and we said our hellos. Lots of people didn't know each other so we went round the table and said our names and where we were from. Turns out we had like 9 nationalities there - i'mma so multicultural gurrrlll.

The meal was delicious (apart from the natto kebab) and the food literally kept coming. Just when I thought it was finished more and more food came, THEN MORE came. I was so full and then the ice cream came out so my 2nd stomach inflated. The latecomers kept arriving and I was so happy everyone managed to make it. After dinner we all headed to a nearby arcade and got lots of purikura taken before saying our goodbyes. I first said goodbye to Yuka and could not stop crying, then when she left I said goodbye to Kouji, and still could not stop crying. For about 20 minutes I cried and then I regained my composure and the rest of us headed to Nichome for some drinks in Dragon. Nat was so good at cheering me up. I so did not want to leave and I was pretty drunk (anyone who knows me, knows how often I cry when drunk). We got to Dragon and got lots of nice drinks and I made even more friends before leaving.

I somehow ended up playing pass the chewing gum with like 8 random people in the street so I most likely have hepatitis now... It went on the floor (cos some people were shit at it) and the girl I just met kept picking it up! What a minger! But to be fair, I was too drunk to even care. Tak arrived and I was glad I got to say goodbye to him too (was just lucky he was visiting Tokyo with his family). I dont know how 5 hours passed in that bar but it did and it became time to say goodbye. Saying goodbye to Shuho at Shinjuku station was pretty emotional and we both cried. God, so glad I wore waterproof mascara. I got on my train, depressed and 30 minutes later I was at my apartment, still drunk desperately trying to get my shit together and head to the station. My god were my bags heavy. I got to the airport, checked in no problem and had my last Japanese breakfast! :( It was even too early for the Hello Kitty store to be open. So shit :(

I got on my plane and said goodbye to Japan once more. I had the best time of my life and made so many amazing friends. I can't wait to see them all again and I hope they will come visit me! :)

Day 57: Packing :(

Such a boring day, all I did was actually officially pack my clothes (always shite) and then I met my friend Braulio for dinner and wine in order to say goodbye before my last day approached :(.

Day 56: All you can drink and almost breaking my tailbone

After waking up I headed straight to Tokyo Sky Tree to do a little bit of shopping pour ma famille. I bought some fucking beautiful glittery blue chopsticks for myself and some nice little Japanese things for my gran and mum. I was starving and literally every single restaurant had queues going for days. In the UK when people see a queue for a restaurant they think "FUCK THAT". In Japan, when people see a queue for a restaurant they think "OH IT MUST BE GREAT LET'S QUEUE". So bizarre. I ended up in this German Oktoberfest themed restaurant... in Japan. Everything on the menu was extortionate so I got the cheapest thing and headed off home. I had some last minute packing things to do and washing clothes. I decided to go back to Harajuku, where 2 years earlier I had bought a ring from this cool silver jewellery store. At the time, the guy said I could come back and get it reshaped for free. While I was waiting, I had a look around the extortionate shop and found my ring design. It was genuinely the cheapest thing in the whole place, haaa. Are you sensing a trend here....

Well it gets worse, I then headed to Daiso which is a 100yen store (=80p) and bought some cheap shit to take home (e.g. more chopsticks). I then headed home to get ready for my night out with my shabu shabu bitches. I had to meet Dr Takeda one last time so he could sign my Elective Attendance sheet and give me my mark. I got a chance to see some of the doctors at the hospital and say goodbye and Dr Takeda signed my sheet and gave me top marks for everything (despite being admitted to my own A&E for being drunkenly unconscious) which was amazing. I said my goodbye and then I headed straight to the train station to meet my bitches in Shibuya. I went to this nomihoudai (all you can drink) restaurant with them and it was so much fun! I ordered two beers at a time because they were so slow at bringing our drinks! We had 3 hours to drink as much as we could. I really didn't think I was that drunk and maybe I wasn't in the restaurant but after we met Erik and headed to the club in Omotesando and got more drinks (again, two at a time) I was absolutely wasted. There is a huge 4 hour gap in the night where we somehow ended up in a bar in Shibuya with these English guys and I thought I was going to throw up so had to go home (it was 5am, so it was hardly like I was giving up).

I said goodbye to my girls and then jumped on the first train home. I got to the train station (not far away from my apartment). Really not difficult to get home but I was so drink I went the wrong way and had to get A TAXI HOME. I have made that journey about 20 times, so bad. I curled up into bed to prepare myself for the hangover of tomorrow! :(

Day 55: Farewell Ryota

We slept in really late because we were up watching Resident Evil films all night. When we eventually got our acts together we headed to a nearby restaurant to eat some Tonkatsu before getting the train home. Ryota had a work event near where I live so we got the train together. It was such a sad train journey, knowing I wouldn't see him again for a very long time. Saying goodbye was pretty difficult. I had to hold back a few tears! We had really bonded together. I got on my train and headed to my station after saying goodbye. I spent the evening pretty bummed out, realising I would have to do this a lot more times at my leaving party on saturday. :(

Day 54: Resident Evil x2 and Pole Dancing Lesson

I left my morning empty so I could go for a walk around the nearby area in order to say goodbye. I had arranged to meet my friend Ryota later in the day. We met in Shinjuku Studio alta before heading to an arcade to take some purikura photos. We decided to play this amazing shooting game before heading to Wald9 cinema to see Resident Evil 5 (I had already seen it a few weeks prior but Ryota was dying to see it). Such a good film, shockingly I still jumped as many times as I did last time, not learning from last time.

After the film was finished Ryota said his pole dancing studio was free to use. I was dying for him to give me a pole dancing lesson. We headed to Shibuya and arrived at his studio, where his instructor Kaori was giving some hot girl a lesson in pole dancing. He made me put on the tiniest shorts before instructing me on some very basic pole dancing. It fucking hurt I can tell you that. Really makes you sweat hehe ;). Kaori was absolutely lovely and showed off a lot of her amazing high speed pole dancing skills. She was a nurse originally who went into pole dancing, which I thought was really cool. I met Ryota's other friend Haruna, who was about 145cm tall - 40cm shorter than me aha.

I invited Kaori out to dinner and the three of us headed to a nice restaurant nearby. Her english was very good so it was easy to converse with her. Like most asian women, she was 10 years older than I thought she was, which is crazy. Afterwards she took us to this petshop nearby to see the little puppy she wants to buy. She said she gave him the name of a famous samurai. He cost a fucking fortune though, better be worth it.

I said my goodbyes to Kaori :( and then Ryota and I decided we wanted to watch more Resident Evil films so headed back to his apartment and bought some munch too. I was in so much pain from the pole dancing, I was definitely going to regret it in the morning.

Day 53: Hangover Burgers

I woke up at approximately 3pm after my night of heavy drinking. All I did afterwards was meet my friend Doug for Burgers and saying goodbye before I left Tokyo. :(

Day 52: Almost missing my flight -> Jikei goodbye

I woke up in a daze, my head was banging and I appeared to have stubbed my toe. I looked at my phone to see it was 8.15am..... WTF?! MY FLIGHT IS LEAVING IN 45 MINUTES! "WAYNE GET THE FUCK UP AND HELP ME PACK I'M GOING TO MISS MY FLIGHT"!!!! We scrambled to get all my shit together, me looking like an absolute train wreck. I gave him a quick hug and jumped in a taxi! TSONG SHAN AIRPORT PLEASE! He sped off and as I repeatedly checked my phone I almost started crying, convinced I was going to miss my flight. Such a first world problem.

I didn't have enough money to pay for the taxi ride so I gave the driver my Taiwanese travel card (like an Oyster card) which had about 2 pounds on it (sorry bout it) and then BOLTED IT into the airport. The desk was still open, the flight attendants were like ARE YOU PAUL GRAY OH MY GOD YOU NEED TO HURRY. I have never seen someone scan a passport and print a ticket so quickly in my life. I like ran up the escalator, looking like a crazed lunatic! Running through every desk that came my way. As I reached my gate, looking like a murder victim they were boarding the last passengers. It was 8.50am. THANK FUCK FOR THAT. I got on the plane, with some serious chest pains and sweating like a whore in a church. Who cared, I made it on time.

I slept the entire flight, after dealing with my traumatic experience. I arrived in Tokyo relaxed and headed back to my apartment to get my life back in order. I was meeting the Jikei staff at the hospital around 8pm so I had some time.

I headed to the hospital to meet the gang and we waited a fucking age for the nurses to get their shit together. Misono (one of the nurses) had convinced the charge nurse to come out for dinner! We went to this really cool chicken restaurant where they served charcoal broiled chicken, making it black. Dericious! After dinner, Misono and the other nurses presented me with two charms, wishing for my career success and finding love! It was the cutest thing EVER, such a nice gesture. We said goodbye to some of the people (who needed to get the train home) while the rest of us partied away at ALL you can drink Karaoke! I got majorly involved! Everyone was plowing me with drink so I was eventually carried home. I remember saying goodbye for about 20 minutes before I finally went upstairs. My Jikei family :( noooo x

Day 51: Last night in Taipei

Another hangover day, and Wayne was working again. All I had the energy to do was go for lunch and then grocery shopping with Wayne's flatmate Joe. I spent the day responding to emails and trying to update some of this blog but not getting very far. Joe said he would take me to a night market in Shili before going to meet Wayne later in the gay area. The night market was so crazy, so many disgusting food Joe made me eat, I honestly felt sick by the end of it. I got this crazy "massage" where this cute guy just hit me with some sticks, was cray. It was then I got assaulted by the crazy fruit lady, who stuffed a bit of mango down my throat and forced me into buy some of her fruit.

We then had to goto meet Wayne in the gay district along with a couple other friends. We went to this secret outdoor patio area where all the gays assemble on a saturday to smoke and drink together! It was actually pretty cool. After that we went to this S&M bar! As we arrived we quickly realised it was military night aha. The drinks were pretty cheap, and someone (JOHNNY) made me drink his absinthe so I got a lot drunker than intended. All of a sudden this blindfolded and GORGEOUS asian man (wearing nothing but y fronts) was lead across the room in a blindfold. They then spent about 15 mins tying him up in about 100 ropes. I actually got bored when they started whipping him I thought it was pretty tame... disappointing. I genuinely almost offered to go up myself and show them what S&M was ahahaha. Oh god I was definitely drunk. When the night was over we drunkenly fell into taxis and went home... my flight was pretty early the next morning. Shit.

