And thus it begins. Three weeks to go and I guess I should really get going and start to obtain the holy-grail for Japan. My student visa. I had my certificate of eligibility ready and was primed to turn it into a visa. To do this I had to visit the consulate in Edinburgh rather than the fancy one in London like everyone else because I am true northerner.

Edinburgh was a place of what might have been, given the fact that I once applied there to study Japanese but got rejected. (I still maintain that I would be a Manchester student had they not decided to reject me without interview.) So given this fact, it was curious to see what I would make of Edinburgh proper in all its glory.

The first day that welcomed me however wouldn't leave me with an overwhelming positive initial impression as it pissed it down in true British summer style with the run slewing down the cobbled streets and bouncing of the pavement. It was also pretty cool with the wind not biting off the Firth of Forth but leaving the air with a clear mild chill about it, the weather itself lacking the sort of mild summer heat you get in England.

Overall, Edinburgh seemed like a rather grey and drab Victorian city, that slopes up and down (although as a Sheffield student - these hills seemed rather tame.) True, the views from the top of the castle were stunning as you look out onto the Firth but I was constantly thinking about the relative size of the city. Admittedly, I was going on the basis of central Edinburgh but on a whole it appeared rather small as a capital city, and is dwarfish to somewhere like Glasgow.

At this time of year, the city is overran by summer tourism plus the onslaught of those coming to the annual festival. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh in hindsight, given the circumstances of when I went, but it was pretty fecking busy and very annoying when you are trying to find the Japanese consulate only having to stop in the middle of a street because a large group of Indian tourists want to take a picture.

Seriously... tourists, especially those from abroad are just annoying. I don't mind fellow Scots and other Brits doing the tourist thang there, because they at least know how to handle the rule of the land - which is don't get the way of other people. The tourist scene would haunt me for quite a while as I seldom heard a Scottish accent for the first few hours I was in the city.

So onwards to my hotel, which was located just North of Princes street (the main street in Edinburgh) and situated rather conveniently in a quite plush area of the city. My hotel had the advantage of being next door to a Russian greengrocers, a Dutch art-museum and a Korean restaurant. Ideal if you wake up the middle of the night wanting some kimchee and have an urge to view Van Gough whilst chewing on some spitting tobacco from Murmansk.

Because I had arrived pretty late due to a combination of a train-delay and waiting for the absolutely shocking weather to subside, I decided to get my visa at the consulate the following morning once my house was in order and I had located where I needed to go. Nothing worse that routing around for a place you don't know in the middle of Scottish rain. If for whatever reason you live in God's country (aka the North) and you need to go to the Japanese consulate in Edinburgh (for JET interview); you would do best to follow my advice.

1. Head out from Edinburgh Waverly station taking the exit out onto Princes Street.
2. Climb the monstrously large stairs that takes you up to the road, avoiding the hoard of American tourists with those annoying small hand luggage that could house a Chihuahua.
3. Turn left following the tram-line that should be on your left-hand side (or what is currently the tram-line being constructed)
4. Keep going past the JD sports, Boots and tacky tourist shops.
5. Soon, the road should diverge into three ways, there is a street called Queensberry Road which is the middle of all these three roads. Take this road.
6. Head up this road and pass a Clydesdale Bank on your left.
7. Soon you will come to a road that leads to the left, which is called Melville Street.
8. Turn left down this road. You'll know if its the right road because its full of embassies and consulates. The Taiwanese one is the first one you should see. There is also the Italian and Russians ones down here to.
9 Carry on down this road passing the classy law-firms. You should see a giant Church in the distance.
10. The consulate is to the right of the church, and obviously has a large Japanese flag outside.
11. Cross the road and ring the door-ball to get in.
12. Get your visa. Its like going to the bank and making a withdrawal.

Well the entire process of getting a visa took me all but 5 minutes. I arrived at 9.30am and there was only me and a security guard for company. It was all rather amusing tbh. The place is tiny and like I say is just a small bank with loads of Japanese writing. It has the stiffy air of Japanese beaucracy about it.

Well I now lose my passport for 5 working days and paid £10.80 for the processing and postage of my passport with visa. So I am now on tenderhooks until the passport comes back. It shold be back by Next Monday, which leaves only 13 days before I actually leave!

After the antics of the night before I was slightly worried that I would miss getting to the consulate on time. I actually 'ran into' my ex-girlfriend, well this is a bit of mis-story. I dated for her about 2 months sometime after leaving my serious girlfriend of two and half years and was probably the last romantic interest of note until girlwhohappenstoignoremeonadailybasis showed up. Plus, it wasn't an accident, I knew from a friend she would be in Edinburgh and decided it would be nice to meet up. Anyways, she was in Edinburgh due to the festival and has been working for a theatre company since she graduated from York Uni last year. We went to a few bars, caught up, talked about the past three years since we last saw each other (!) and I avoided getting terribly drunk and saying something stupid (normally do that when I'm sober tbh.) I did however, make a promise to see her show, which I horribly agreed to in that pastiche English way and then tumbled back to my digs down the famed Edinburgh slope and past the Russian 'magazheen' and into my bed. Rather weirdly despite the five pints I consumed I didn't feel drunk or dizzy but one thing was for certain I could not sleep on that bed at all. I'm a stickler when it comes to new sleeping environments they are a pain. Upon waking up and going to the consulate, I felt fine but upon returning home the hangover kicked in, in some weird delayed Scottish reaction.

It was a shame because I couldn't use my gift. A nice Celtic designed hip-flask and a bottle of Glenfiddich. Oh yes! That baby is going to do me well in Tokyo when I need to kill a few braincells due to the crushing weight of expectation.

Overall the experience of Edinburgh has actually taught me some curious things.

1. Edinburgh was clearly not better than Sheffield. Screw you UCAS.

2. I hate tourists and crowds but then I'm going to Tokyo... let's just hope that there aren't that many annoying tourists there. I guess the distance would mean I'm less likely to run into Spanish or French teenagers talking really loud and cutting past you on the street.

3. Its going to take a while to adjust to sleeping on a really shitty bed.

4. Alcohol is not my best friend. But then again its probably my closest friend.

5. Meeting ex-girlfriends can be fun.

6. I actually don't give two shits about women anymore. Especially ones from Japan.

7. They actually ID you in Edinburgh city centre. They ID'ed my ex (she is pretty petite though) and then a couple of girls got refused service for not being able to prove their age.

8. Alcohol can affect you 24 hours later. Possibly just Scottish alcohol though.

9. Japanese visas are easy to get; provided you filled out all the forms correctly (I failed to fill one section right and had to put 'n/a' on the form. (!)

10. Edinburgh is still ridiculously far from Middlesbrough. Just under 3 hours.