land of the rising sun & underwear from vending machines

Hope you had a good fright. The plane seemed fine and the airport is quite safe. The scariest part so far is my personal stench - I am in dire need of a shower.

Like a giant platypus bill, the nose of our bullet train pushes through the thick, grey Osaka air with a Japanese efficiency...

Amanda and I are escorted from the platform by Sharon Travers. Sharon's Celtic accent has been pounding the ears in Japan for the last 10 years!

Like Melbourne, we have a few trams here in downtown Hiroshima, but without the lane-sharing madness that causes so many Melbournian driver blunders. My expectation of streets thick with human traffic goes unmet. A 1 minute walk to Amanda's chilly abode and then a 2 minute walk to my Nikko building. There's no doubt this is a blokes' flat.

Sharon guided us through the alien registration after lunch at Gusto. After my misunderstanding a month ago, I was happy to order tonkatso from the picture menu. Amanda also shares a strong passion for food - instant way to put yourself in the good books of most men! Our serves of Tonkatsu arrive each with a chilled poached egg in a side dish...

The fascinating aspect of our apartment toilet is the hand wash basin above the flush water tank. Flush the loo and the pump drives the wash basin tap and drains into the fill tank - amazingly economical use of water for a country that will never have a drought.

With beer in hand it doesn't take long to be entertained by wrestling blairing out of the pay TV. Tim is my Australian flat mate and Craig is the Scottsman. The word for groceries is messages according to Craig which turns into our running joke for the night.