Day 50: Snake Penis Wine

Today was the day we would finally do something touristy. We had a wee lie in before going into the centre of Taipei to meet Brad and Eric for lunch! We went to this nice restaurant which had lots of bookcases, so it was like we were in the middle of a library. I had fish and chips as I was beginning to miss British food haa. After lunch Wayne and I headed to Longshan temple, making our way through lots of backstreets and almost getting hit by mopeds several times. The temple itself was absolutely gorgeous, so vibrantly colourful. We walked in during the middle of a buddhist chant, it actually sounded really amazing, was great to witness. We walked around, me taking lots of pictures and looking at all the different statues. Wayne told me what each one was for, hilariously the one that was for love was the busiest. After that we headed to the tourist night time market. So many weird and wonderful foods on display. Then we saw it, the snake soup restaurant. For like 4 pounds, you could have a set meal of snake soup, with shots of snake penis wine, snake bile and snake venom. I thought what the hey, when am I ever gonna get this chance again. The snake soup itself wasn't too bad, the shots were all vile. I was terrified I would actually die from the venom but I was told it was safe. It did give me some nasty heartburn.

We headed over to Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world. I was super excited to goto the top! We had some food first downstairs, before getting our tickets to go up. We got our photo taken in front of a green screen. Because I was wearing green shorts and wayne a green t-shirt our bodies mashed together with the background scene which was pretty funny to see. We went up in the elevator, my ears must have popped like 4 times. It is apparently the fastest elevator in the world! So cool! The view was absolutely incredible from the top and we even got to go out on the rooftop. After we were done we headed quickly back to Wayne's apartment to have a quick nap before heading out.

We went to meet Wayne's friend Johnny before going to this really cool gay bar. It was themed to be like an outside park, so cue lots of fake grass and crazy amounts of A/C. The drinks were incredibly strong and although I vowed to take it easy tonight found myself drinking a bit too many cocktails. Once we were done there we headed to this other gay bar that was completely packed. So difficult to move and I almost fell down the stairs. I've never seen so many hot asian guys packed into one room in my life. I NEEDED to come back here in the future. We all had a really great night before getting a taxi home to go get some much needed sleep.

Day 49: Taipei Hangover

Absolutely nothing happened today. I was so ridiculously hungover and slept in. I just waited for Wayne to get home so he could bring me crisps and we watched a film together. My new favourite thing is falling asleep with a film on.

Day 48: Taiwan National Day!

We had high hopes for what we were going to do today but we both ended up sleeping in! Instead we went for a nice tasty traditional Taiwanese lunch followed by some suit shopping for Wayne's flatmate Joe. After that we had to hop on the train to goto Taoyuan to meet Wayne's family and their friends for dinner! It was to celebrate Taiwan national day, yet we went to a Japanese restaurant. The staff were absolutely adorable and the food was amazing. There must have been like 10 courses and it was all stuff I had never tried before, including sea urchin. So good! After dinner, Wayne and I got the train back to Taipei and headed out to one of the gay bars called Funky. It was quiet when we arrived except for some of Wayne's friends but it quickly got more busy.

Some of my fave korean pop songs came on and I had to jealously watch as all the Taiwanese gays knew all the choreography. :( There were so many hot guys everywhere it was absolutely ridiculous. I think I drank more than I realised because I cannot remember leaving the club.

Day 47: Off to Taipei!!

I spent the morning getting ready for my trip to Taipei! Speaking to Wayne about where to meet and our plans for the week! I headed to Shimbashi station and got the monorail to the airport. After checking in I got some Taiwanese dollars before walking around some of the shops. I immediately saw the Hello Kitty shop and decided to see what useless crap the company had branded. The weirdest thing by far was the Hello Kitty branded dried cuttlefish... lol. A cool item I saw was an umbrella with a samurai sword handle. I wanted to get it but there was literally 0 reason to. I headed to my gate after attempting to buy an adapter plug and failing miserably.

Yet again, I was the only foreigner. I cant believe how long it took to get through the safety video and the generic captain announcements. Everything that needed to be said was first said in Japanese, then Mandarin and THEN English. So it took 3 times as long. IT INTERRUPTED MY FILM. I watched Elizabeth, starring Cate Blanchett and became incredibly obsessed with everything Elizabethan. Thanks Cate.

A couple of hours later I arrived in Taipei! Wayne was going to be a while cos he had to finish work still so I just sat in the arrivals area being stared at by everyone that walked past. At least when I caught people staring they would smile or laugh unlike Japan where people look ashamed of themselves. WAYNE ARRIVED soon after! We hadn't seen each other in over 2 years! We jumped in a taxi, and headed back to his. The taxis are SO cheap here. A 10 minute journey cost like 2 pounds lol, so not Edinburgh and I would know! We dumped my shit at his apartment, had a quick ciggie on his balcony and headed to meet his friends for dinner. They decided to have Japanese food, great. I'd not had enough of that recently! ahah! The dinner was delicious and his friends were SO nice. One of them exclaimed I looked like a doll. After dinner, Wayne and I headed to a few gay bars before heading home very late, and getting our McDonalds. The one I prayed to God for! :) He must love us gays, really!

Day 46: Back to Tokyo!

After I woke up I headed to Tak's house to go play with his son Jun and his new puppy! I arrived at the station and Tak picked me up. We walked back to his apartment and on arriving I received a cute welcome from his new poodle, which is called Noodle. His son Jun is so cute! He can speak English and Japanese and he's only like 6. We played Mario Kart and I absolutely thrashed them both. All those years of practice finally paid off. The phrase "i've been playing this since before you were born" has never been more true. I was drinking a can of beer and the damn dog knocked it over, gutted. I then tried out Tak's massage chair, oh my was it good.

We then all headed out to lunch together near the airport. We had this cool indoor BBQ food that we pretty much cooked ourselves. After that they both took me to the airport for my short flight back to Tokyo. My only plans that evening were to wash my clothes and pack my bag for Taipei the following day! :D

Day 45: Universal Studios Osaka

We slept in so woke up starving and had a long day ahead of us at Universal Studios. We got a quick burger at KFC before hopping on the train (again, dumping our bags in a locker). The closer we got to the theme park the more people started to appear. I totally forgot it was a sunday, which explained why there were so many fucking people.

We walked along the path to the entrance and there were just so many people. It suddenly had become absolutely roasting as well. We paid our entry and Tak had reserved express tickets, I would later find this to be essential in a Japanese theme park. We went to the first ride, a huge rollercoaster, and it had a wait time of like 90 minutes... For the commoners. Not even kidding it took us 5 minutes to get to the ride. The woman then takes us to the front row seats. Those poor people burning alive down below and it took us 5 minutes. It felt amazing I won't lie.

After that we decided to goto Jaws. This ride was maybe 30 mins wait for express ticket holders. It was actually pretty decent as well. The woman on our boat was a pretty dec actress. Obviously she spoke all in Japanese so I just screamed when everyone else did. After that there was this absolutely massive parade. I am not exaggerating there were about 50 floats and it lasted about 2 hours. We kept trying to get away from it and it kept finding us. The same 4 bars of music over and over and over again. All the fake smiles and drum banging. 3 times I thought it had finished before it started ALL over again. I got so mad lol.

We were going to on the Spider-Man ride but for absolutely no reason the queue was about 2h30 for express and 4h for everyone else. I had been on it in Orlando and it was shite. Was I fuck waiting that long for a ride. Last time I waited that long for a ride was space mountain at Disney world and I almost pissed myself so had to piss in a bottle IN THE QUEUE. I was 15, cut me some slack.

So after that we decided to have a hot dog before exploring around. We went to the Jurassic park ride. We ended up in the front row AGAIN. I remember in Orlando I didn't even get a tiny bit wet, so I was pretty fearless this time. How wrong I was... I got fucking soaked. Like so soaked.

We had tickets to the mummy haunted house at 6, giving us queue jump. It was actually pretty scary. Shat myself a couple times. After that we walked a trek to the other side of the park for our next queue jump ride. The park warned us they were turning into Halloween zone. Like all the staff turned into zombies and were running around scaring fuck out of everyone. The best one was a midget in a pushchair pretending to be a zombie baby. So scary. Someone with a cleaver ran at me. Some silly bitch saw me and my pale skin and thought I was a zombie so screamed and ran away. Dick.

We made it to the ride and it was another haunted house but it was an abandoned aquarium? Fucking psychopaths chasing us from all directions. My heart, honestly. I got some srs chest pain. After that ordeal was over we headed to our last ride, this space travel one. It was quite similar to space mountain in the sense it was pitch fucking black and you had no idea what direction you were going. To make it worse the cart span around over and over. I have never screamed so much in my life.

When they ride was over it was time to go! It was late! We headed back into Osaka city centre before going on a big ferris wheel (on top of a 10F building) and then hit a couple of bars to relax after our stressful day! :)

Day 44: Being attacked by "sacred" deer

I woke up after an amazing sleep. This amazing breakfast was brought to our room. It was a bit extravagant to be honest, there was about 20 little plates. I didn't really know what I was eating but it was rather savoury. Still, it was tasty. I got showered and ready before we got our coach back into Osaka. There was tonnes of traffic on the motorway so it took longer than expected. We arrived and got something quick to eat before chucking our big bags in a locker. We were spending the afternoon in Nara, so didn't want to have to drag them around. I fell asleep on the train there, even though it was a rather short journey.

The experience in Nara was an amazing one. You buy lots of special biscuits for the THOUSANDS of deer that live in the park grounds and they go fucking mental for them. I was rammed and chased by so many, I was pretty scared most of the time. We walked through the beautiful park and eventually found the temples and shrines. The biggest Buddha statue in Japan was inside and oh my god was it huge. So many tourists around also. It was such a relaxing experience. Tak took about a million photos of me. It was starting to get late before long and we decided to goto SpaWorld back in Osaka before heading out that night.

We both fell asleep on the train home and luckily managed to wake up in time. We headed to SpaWorld, this absolutely gigantic spa/onsen/water park complex. We got changed on the 4th floor but had to go in the elevator in our trunks upto the 8th floor for the water park! There were so many amazing water slides and we also spent time outside on the roof in the warm baths. After we were done there we headed to the men only European style baths. You literally just wear a towel and walk around bollock naked. Something I did find interesting is that I found some of the baths to be far too hot but I was able to go all the way into a freezing cold bath where no one else would.

