Turning Japanese

I'm living out one of my lifelong dreams at the moment... Backpacking around Japan. I've wanted to do this since I was a kid, and the perfect opportunity just came along about a month ago, I spotted the cheap air tickets, I had the funds, so I just packed up and went!

So I'm writing now from a rented laptop in my closet-sized room in a Business Hotel in downtown Osaka. Not a capsule hotel (tried one of those already- it was like how I always imagined being trapped under fallen rubble must feel).

The culture shock has been... incredible. I could write pages about it, but I think I'll stick to the three things that have made the biggest impression on me...

1. Language: I don't speak a word of Japanese beyond what I learnt from my tiny phrasebook while on the plane here. I'm getting better with practice... being immersed in it really helps, but yeah, it's the toughest part of being here.

2. Food: I've never been the biggest fan of Japanese food... I've eaten sushi, but that's about it. But I'm making myself try new things while I'm here, and eat as many unfamiliar foods as possible. Of course, some times I crack and go back to a burger, but the Western food is so miserable here anyway that I'm really better off with the local stuff. And I've got to say... it's really good!

3. Onsen: The public baths. Oh. My. God. Coming from Australia, I've never really showered or been naked with a whole bunch of other guys before (I know this is common in the United States, but we don't really do that Down Under). So having to take my showers every day in a big public room took a bit of getting used to.

The past couple of weeks has been incredible, and I'll be posting some longer bits of my journal as stories when I get back... I met an amazing guy here, and it's a story that I need to write down, if only to help me remember it all before it fades away.

Sorry about the short post, but I'm keeping it short so I don't ramble on forever. I'll leave you with a couple of photos (not mine, I didn't bring the cable for my camera) of the baths here, and the local boys that fill my dreams every night.