It was such a refreshing experience and when we were done we headed to dinner nearby. We found a restaurant which gave us all you can drink for the first hour. I was on a roll, because I managed 7 beers and 3 glasses of wine, the staff didn't seem too happy my 8 pound fee for all I could drink stretched so far. The rain came on shortly after and not having umbrellas (or many clothes at all on in my case) we got a little soaked. We got the train to the gay district and partied the night away in the relatively busy clubs! I got free drinks as I was a foreigner which was pretty dec! Another amazing day!

Day 43: Naked Hot Springs up in the Mountains

I woke up suitably hungover and very glad I packed my bag the night before. I put on some shades to hide the bags under my eyes and made my way to Haneda Airport. It took a surprisingly short amount of time and I left ridiculously early in case I ran into any problems, which I almost did. I went to the right terminal but went to the wrong end and couldn't find my flight. After a mini heart attack I spoke to the woman at the desk who said I just go straight to security. I had received an email with a bar code in it and this was how I was to check in? I simply showed the picture of it on my phone over this machine and bam, I was checked in. So bizarre. I almost didn't trust it. When I was through security I decided to get some brunch so found somewhere that did toast. It took them about 20 minutes to bring me a slice of toast and a coffee. I didn't even ask for coffee. The barista was cute so I let him off and didn't complain… this time.

I boarded my flight, the only white boy once again and most of the safety instructions were in Japanese so if I crashed i'd be facked. The flight took hardly any time and soon we were descending into Osaka. It was amazing to land in an Airport that wasn't miles from the centre because I got to fly past most of the city! Was so beautiful! I landed and I was quickly through security and had no bags to collect. I met Tak at the arrivals and we headed to somewhere nearby for lunch! We had some amazing sushi and I even had some beer with my lunch to get me going. We bought some more booze for the bus journey and then headed to catch out coach. We caught up majorly on the 1hr journey to Arima, a small town up in the mountains.

When we arrived a member of staff from the Onsen came to pick us up! Literally everyone we saw in the town were old people. We got to our wee onsen hotel and had to take our shoes off straight away and put on slippers. After getting to our room, a woman came to drink some green tea with us and explain to us the schedule for the evening. After settling in we went to the public onsen, I had to get bollock naked in front of complete strangers (strangely didn't find it that difficult) and bathe in different hot springs. One was full of iron and tasted like blood and the other was acidic. It was rather relaxing, if not for all the naked old Japanese men. After our bath we went to have our delicious dinner of shabu shabu and Kobe beef steaks. Kobe was only 20 minutes away by drive after all. The food was absolutely amazing and I almost exploded from how nice it was. Tak cracked out the plum wine after dinner and we took some down with us at our 10pm private onsen. It was just like hiring a jacuzzi really, so relaxing. After dinner Tak arranged for us to get a massage. I was hoping to get a fucking stunning muscly asian man but instead I got a fat middle aged woman. After my massage I literally fell right asleep! Was so nice to relax for once!

Day 42: Shabu Shabu Bitches

I spent the entire day packing my bag for Osaka, washing clothes and fixing all my flight details etc so I wouldn't fuck anything up for my little trips. So that part of the day was boring (yet extremely satisfying).

In the evening I had planned to meet Hayato, Shuho and Natsumi in Shibuya for dinner and drinks. I headed to the station and met them at Hachiko statue. We decided to have shabu shabu (which is where you dip lots of meat and veg into boiling hot pots of sauce basically, it's so good). It took us a while to find the restaurant and then we had to wait 20 minutes for them to have space for us. Natsumi's friend Midoriko joined us too and we took lots of photos with Shuho's cool camera while we were waiting. We were seated and we decided to go for all you can drink for an extra bit of money. It was also pretty much all you can eat too. The food was absolutely delicious and I filled up really quickly, though it was probably all the beers I ordered. We had so much fun together as we got more and more drunk! We took some videos of me teaching them all scottish words!

We spent the entire evening in the restaurant eating and drinking so much. After we left we took some funny Purikura photos before heading to the station. We took some funny photos next to Hachiko statue and then headed home. I blasted Taiwanese pop in my ears the entire journey home and was so drunk was mouthing out the words on my walk home from the station. I had to make sure and set a couple alarms so I didn't miss my flight to Osaka the following day aha.

Day 41: Day Trip to Kamakura

I overslept a little bit so I just headed to the station and had a quick tempura lunch before getting the train to Kamakura to see the big Buddha :). The train didn't take as long as I thought it would and after one line change I was in North Kamakura station. It was absolutely pissing down with rain and I left my umbrella at home. Gid wan Paul. I walked up to the first temple and luckily for me there was a store outside the temple that sold cheap umbrellas. I bought a blue one (to match my eyes, as always) and headed up to the temple. It was so pretty and again very relaxing! Even with all the rain. This woman on a postman's motorbike came riding up and ruined my tranquility. She was delivering letters to the temple. I don't know why I didn't think they would receive mail at the temple…

I decided to walk the 20 minute walk to the next temple down the road. I was surrounded by tiny little houses and forrests as far as I could see. Again, very peaceful! I eventually reached the next huge temple. There were lots of people here taking photos. I walked down about 100 steps to get to the main entrance of the table, pointing towards the city centre and the train station. I walked down the main street of Kamakura, past lots of cute little shops. They mostly sold the same thing- plates. Weird. I decided to chill in a nice little cafe with a beer and a lemon pie aha.

Afterwards I got the monorail to the Daibutsu station. There was a sudden influx of tourists as I walked up from the station. It was getting darker and colder, people were surprised to see me in such little clothes at this point. I arrived at the temple housing the Daibutsu and took about a million photos. It was absolutely huge. I felt so lonely, I was the only person there by themselves :(. Everyone else had other people to take photos of them with the big buddha! I had to ask some random old woman to take mine for me. I decided to call the day quits as I had done so much walking around. I got the monorail back to Kamakura main station and then hopped on the train back to Tokyo.

Whilst on the train I decided to pay Yokohama a visit (city next to Tokyo) as I had never been. I just made a fleeting visit for dinner. I had some Okonomiyaki again, which is usually something you cook yourself on a hue hotplate but the waitress had to make mine for me aha. When I was done I jumped on the next train back home and have an early night. I needed to spend the following day preparing for my trips to Osaka and Taipei!

Day 40: Day Trip to Nikko

I left Jun's place early and headed home to pack a day bag for my trip to Nikko. It was actually a bit warm so I wore very little clothes (big mistake). I minced my way to Shimbashi Station to get the train to Asakusa. Here I would change lines in order to get to Nikko. I bought a special pass that gets me access to all the best temples and covers all my travel for pretty cheap, which was good. I didn't have much time to catch the next train and I had to run to make it. The journey takes 2 and a half hours so I just had a wee nap and updated my blog a bit. A huge bug fell on me and I almost had a stroke on the train. The further away from Tokyo, the less and less buildings there were. The older the train stations started to look. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous though.

We arrived up in Nikko 2 and a half hours later and it was a little bit chilly. Definitely regretted my tiny shorts and barely-there vest. I left the station and the town was really pretty. I decided to have lunch first before getting the bus up the mountain to the temples. I went to this cute little restaurant and saw something on the menu I have always wanted to try. It's like chicken and poached egg over rice. It's meant to be you eating the animal and it's children. A bit cruel but it was delicious. I also had a beer (at 12pm) to wash it down.

I got the bus higher up into the mountains and got off at the first temple. It was getting renovated so there was lots of scaffolding around it. It was absolutely huge and the artwork inside it was beautiful. Outside the temple was a big load of schoolchildren. I walked past them and they went silent, staring at me. The whole area was beautiful, so peaceful and calm. I had some time alone to myself. It was very different to the noisy, crazy Tokyo. I saw so many beautiful temples and shrines to historical Japanese figures.

After my tour of the temples I decided to get the bus up the mountain to see the lake and waterfall. The tiny little bus drove up the bendiest and most winding roads i've ever been on. I felt so sick the entire 40 minute journey and genuinely thought I might die. When I reached the lake I had to have a quick cigarette and can of beer in order to relax myself again. I saw the waterall as well and walked around the little town up in the mountains. Such amazing scenery and it was actually really cold. Once I was finished I got back on the dreaded bus to head back to the station. It wasn't quite so hideous a journey this time thank god. I bought some snacks for the journey home and got the long train home. I was stuck in the same carriage as these incredibly chatty schoolgirls who wouldn't shut the fuck up for one minute.

I napped most of the way home and I was absolutely exhausted! An entire day walking around temples and shrines and on buses that I thought would kill me. I got home and had some beers and fell asleep.

Day 39: RESIDENT EVIL RETRIBUTION

When we awoke from our slumber we were both very hungry so Jun and I decided to goto Roppongi hills for a nice lunch. We took the train a few stops before walking through the blistering heat until we eventually reached our destination. Jun took me to this amazingly authentic Italian Restaurant. It was literally like I had walked into a restaurant in Italy and all the staff were beautiful Italians. We opted for half and half pizza/lasagne and it wasn't long before I decided to get a cheeky glass of white wine. We then had these amazing chocolate and almond cakes before deciding to part ways. We both really wanted to go see the new Resident Evil film so we decided to do our own thing for the afternoon (Jun had a dance rehearsal to goto) and I needed to do chores at home before meeting up later on.

Most of my chores involved cleaning my room and doing my washing. Now I can barely do my own washing in Scotland. But throw in a fucking 40 year old washing machine with instructions ALL in Japanese and barely any washing powder, you got yourself a fucking disaster. I also had no clothes rack so I had to hang it up in my bathroom and then stick the heater on. Jun finished his rehearsal and said to come meet him in Shibuya. I left my washing to dry in the bathroom and got the underground to Shibuya. We met at Hachiko statue and crossed Shibuya Crossing to buy our cinema tickets. We didn't have much time to eat so we just had some KFC before the movie started. The cinema was absolutely boiling, so I sweated a beast. The film was amazing, we both absolutely loved it! One of the scenes actually involved Tokyo Shibuya Crossing, where we had been like minutes before getting to the cinema. It was so cool! Like being in the film aha!

After the film we walked around Shibuya for a bit before I decided to get a delicious crepe. We found this really retro Beer Bar to sit and chill in. They had Blue Planet on the TV and I found it difficult to concentrate when there were seals being eaten by whales. It was nice and chilled. Jun and I talked about where we wanted to be in 10 years. I missed the last train again and Jun's place wasn't far so I ended up crashing there again. I needed to be up early in the morning for my train to Nikko! :)

Day 38: Hours watching films!

I think I tired myself out at the concert because I woke up exhausted! I decided a nice day in bed watching lord of the rings was needed before meeting my friend Jun in the evening for dinner. He lived not so far away in Yoyogi so I headed to meet him after my lazy day and we had Freshness Burger for tea. We went to his amazing apartment and decided to watch some more films aha. I missed the last train so just crashed at his place for the night.

Day 37: 2NE1!!!!

I woke up in the art society room in the medical school and was already running late to meet my friend Jin. I rushed home and got showered and ready then headed over to Shinjuku to meet him for lunch! He was over visiting from Seoul and we are going to meet up when I go over there to visit a few weeks later. It was just a quick lunch as I needed to head to Saitama to meet Yuka for the 2NE1 CONCERT! I had to get a couple of trains as Saitama is the prefecture above Tokyo. As you get further from Tokyo people definitely start to stare a lot more. I had to stand the entire journey which was a bit shitty.

I arrived in Saitama waaaay early so I took some pictures of the surrounding area. I don't why I expected it to be a bit less of a city but it was just like any central area in Tokyo. Skyscrapers everywhere etc. Lots of girls started to walk past with 2NE1 t-shirts and bright pink bags! I NEEDED TO HAVE ONE. Yuka arrived and we went to a Korean restaurant for dinner (as we thought it appropriate). 2NE1 is an amazing young Korean girl band. They have made some of my favourite songs ever so I was so excited when Yuka said she bought me the tickets. For dinner I had this weird Korean pizza thing and Yuka ordered us this pomegranate vinegar juice? Also weird but kind of tasty. When we got our bill we got popcorn flavoured sweeties. An interesting experience for the taste buds indeed.

We were running really late so had to like run to Saitama Super Arena. It was empty outside the arena when we arrived which means the concert may have already started. I seized my opportunity to buy a bright pink 2ne1 bag though. We went through the NO CAMERA CHECK and I told them I didnt have one on me when it was in my pocket. I even let them search my bag knowing full well ahah. We ran to our seat and oh my good lord when we opened the doors the music blasted into our ears. The arena was shaking because everyone was going nuts for the opening song (also my favourite song, gutted I missed the opening). We got taken to our seats and I was so overwhelmed by how fucking massive the arena was. SO many people singing and dancing and generally going bonkers. I had never been to a pop concert before! I had only ever been to small venue death metal concerts (lol).

There was this older man in front of us who was dancing and singing along to EVERY song. He knew all the words, every last one of them. Very creepy. All my favourite songs came on and I sang along to the words I knew (even the korean), some of the people around me looked so shocked. They laughed at me :(. The dancers on stage were absolutely delicious half naked korean men, I wish I was closer to the stage grrr. The concert itself was pretty amazing and at the end they played my favourite song AGAIN. A really great concert. So interesting that Korean bands sing their songs in Japanese for their Japanese audience. They even release whole albums in Japanese. Could you imagine Cheryl Cole releasing an album in French? She can barely speak English, the stupid cow.

Anyway, after the concert we ran out to avoid the thousands of people who were heading to the train station. I think I may have actually been the ONLY white person in the entire audience. I didn't see one single foreigner on the way out or at the station! I said my goodbyes to Yuka and headed back in Shinjuku to go for a few quiet drinks in Shinjuku before heading home! :) A great day!

Day 36: Last day at Jikei and Medical student drinkathon

I headed to my final day at Jikei :(. After the morning conference I had to stand up and make another goodbye speech. They should really give a warning ha. Afterwards I chatted to Takahashi-sensei and we had a final secret cig round the back of the hospital. I took a photo with him in case I didn't get to see him again and he headed home (as he just finished his night shift). I spent my final day being very proactive. It didn't feel like my last day at all. I spent the last few hours organising my leaving party with Misono, one of the nurses. We decided for the Wednesday of my last day in Tokyo. I eventually finished and said my goodbyes! Hoping a lot of them would come to my leaving party.

I headed home to get ready for the medical student drinkathon and then headed to the medical school basement floor, where my friends were waiting. We went to the conveni and spent like 5000 yen (40 pounds) on booze and snacks ha. We got our drink on and we played a lot of drinking games. I taught them all international Rinking rules which helped people get more drunk ha. I met lots of new and fun medical students. I think I crashed out about 11pm but woke up again at 3am and woke people up to start drinking again haha. We went out for a cig and accidentally locked the door so had to climb back in through a window. We slept at 6am and when I woke at midday I had a big scratch down my ass cheek and one on my upper back. I can only assume I fell over.

Day 35: Hangover Okonomiyaki

Woke up at 3pm feeling like I might die. Headed to Ningyocho to meet Doug for dinner! We had okonomiyaki which was delicious but a bit overpriced lol. Just a very quiet hungover day.

Day 34: Beer museum and party time!!

I woke up and felt a little refreshed. We had to attend the case conference before we could go home. I met a doctor there who loved Edinburgh a LOT. When were finished the doctors gave us breakfast. I can't count how many meals I've been bought. We walked to the station and got the train back. We decided to goto the Yebisu beer museum, for the sheer craic. Each train station in Tokyo has its own little tune and the Ebisu station one is the Yebisu song. We found the museum after much searching and bought the tour tickets. We were joined by 5 students. I think we were all there for the beer tasting at the end lol.

The tour guide was this cute little woman who could not have been nicer. Funniest thing ever, she was all quiet before the tour then she like strapped on a mic and dimmed the lights and this music came on. She sounded like a boxing match commentator. You could tell she really loved Yebisu beer. I sat at the back reading the English tour commentary, I felt like such a dunce. She kept asking questions to us all about Yebisu beer ha. She asked me what we eat with beer. I ended up saying haggis and everyone was so intrigued by it. It turns out I'm not even that sure what is in it, does anybody though? We finished the museum tour and headed to the tasting area (pretty sure that's the only reason any of us were there lol). We sat around a big table and were given little glasses of beer to taste. Light and dark beers. She then showed us a really cool way to pour beer from a can and asked who would like to taste, obviously my hand shot up and so did Hiro's so we split it.

At this point a smiling barmaid came over and put down a bit of paper in the tour guides table. She brought it over and showed me the Japanese Wikipedia page for haggis!!!! Hahaha! They really were intrigued! After the tour was finished we got some pictures and then Hiro and I decided to get another beer. This time grape flavoured? It was on offer lol.

We needed something to soak up the alcohol so we got some delicious food nearby. Afterwards we went back to Ebisu station and said our goodbyes until Friday! I got the train home so I could go get ready for the party.

I got ready and opted for trousers again, it was a lot cooler so this was no problem now. I arrived at the restaurant to find the Jikei ER had booked out the entire restaurant for like 40 of us. Nuts. We sat down and were quickly given this gigantic salad. I think it was made from daikon, a Japanese root vegetable. It genuinely filled me up and I found out that it was one of about 6 courses. Next course was some tuna sashimi, delicious. The courses kept coming and the drinks kept flowing as it was all you can drink. I went for some secret cigs with Chiba-sensei and Okazawa-sensei. It wasn't long before we were all standing and speeches were being made by nurses and doctors who were leaving the ER. Then Itai-sensei turns to me and told me I was the last person to make a speech. I froze, totally unexpected. I was made to stand on a chair and in English basically just thanked everyone so much for being so welcoming and said I had made lots of lifelong friends here. They love a speech here ha. People were getting really emotional during some of the speeches ha, was very cute.

More drinking ensued and desserts came out. Professor Ogawa gave me a good chat about UK and Japanese culture. The meal finished and the older staff headed home after the photos whilst the younger staff went to karaoke round the corner. I tried to pay for my meal but the medical secretary stopped me lol. I then paid nothing for the karaoke and it was also all you can drink. I love Japan.

Unlike the UK where karaoke tends to be a lot of X Factor wannabes trying to show off the little talent they have, in Japan people are there for a good time. No one cares if you sing badly. It's all about enjoying yourself and everyone joins in. It's a lot of fun. :)

After our time was up most people went home but I managed to drag people out to one last bar (this is like 2am). Two nurses and 2 doctors came with me (Ito-ken and Masuda-sensei!) we just went to a quiet bar and got even more drinks. I ordered a straight double whisky on the rocks for absolutely no reason. I was chain smoking and eventually had to be taken home haha. An amazing night.

Day 33: Showering the homeless man

I managed to get myself up painfully early for my journey to Kashiwa hospital. The temperature was a bit chilly but I genuinely miss the cold so I wore as little clothes as possible in order to embrace it. Some of the looks I got from people in their 3 layers were priceless. I got to shimbashi station and took a train to ueno. From there I switched to the Joban line. Whilst in the station I found a touch screen vending machine!!! So fucking cool.

The train to kashiwa station took about 40 minutes so I just wrote in my blog. I had to switch to a local line in order to get to Kita Kashiwa station. I totally misjudged my timing because I arrived almost an hour early haha. I waited for Ogawa-San to arrive and she couldn't believe I was wearing shorts and a tiny vest. She was freezing lol. I told her in Soviet Scotland it's always cold. We walked to the hospital which wasn't far away and she took me to the ER staff room and introduced me to the staff. Soon after, Hirokazu arrived (my med student drinking buddy) and we went to the case conference followed by a ward round. Lots of very interesting cases, some completely shocked me. We looked at a few CTs then I had to eat. I ended up buying Camembert flavored crisps. They did not taste good. The consultant told us there was a drug rep lecture at 12 and they have free lunch. Sold.

I didn't understand very much but my bento box lunch was genuinely vile. It looked expensive but tasted like absolute gads. Then this photographer started taking photos of the lecture audience. I smized tae fuck. We headed back to the ER but we were told to go rest in the bunk bed room until shit started to go down. Fine with me. I awake 4 hours later and we need to go clean a homeless man. Ok...

To be fair it was pretty fun. Like 8 people wearing aprons, gloves and masks just covering him in soap and buckets of water. We also gave him a good shave hah. Afterwards I got to apply Vaseline to some burns. Disgusting but kinda cool. After that there was nothing to do but fanny around with super Mario. Hiro read about 40 comics and lots of napping was done. We then had a delicious steak and rice dinner and then listened to one of the doctors presentations on heart attacks.

Afterwards it was late enough that we could just sleep and chill. The other doctors slept too so I didn't feel totally redundant.

Day 32: Sometimes you just need pizza

I had the worst sleep ever the night before. My new a/c started leaking so I had to turn it off and rely on an open balcony to keep me cold . That made me worry I was going to get robbed (despite living on the 6th floor...) and I couldn't sleep. I got up early and was so tired. I got to the hospital on time and sat through the case conference. I am definitely getting better at understanding what they are talking about.

Dr takahashi was finishing his night shift so I was chatting to him which is always fun. He talked about how he used to work in a host bar. Host bars are places rich people goto spend time with beautiful people for extortionate prices. It's essentially like a brothel without the sex. He says he used to get lots of gifts from his clients but they were "not very beautiful". Hahahaha he's such a funny guy. There was another medical student on today too so we hung out too. There really wasn't a lot to do though. There were some very interesting cases to learn about though.

I spent time with the secretary talking about Scottish food. She almost fell off her chair when I told her about haggis. She can't speak a word of English so talking with her is always quite fun. She was taking me to Kashiwa hospital the following day so we arranged a time and place to meet up.

For the afternoon, it was pretty quiet and I got away early. I did a little spring clean before going to meet Nikita for pizza. I was feeling a bit homesick so he decided to cheer me up which was nice of him! I had an early night before my early journey to Kashiwa Hospital.

Day 31: 0

I crashed at my friends place hungover until I was told to leave ha. When i got home, all I did was recover from the night before and mourned the loss of the money I thought it was okay to spend.

Day 30: Don't think with your dick

I spent most of the day recovering and watching Raising Hope. Such a good show. My friend Soh eventually convinced me to go out to Shinjuku to meet him for dinner. I craved a Burger King for no reason so we went there. The plan was to go out in nichome but as it started raining Soh decided to head for home. I was still up for a fun night out so messages some friends who happened to be in roppongi! I literally sprinted for the last train to take me there.

When I arrived: Shuho and Hayato were there waiting for me. I quickly downed a lime cider and we headed into this club called Jumanji55. They tried to convince me to pretend I was a model so I would get in for free but I was top scared I'd get my face slashed by a real model ha. When we got in the club I met like 10 of their friends and people were pretty drunk. Everyone was so nice and friendly!

It got too busy upstairs so we went downstairs and it was full of beautiful people. It was a bit cunty that models got free drinks as well. I ended up dancing with this hot Russian model. only cos she was a complete third wheel with her friends (who were almost shagging in the club). What was cool was when I ordered a beer I would take a gulp straight away and the cool barman would refill it haha. We went to the convenience store once to buy cheap booze. Whilst outside a drunk man apparently told me to not think with my dick and to go back to my own country. k. we went back to the club and ended up staying the whole night before heading into the station. We said our goodbyes and I got on my train home.

I was drunker than I realised and ended up arguing with this American guy who told me I was going to hell for being gay. Delightful how these assholes exist everywhere. I think I told him he was a cunt and hell sounded like a great party. I missed my stop by about 10 and wandered around in the rain until I found a McDonald's breakfast. I soon worked out I was near my friends apartment so I called them at like 5am and told them I was coming over. Haha

Day 29: Will's Leaving Party :'(

I spent the next day chilling like a villain until it was time to head to Shibuya with Will for his leaving party :(

We got on the train and headed to the hachiko statue to meet his friend Nat. After she arrived we tried to find somewhere to eat and ended up in this restaurant which describes itself as "aquarium dining" and right they were as the restaurant had aquariums everywhere. I was hoping to be scuba diving for my meal but you know whatever. We got this amazing pot of cheese, meat and vegetables over a hot plate. Nat told us how she was extremely allergic to the mushrooms in our pot and only found out when she came to Japan. I naturally shat myself and assumed the same would happen to me.

We chatted about literally everything and as we were finishing dinner lots more people arrived at shibuya station. We met up with ItoKen and Nami and walked to beat bar, this place where lots of western bands goto and sign the wall. It was very cool and also very small. More and more people arrived and it turned into a real party. All of wills friends were really nice and there was even a guy from Manchester. Yuka and Ayumi arrived too. My favorite thing was when Yuka said her boss was "so bitch" for making her stay late in the office hahah.

We kept drinking and more people kept coming! I smoked about a million fags. As last train time was approaching a lot of people dropped out going to the club. We managed to convince our new Swedish friend to come with us though. We headed out from Beat into the pouring rain and tried to find TRUMP room. We got lost and ended befriending a bunch of Japanese people our age who were trying to find it. As a team we managed and headed into the club which was so packed. We were there for like 5 hours so to summarise: I made lots of new friends, spent far too much money, pole danced, fell over and took some Japanese girls with me. I had such a good night and it was a great send off for Will :(

Day 28: Sumo sumo sake

I slept for a long time in order for the constant hangover that my life had become to slowly disappear. Will and I were planning to goto the Sumo Stadium today and I was really excited. We talked about how when we are young one of the first memories in your head of Japan was sumo wrestling. And after all these years we were finally getting to see it. There are actually very few sumo tournaments in the calendar so it's pretty difficult to get to see.

We arrived at the stadium and went to buy tickets. The cheapest (the back row) were about £35 lol. The front row cost like £150. Such a rinse but definitely worth it. We couldn't have been much further from the action but it was still so cool. The traditional ceremonies before each fight; old women screaming for their favorite sumo wrestler; people in the front row getting crushed by wrestlers who get thrown out the ring. It was a surprise no one died, luckily Will and I stayed out of harms way.

On our way home we realised how many other foreigners were there. It is kinda rare to see other white people in Japan in most areas.

When I got home I said hi to my neighbour/colleague Reiko, as we had planned to goto dinner together that night. We decided to goto Roppongi Hills and we found this amazing restaurant on the 5th floor. I told her to choose anything for me to eat as I didn't mind. The food was unbelievable and I even ate a fish eye. Must say it was pretty decent. We then ordered a whole grilled fish, which was actually delicious. We split 2 desserts between us and got some sake. I was learning how to never pour my own glass ha.

After dinner we headed home and watched some YouTube videos I had talked about over dinner! It was a really nice evening!

Day 27: ????

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Day 26: Eating is never cheating...

I was absolutely shattered after the previous night shift and didn't get a whole lot of sleep before my next one. I headed to the hospital to find lots of cool doctors were working this nightshift with me. There were also two medical students that I soon started talking to as well. One had lived in the US for 5 years so his English was really good. Nothing cray cray happened on this night shift tbh. I dozed off for an hour or so around 1 o clock but after that I didn't feel any sleepiness. Things were extremely slow in the ER but that's always a good thing because it means people don't need medical attention haha so I can't really complain can I?

Eventually I decided to catch up with all my blogs that I was behind with so I spent a good while doing that while the other medical students ko'd from exhaustion. I had this weird energy gel and felt like I could run a marathon. I suspected the secret ingredient was probably speed.

I was absolutely ravenous by like 6am and I was praying the case conference this morning would provide nice food. The drug company gave us this kind of bento box and I'm not really sure what was actually inside. I ate it anyway. I feel bad for the drug companies, they come out to promote a new drug, bring us all lots of free food, no one really pays attention then they just leave haha!

After the shift the other medical students fancied a wee bevvy. How wrong I was to accept lol. It started out so well, but as we drank more I forgot to eat anything to compensate. Anyway it was lots of fun and for the record I was extremely exhausted and had actually gotten to the entrance of my apartment building. I guess I forgot the entrance code and fell asleep outside. Someone must have found me, panicked and phoned an ambulance. Not as bad as it sounds. Lol...

Day 25: First Night Shift in Tokyo ER

I think it was a really good move to sleep in until 6pm the day before, It totally prepared me for the night shifts I was about to begin. I spent the whole of monday afternoon sleeping and crying over the blind girl in Masterchef before heading to the hospital. When I arrived I found a big crowd of my colleagues smiling at me. They had been waiting for me to come in because a patient had arrived who could only speak English and they wanted me to take a history from her and then present the case back to them. I felt useful once more. They were overly impressed with my summary of the patient and then we began deciding what the best option was next. The patient and I talked a lot about the differences between the Japanese and Western medical systems and it was interesting to hear the patient's point of view of the healthcare here. They were extremely grateful I was around as it made translating information a lot easier and I was able to keep they occupied.

After they managed to get home safe, one of the doctors asked me if I would like to present a case at the conference in the morning, in Japanese. I love going out of my comfort zone and so I just went for it. We found a different patient and we went through the information before collating an english version and then translating it into Japanese. I spent a lot of the night reading it over and over and making sure I had the correct pronunciations down. Everyone was again very helpful.

It turns out the free lunch thing transfers over to night shift too and I got a free dinner, yas. A lot of the evening was very quiet with periods of it being busy. After talking to two of the doctors they revealed they LOVE metal music and we were soon talking about all the bands we shared in common. KoRn came up eventually and I told one of the doctors how I saw them live in Scotland like 5 years ago. She also happened to be a smoker too and so we had little cig breaks together (we almost got attacked by the rats and she literally didn't bat an eyelid while I shat myself). Amazing. I love how no one cares here if you are a smoker and a healthcare worker. When other medical students see I smoke they look at me like I just spat in their face. If you ever told a doctor, most would condescendingly tell you how bad it was for you. Yeah, like I didn't know that one already. Each to their own.

As it got later I started to feel a little bit tired. This was like 5.30 am so completely justified. I went to the staffroom to rest my eyes briefly and when I awoke it was 7am and I had another before my presentation. SHITTTTTT, I suddenly got really nervous. I was going to be presenting a patient to like 12 doctors in a language as difficult as Japanese, why did I agree to this? I ran through it one more time with the night shift team and they said it was good. I got told to goto the conference as it would be starting soon. I walked in and not only was there 12 doctors there but 6 medical students i'd never met were there AND my tutor Dr Takeda was at the back. Heart was racing. I got up and got started, made a few little slip ups but once I was finished I was asked a few questions (in English thankfully) before Dr Takeda stood up and told me congratulations for a perfect presentation. Everyone clapped and I was so relieved I didn't end up telling them the complete wrong information.

I was on such a high that I invited my colleagues out for a beer after our shift and to my surprise they said yes! I didn't get away until 9am, 14 hours after I arrived. So crazy. We went to a Family Breakfast restaurant and you should have seen the waiter's face when we asked if they served beer. I thought he was going to phone the police. It definitely did not feel like 9.30 in the morning. In my defence it was like 1.30am back home ;)

We all headed home and I collapsed into a big tired heap to sleep for the day until I was in again for my next shift at 7pm :|

Day 24: Burrito el loco

Somehow, we slept in til about 6pm... I still don't know how it happened, guess we drank a lot more than I thought we did. We were both ravenous so Nikita took me to this AMAZING mexican restaurant and I had the biggest and most delicious burrito with a really strong margarita. It honestly hit the spot like nothing else. By the time we were done it was time to go home and rest before my week of night shifts began! What an overly chilled weekend I'd had! Something I don't often have.

Day 23: Masterchef Marathon

I woke up absolutely craving a burger and managed to find a Freshness Burger restaurant for lunch. I had the biggest mf'ing burger on the menu and it was absolutely delicious. I was so exhausted from my full week so I decided to just have a day at home. Someone posted a video up on facebook of a masterchef contestant who was completely blind. After I weeped over her amazing achievements and cookery skills I decided to indulge myself in a little Masterchef Marathon.

My only other plan was to meet Nikita after his work for some wine and cigs. We ended up in a playpark at like 2am smoking and drinking like plebs and talking about politics. It was so late so I just crashed at his place and we watched youtube videos until the early hours. So nice and chilled.

Day 22: A restaurant revisited

I again was a little bit late for the hospital this morning. That bear bar host much have spiked my drink loolol. Again, there wasn't too much going on at the hospital. Dr Takahashi was in today and he is literally one of the funnest people in existence. He speaks good english and was good at getting me involved. We went for our little secret cigarettes now and again, definitely found a nest of rats next to the bins we smoke by and I definitely shat my pants. Lost some man points but tbf you can't lose something you never had.

I got away a little bit early again today, I just had nice chilled plans with William this evening. I went to go save him from his hangover and take him out to dinner at a restaurant I used to love when I was in Japan 2 years ago. We used my new app to find an even quicker route to Shinjuku! Only 22 minutes from our station. However when we arrived we discovered the catch was that it took us into the part of the station that was furthest from the main exit. So we fought through about a million people to get to the other side and it probably took us the same time as normal ha.

I found the old restaurant relatively easily but to my shock they didnt serve the same delicious set meal I had before so I had something else which was okay. William was so tired and hungover so we just went for a quick drink in Nichome before heading home for an early night ha.

Day 21: Medical English and LGBT+

Looks like I spoke too soon. I was running so late to this hospital this morning I had to have a shower in the hospital after the case conference. Not that surprisingly the shower was a lot better than the one at my apartment. Maybe I would be late more often. Generic day at the hospital, so don't need to go into details. I was due in Ikebukuro to meet Hirotaka in the afternoon so I got away early.

Hirotaka studies medicine at another university in Tokyo and invited me to his medical English class. Its taught by mainly western doctors (including an English guy) so I thought it would be fun to go along. There was a big turn out and we got put into random groups for little group work challenges. The aim of today was how to take a sexual history from patients in English. I always found this very interesting so I knew a lot about how to take a history. Not to mention I have been to the GUM
clinic (FOR CHECK UPS) a number of times.

I was actually a little surprised how little people knew. I guess Japan is very conservative. Not used to asking people how many shags they've had in the past 3 months. It was actually really fun because although I didn't really learn anything I was able to teach the other medical students (and even a cardiologist) about the best ways to sensitively ask questions in English. The whole session made me realise how much I enjoyed sexual health.

The topic of sexuality came up and I knew I might have to voice some opinions. I did have to clarify a few facts that were thrown in but I was happy to make an input. It definitely made me realise that doctors should get extra specific training on dealing with LGBT people.

After the session Hirotaka and his friend took me to a nice restaurant full of delicious food. We ordered far too much and I almost exploded. His friend said farewell and I decided the night wasn't over. I googled gay bars in the area and found one called zoo (later realising it was a bear bar Lololololololol).

A tiny little bar with only 6 seats we sat down and were served so many little treats by the host, this tubby old cute man with a beard. He was absolutely hilarious. Honestly reminded me of Hattori Hanzo! He even said "you're Japanese verrrry goooood" like he says ha!

Such a funny way to end the day!

Day 20: Lion Cake, Pizza Buffet and Anne Hathababes

For the first time... in Drag Race history: I was early for the hospital (7.30am start for the conference). I was so proud of myself! There has since been no repeat of the hamburger for breakfast and like last week it was more rice balls and green tea for breakfast. I was sat with Drs Ito and Takahashi and they were very helpful at translating the talk on reducing hospital acquired infections. I even got a little sticker to put on my name badge saying I'd attended aha. Me and my smoker buddies went for a secretto cigaretto before starting our shift.

I actually got to do quite a lot today, the nurses have started calling my name in Japanese (ポール: pronounced POH-ROO) and asking me to do helpful things! Woopa. A drunk patient came in who required restraining and I was on hand to help out, felt like a bouncer. They required stitching on their head and I got my gloves on and had to hold their head in place. Even though it wasn't remotely medical I still felt part of the team. I always felt like I was just getting in the way before but I felt helpful now finally.

For lunch I had a big set meal of ramen, rice and gyoza and I was quickly informed by Dr Funamizu that I ate my food in the exact opposite order of the way you're supposed to. Japan is hard :( After lunch there were a few more patients in the ER but nothing too crazy, I was due in Ikebukuro to meet Yuka for dinner and cinema and so I asked my consultant (at 4.30) if I could please leave at 5 and he literally said: just go now, you've done well today. Chaching! And off I was to Ikebukuro in North East Tokyo! I got on the underground and was listening to more Kill Bill Volume 1 Soundtrack, so good. Could not believe how packed the train was to Ikebukuro. The line wasn't so great because it kept like braking at stupid points and people would just like fall right over aha.

I got to the station and arrived a little bit early. I thought it might be nice to buy Yuka something nice as a way of saying thank you for organising my part-a. I found this cute little cake shop and they sold all different animals, intricately designed onto delicious cakes! So hard to choose but the lion looked the best! It was actually relatively cheap too! I headed to the proper exit and waited for Yuka to arrive. She arrived looking really good for someone who has been working all day! We decided to find the cinema first and then look for a place to eat cos we had 45 mins to spare. After walking in circles for 15 mins we eventually found the place, bought our tickets for The Dark Knight Rises and headed to a nearby pizza place! It was a pizza buffet which was decent but they had some weird toppings. I also accidentally picked up a dessert pizza and ate it after a slice of pepperoni. Disgusting.

We went to watch The Dark Knight Rises (2nd time for me) and it was sooo good (again) and then headed home cos it lasts about 10 hours aha.

Day 19: Nah

Felt like a pile of piss. Woke up at 1pm, died then went to McDonalds. Bam.

Day 18: Schwasted with Colleagues!

MY BIRTHDAY - SURPRISINGLY, I wasn't too hungover this morning. Don't quite know how I managed to get to the hospital for 8am but I managed it. I arrived and Dr Ito was working, woopa! This day was going to be fun! Another doctor I hadn't met before was working too and he was equally fun! His english was very good and he was very keen to get me doing things. He made me read ECGs, Xrays and explain CT scans to him which was good practice as it's so difficult to remember the correct ways to present them. The rest of the day was pretty standard! More interesting than usual which was good. Had soba noodles for lunch. You literally just dip a bunch of cold noodles into this cold soup sauce. I had it before but it still feels weird. Japanese people absolutely love slurping their food and it does take some getting used to. If you did that in the UK someone would probs knife you.

I always find it so interesting to watch Japanese TV after lunch! It literally just talks about food, food and more food. A typical TV show will show clips of celebrities going to about 5 different restaurants and eating all kinds of food. These clips are shown to other celebrities who sit in a bright sparkly studio and react to them eating the food and they are shown in a kind of picture in picture and the top left of the screen. Everyone just takes a bite of the food and then goes NUTS for it, saying how delicious it is. So cray.

The rest of the afternoon was much the same! I managed to convince Dr Ito and my new doctor friend as well as Will to go out for dinner and drinks after work for my Bday! They also invited some other resident friends of theirs. I got away early at 5pm to go get ready! I picked up some beers for Will and I to get us started for the evening and then I took him back to the ER Staffroom to wait for them to finish! We watched more TV with yet more food TV shows. We headed off to the other hospital building to fetch two very beautiful young female doctors and they were both lovely with pretty good English. We had just finished discussing the wages of doctors in Japan -me being told the wages were rubbish- before grabbing 2 taxis up the road to the restaurant. We ended up in this really nice traditional restaurant with SO many salarymen (businessmen). It was like a sea of white shirts!

We sat down and we ordered 6 beers! 4 big ones for the boys and 2 small ones for the girls. We had a big birthday Kampai (cheers) and I challenged Dr Ito to our "Drink Fight" that we planned to have. They ordered literally so much food and it was all delicious and so well presented. They asked if I'd tried ?natto before, and I remember one of the consultants telling me I had to try it because it was traditional Japanese food. I heard it smelled like cheesey feet so was a bit reluctant i'll admit. It arrived and I wanted to hurl. It was like beans but it was in this weird goo that honestly I can only describe as similar to semen. I tasted it and I wanted to spit it out (something I NEVER do- cos I like everything) but it tasted like feet. I washed it down with some beer and all was well. They ordered us like a big bottle of sake essentially. It was extremely strong stuff. I could not stomach to shot it all in one and had to sip away at it.

They just kept ordering more and more food until our table could not fit any more plates and my stomach could not fit anymore in it. The bill came and as I got my wallet out the doctors signalled to me that they were paying. I say doctors and I mean DOCTOR. It is normal in Japan for the highest ranking doctor to foot the bill! I didn't see how much it was but it must have been pretty expensive. Nuts, I was so thankful! We jumped in two more taxis and headed to this traditional bar restaurant up the road. When we arrived, our shoes were off and in the lockers and we had to go under this really tiny door (maybe 4ft tall). Apparently it was so you bowed on your way in as a mark of respect. So cool. Yet one more thing that wouldn't happen in the UK. If they made everyone limbo under a 4ft door some arsehole would end up falling over and cracking their head open hahaha.

So cool to walk in socks over the shiny wooden floors! The 6 of us were sat at this private room with a big round table! Yet again a whole round of drinks were bought and the cigarettes were out. Dr Ito even bought me a whole new pack of menthols when mine ran out. People be so friendly up in here! Yet more drunken chat continued before the girls left and left the 4 men there to talk about manly things. I revealed a bit too much about my personal life and I didn't remember until 5pm the next day. So embarrassing. It was getting very late and some of us had to work the next day! Dr Ito jumped in a cab home after I challenged him to a fight. And the 3 of us walked home together! Such a good birthday!

Day 17: Birthday Party

I genuinely woke up from my chilled evening of alcohol and cigarettes feeling a whole lot better. I got ready and headed into Shinjuku to meet Justin, who I'd not seen in two years! I wanted to goto a bar (at like 2pm) but he informed me that on a Sunday afternoon in Tokyo it was unlikely for bars to be open, I was devastated so we just went to Tully's coffee and caught up! I had to head home to get ready for tonight (I had 0 clue what I was going to wear) all just to come back into Shinjuku again. I decided it would be nice for me to wear nice trousers (for the first time in this roasting city) and a nice shirt. I made sure William got ready on time and we headed into Shinjuku early.

Yuka planned the entire evening at Pasela Resort in Shinjuku, a Karaoke restaurant. We arrived first and waited for everyone to come. Yuka got there first out of everyone and went to the front desk to confirm our reservation. We were on the fourth floor and were given a room number. It was like checking into a hotel, and we genuinely had our own private room with a huge table and widescreen TV for the karaoke! It was amazing! Little by little everyone arrived into the room and it started to fill up nicely! William and I were the only ones who didn't speak very good Japanese in the whole room! It was a great bunch of people! It was all you can drink so we ordered soooooo much to drink! The food eventually came and it was delicious!

It wasn't long before William was first up on the karaoke, he sure does love that karaoke! Like a proper Japanese person! It really is enjoyable to sit in a private room with friends and just fucking go for it on that mic. Not as embarrassing as the cringes that sing Adele at CC's or Priscilla's (before it shut lolo). Anyway, ha, Yuka gave me a really cool Adidas jacket (she works for Adidas) that I am definitely going to wear and a magnetic photo of Aya and us together in Shibuya 2 years ago. Yoichi and Chase gave me this cool face massager that will keep me looking young. Ayumi gave me a beautiful rose. Yuka loves her surprises and she presented me with a massive heart-shaped pillow with messages from everyone wishing me a Happy Birthday! Such a good memento of the occasion! :)

All of a sudden this MASSIVE birthday comes out of nowhere and everyone starts singing Happy Birthday! Afterwards I graced everyone with my beautiful voice. I absolutely butchered Celine Dion and some Lady Gaga too. If Whitney Houston wasn't dead before, she sure is now. Absolutely murdered "The Greatest Love of All". It was still fun though! People in the UK take Karaoke so seriously, as if they're saying "I could totes win X Factor with this voice but I wudnae dae it". Aye pal.

Everyone started devouring the cake but I wanted to keep mine! We went downstairs and asked if I could get a doggy bag for it (so plebby aha), and they said no. I literally downed my huge slice and almost choked to death in doing so. It was really late so some people had to run off for the last train while the rest of us took some purikura photos (in the cool booths!) Such a good Birthday party! 22 in Tokyo, bitches!

Day 16: A huge chunk of cabbage

I literally spent the entire day in bed watching true blood. Drinking lots of fluids in order to get rid of my wee illness. It did seem to work and by the time I had to get ready to meet my friend I felt a lot better. I travelled to Shinjuku Studio Alta to meet my friend Ryota. His English isn't so good so we had to utilise google translate a few times.

He took me to a Yakitori restaurant nearby. Yakitori is like chicken skewers. He ordered soooo much food and beer. Along with the Yakitori this absolutely huge chunk of cabbage arrived too. Yes, I ate it with chopsticks and yes it was very difficult. To get into the restaurant we had to take our shoes off and stick them in a locker. Walking around barefeet in restaurants is strangely fun.

After our meal we went for some beer and treats, before going to chill at Ryotas apartment. He likes a lot of the same music and actually knows who Dir en grey are. One of my favourite Japanese bands. We just kept smoking and drinking! Such a good Saturday evening. I think it may have killed whatever illness I had lol.

Day 15: Pizza and Picnics

I woke up and genuinely felt so ill. I could hardly stand up and my head was throbbing. I made the decision that I couldn't go into the hospital. I probably had some sort of virus or something so I didn't want to spread it to any of the patients. I just stayed at home eating, taking painkillers and watching True Blood. I think I had probably just being overdoing everything a little bit so I needed to calm the fuck down and chill. I did start to feel better towards the end of the day and my neighbour William thought it would be nice for me to get some fresh air.

We bought a few beers and headed out to Harajuku for some dinner. I love Harajuku, it's always full of the most interesting looking people. We went looking for this restaurant he'd been to where you can get a burger and all you can drink beer for 1500 yen (12 pounds) but when we got there, there was some kind of gig on so we didn't get in aha. Instead we found this really retro looking pizza joint and decided to see how the Japanese make pizza. We ended up ordering a 2L jug of beer and getting a huge "pepperloni" pizza. It tasted divine. I just wish I hadn't felt so crappy.

We headed over to Yoyogi Park which isn't far from Harajuku to goto this friday night picnic event. Will had been to it before and said it was very chilled and just people gathering to drink. We got there and it was pretty busy! Everyone was chatting away. These two lovely people came over to chat to us to find out our stories etc. One girl looked about 16 and she eventually revealed she was in fact 32. I honestly couldn't believe it. This other woman came over and spoke perfect English to us. People were pretty friendly.

William's friend joined us shortly after and it was nice to just chill. I got an email from Jo Kelly to say that our decile ranking scores had come out (relevant for our first job applications) and I was a little bit disappointed which was a bummer but I guess I only had myself to blame. Just need to ace the exam we have in December, which is possible. This white guy came over to us to say hi. Will asked his name and he said "Taku", Will looking confused said "Taku?". "I'm half japanese" he said. Will and I looked at each other. He was 100% white and had a Canadian accent. To quote Karen Dunbar: "I smell shite. Definitely shite." There are so many white people in Japan who pretend like they are actually Japanese. So weird, like that guy in Nip/Tuck who got that eye operation to look asian...

ANYWAY, it started to rain and I was feeling a bit crappy still so Will and I got the train back to Shimbashi and had a nice early night to try and get rid of this illness before my Birthday Party on Sunday evening. :)

Day 14: Rooftop Beer

I headed in again at 8am, but didn't manage to fit in breakfast. After the cases had been presented I decided to goto the Starbucks in the hospital (I know, so wasted on me) and get a "Sausage pie"- essentially just a sausage roll and some blueberry yoghurt granola. One of the doctors had never seen granola before in his life, so I explained to him it was a big bunch of yummyness. I headed back into the ER and it was really quiet again. I explained to some staff about why I was so young and finishing medical school so soon. I got to chatting to a medical student who was the year below me but 4 years older. Thank god for the UK medical education system.

I also had to draw a map of Europe for some of the nurses who had no idea where Scotland was. They were surprised to find it was just north of England. Another nurse asked me if I had blonde armpit hair to which I said yes. She giggled like a schoolgirl (even though she was in her 40s) and ran off embarrassed. To be fair I usually get asked more personal questions than that...

There were a few interesting cases today, which kept us all busy but they came in one at a time so that whenever they were in like 10 doctors would be dealing with them! It did mean someone could tell me what was going on. For lunch we had Thai food again which was yummy! I spent a lot of my lunch talking to my parents on whatsapp which was nice. Afterwards we headed back to the ER! It became really quiet after a busy morning and towards the end of the day I started to get a bit of a sore head/sore throat.

I left early and headed to the pharmacy round the corner to buy some painkillers and my delicious gel beauty tonic aha. I then headed to get some food and groceries. I walked around the grocery store and only managed to buy some juice, yoghurt, and philly cheese. I didn't have a FUCKING CLUE what anything else in the store was...

I headed home to chill for a bit and eat dinner. My neighbour William decided to go get us some beers and we hung out for a bit. We ended up on on the rooftop (almost) of our building smoking some cigs and taking in the view! Was a good way to end the day.

Day 13: Running through Tokyo

I headed to the hospital for 8am and was feeling a lot better since the raw horse incident. I had a morning of conferences and again understood very little. Dr Takeda was very helpful in translating most of it for me. The medical students who were now attached to the ER gave presentations to the full staffroom. Afterwards they were given a grilling by the senior doctors on the cases. I'm glad grilling medical students happens worldwide aha. Again, there was free food lying around! I managed to get some rice balls and 2 of them were delicious, the third had something inside that almost made hurl and I threw it straight away ha.

I hit the ER for a bit but it had become a lot quieter than last week. The rest of the day didn't really change and I got away a bit earlier again because I still didn't feel too great. My American friend Doug had asked me to go for a run with him up in Ningyocho and I thought it might make me feel a bit better. I headed up on the underground with my running gear and we set off from his apartment. It was just starting to get dark so I was scared my night blindness would kick in and I'd fall in the river. Doug is like 6ft 6 and runs long distances for fun (weirdo) so we split up so I wouldn't hold him back. We ran to the river (about a km from his place) and then went separate directions. I was sweating a beast already but it felt amazing! I hadn't exercised since the summer so it had been a long time coming.

I ran past so many people with dogs and thought I was going to trip over a leash or something. The waves of the river were splashing onto the walkway and it was kinda refreshing. It was totally dark now and I could see the Tokyo Sky Tree in the distance, all lit up and pretty! I managed to get to the meeting spot a lot earlier than I expected myself to so I had time to cool down before we ran back home to shower. We headed out to get some well-earned sushi for dinner! It was like any revolving sushi place except this time you had a touch screen in front of you to order more! Doug had 10% coupons so it only cost like 15 pound for the masses I managed to eat.

I ended up gorging on ice cream and crisps afterwards to reward my run which kinda defeated the purpose but as if I care aha. I definitely felt very fresh anyway, full of endorphins. Good way to end my day!

Day 12: Maybe not my best idea

I woke up in the morning and genuinely felt awful, perhaps the raw horse wasnae my best idea. I messaged my colleague to tell them I didn't think I could make it in today. I stayed in bed and tried to rest. I needed to run a few errands in the afternoon, like getting more money out. There is only one kind of bank that I can withdraw from so I tend to just withdraw a couple hundred pounds (10s of thousands of yen) at a time and then work my way through it, there just so happened to be a Citibank in my area so I dragged myself out of bed and got my moneys, I treated myself to a nice late lunch and headed home to rest some more.

I met my friend Bunny in the evening when I was feeling a bit better and we ate loads of delicious food and watched some paralympics coverage! I did not know how amazing it was to watch sitting volleyball! Japan's coverage of their medal-winning athletes was tear-jerking. It was really nice to watch. We ended up watching Wrath of the Titans (a film I didn't get to finish on my plane trip here) ;) and I went home for an early night. An uneventful day, but I was feeling better than I did when I woke up.

Day 11: Clip clop into my mouth you delicious animal

My 2nd week at Jikei! I was still feeling tired from my amazing weekend! But I headed into the hospital for 8am and sat through another set of case presentations, with one of the doctors trying to translate for me as best they could. It was definitely a very quiet day in the hospital, a lot of chest pain patients presented, and of course more elderly people falling. One of the doctors I hadn't really spoken to was laughing with me about when I came into ER last week drunk. She asked if I remembered being sat in the waiting area talking to a "big fat American man" and I obviously didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Oh dear...

For lunch we had curry again (they really love it here), except this time I had cheese curry... An interesting experience let's just say, was pretty tasty though. We were watching more crazy Japanese TV and when my colleagues had finished I decided to rest my eyes on the couch and ended up having a cheeky 40 winks. I headed back into the hospital and Dr Takeda said he needed to go observe some cardiac catheterisation in the other building and he wanted me to go with him. We headed across and we bumped into lots of prestigious professors that I was introduced to as "the elective student from Scotland". We got to the catheterisation and I realised it was one of the patients that had presented to the ER, they were looking into their coronary arteries to look for narrowing.

We then went for a wee tour around the ICU, the hospital is so new and clean in this building! He then asked if i'd seen the VIP suites, I was like "the WHAT?". He took me up to the 22nd floor of the hospital and showed me some of the rooms for rich VIPs who stay in the hospital. They cost as little as 70,000yen a night (like 500 pounds...) Who can even afford that though? They were amazing though and had a great view. Great place to be ill I guess.

We went back down to the ER and not much had really changed. I got to look at lots of CTs and X-rays which was really useful. I got away at 5pm today which was a first, it meant I got to get some things done before meeting my friend. I caught up with my friend Hirotaka and we headed out to Shimbashi for some dinner! He said he was dying to get me to try some raw horse so I thought why not? I doubt they're going to sell that in the UK anywhere. It was actually pretty delicious! Tasted a bit like chicken, but then don't all things.

It was full of "Salary-men", which are basically middle-class white shirt-wearing business men. Shimbashi is business district so whenever you go anywhere in the evening you always see a sea of white shirts. After we were done, I had a craving to watch Kill Bill because it had been years so we grabbed a few lemon ciders and some junk food (seaweed flavour crisps, not quite the same) and went home to watch Uma Thurman kick some ass. :)

Day 10: Fat Bastard Breakfast

This day was a complete write-off. Literally nothing exciting happened so I will keep it brief. I got up, dazed and confused once more and headed to breakfast at Dennys. A surprising amount of Japanese food in the American Restaurant. I got a big stack of pancakes and a load of french toast. When I finished it I thought I was going to explode. I rolled myself to the train station and headed for home. I literally just planned to sleep through this hangover. The only good thing about hangover days is that they save me money and I can catch up with Facebook messages etc.

I decided I had not had enough of my darling Hugh so I decided to watch Wolverine to make time go by quicker aha! I went out for dinner just to get out of the house, listening to the Kill Bill soundtrack. So awesome, on my way back this 40 year old woman asked if I wanted a Japanese Massaji. I told her no, because she was clearly a prostitute and said I was tired and needed to sleep aha! Smooth. First full week in Tokyo. Check.

Day 9: Hugh Jackman, Arty Farty and Bingo Coupons

Nikita and I ended up in the bar really late so I ended up sleeping in until quite late! I was meeting Tak and Studio Alta in Shinjuku for our long awaited night out so I essentially just got ready and went out to meet him! I arrived into Shinjuku station and oh my lord was it busy busy. I catwalked out the station and headed over to studio alta, where Tak was already waiting! We said our hellos then headed over to the Skyscraper district! We were planning on having dinner in the Park Hyatt (the place they had drinks in Lost in Translation) but first made a little detour to the Square Enix shop (video game geeks will ken what I'm on about).

It was pretty cool inside but everything was so overpriced and all stuff that only a collector would appreciate. The jewellery was literally extortionate. But then it always does seem so in this country. Maybe it's cos it's actually decent here unlike the cheap shite back at home. We made our way to the Park Hyatt. The bar/grill was on the 52nd floor or something ridiculous. It took a wee while to actually find it but when we did it was worth it! Had to take like 3 lifts. We got to the front desk and the woman very kindly informed us that we could not wear shorts in the bar. I thought the jig was up, but she asked our waist sizes and informed us she was going to fetch us some trousers to wear. I could not believe it! Only in Japan, eh.

I walked into the bathroom cubicle to change and the seat automatically stood up, I honestly shat myself but then again I was in the right place so it was aight. We headed out in our mismatching trousers and shirts into the bar. It was like a dream, so nice inside. I had been to see it last time but I definitely could not afford anything last time. We were sat next to the piano and were informed a jazz band would be performing later on. I looked at the menu and could not believe how expensive some things were. 60 pound for a steak? I'd rather have 60 drinks at GHQ thanks. I quickly scanned for the cheapest thing on the menu, which still sounded pretty delicious and ordered a beer.

The atmosphere was really nice, dim lighting and we came just in time for the sun going down. So we could spot all the light in the skyscrapers going on. It was really pretty, honestly. Our food came and it was so oishii. We just sat chatting forever and relaxing. It started to get busier and busier and eventually the jazz band came out. Once we were finished we changed back into our schemey shorts and headed downstairs for a taxi. Whilst walking through a corridor on the 41st floor I heard a big commotion in front of us and saw lots of teenage girls screaming and surrounding this older gentleman with a beard and cap on. I heard a strong australian accent and realised who it was. HUGH JACKMAN. My heart started racing, the biggest celebrity I'd ever seen was Jodie Marsh and I really wish that story wasn't true. I whipped my phone out and took a couple photos. I wanted to ask for one too but I was too scared he would get his Wolverine claws out and slash my face.

My darling Hugh ran off after his cute little son and we headed to the elevator. I don't know why I was being such a little fangirl about it but it just felt so exciting to have seen him in person! Anyway, we jumped into a taxi and headed to Shinjuku Nichome (Tokyo Gay Town essentially). We headed straight for my favourite bar: Dragon. Hot men in pants serving you drinks and snacks? What's not to love. Tak went to get us a drink and I found a seat. I was quickly summoned over by him because two Japanese girls at the bar wanted to meet me. They said they loved my hair, my eyes and my skin haha! I really hoped they weren't straight and luckily they were a couple, a very cute couple who could speak a little bit of English.

We all sat down together and chatted away. Soon my good friends Naing and Bunny arrived and we were reunited after 2 years :) I was so happy to see them again! We managed to gather a good group of us before heading to Arty Farty (one of the gay clubs in Tokyo). As we were arriving the bingo was starting. We bought our drinks and got tickets! My numbers came up one by one! I was going nuts at the prospect of winning and eventually I did! I got my prize and I thought he said 1000 yen drinks coupons. Which was a shit prize, but I realised it was 5000 yen! That's like 40 pounds! Drinks were on me... for me. ahaha

We headed to the other gay club and it was pretty packed. There is this REALLY weird law now in Tokyo that you can't dance in clubs unless they have a license. Don't me ask me why, I really don't understand. We ended up going to the Conveni to get more beer and drink on the street like twats. We went to arty farty for a little bit longer before I got a taxi home. I had SUCH a good night and made so many new friends! Got a few guys' numbers too aha! Awoopa!

Day 8: The World's Worst Hangover

I woke up at 7am, dazed and confused! My head was throbbing and I think I may have still been a little bit drunk. I downed about 2 pints of water and then started to read the letter on my table:

"Hey dude,
I found you asleep in the elevator, helped you get into your apartment... I left a bottle of aquarius in the fridge for you, help you rehydrate in the morning, I suspect you might need it haha."

It came from Will, the Australian boy who lives next door to me (he's also here for his elective). If he hadn't found me and dragged me home who knows where i'd be. Probably still in the elevator lol.

For some reason I thought it was THE MOST IMPORTANT THING to get to the hospital asap and be there for the morning meeting. I stumbled into the shower and almost slipped and died. I ran to the hospital and got sat down at the meeting, everything seemed so blurry. Dr Saito (who was out with me) was there too and looked a little bit worse for wear too. After the meeting I bought more water and then sat in the staff room for a bit. A couple of the night shift doctors surrounded me and asked me if I was feeling better/if I was hungover. I asked how they knew I was hungover.

"You came into Jikei ER last night drunk with Drs Funamizu and Saito..." I could not believe it. We came in and Dr Funamizu said it would be best if I had an IV drip put in but then apparently we disappeared. So awful, they all found it funny and I thought my consultant would be mad but he was just worried for my safety (so that's okay lol). I felt so embarrassed, but moreso hungover so I took a lie down on the bunk bed in order to feel a bit better. I ended up going home not long after just to literally sleep the day off. I have never experienced a sake hangover and I don't think I want to experience it ever again!!

I decided to go explore Takadanobaba later in the evening just for a spot of dinner. I found a cool wee restaurant and when I sat down the staff politely pointed me to a touch screen computer where I was supposed to select my meal. Why not just ask me what I want? Ah well this is Japan I guess. It printed out a little ticket for me and I gave it to the waiter. Soon after my enormous meal came out and I almost threw up thinking about eating. Soon after I had to go meet my friend Nikita after work. I had to take a couple trains to get to the proper station. It was getting quite late at night and people turn crazy in the train stations cos of the last trains home. Hundreds of people just stamped past you to get to their trains. Was a little bit scary actually!

I met my friend at his bar and then he took me in a taxi (my first time in a Tokyo Taxi, was fun) to this really cool bar. It was really dark inside and full of cigarette smoke. There was a really cool looking drag queen in the back (completely randomly, I didn't even think this was a gay bar). We just relaxed and chatted it was nice! I was shocked to find out this location wasn't even that far from my place so it didn't take me too long to get home :) I started the day and ended the day with alcohol inside me, yaya.