What a curious day. It started with a crush and ended with one. And although the meaning differs there was a stroke of genius and several train tickets bought in between.

Firstly I somehow managed to wake up late and end up ten minutes early to my grammar class at 9am. God bless the wonderful 'commuter express'.

The trains over here during the main rush hour periods are something of a joke and if you are unfortunate to take the more earlier ones between 8.15 and 8.30 you are in for a squash. Oddly the ones after that are ridiculous as well but not as bad as the 'real' one which I boarded today at 8.30. Eeep.

Another curious thing is that the Japanese generally are ridiculously polite and are very mindful of other's personal space. But during a train journey it simply can't be helped that you are gonna squash someone and get in their way. This is simple a process of 'shou ga nai' ('nothing can be done', but more poignantly 'just get on with it'.) Therefore on the trains you tend to see Japanese at their worst. So far I've seen several drunk salary men, one whom decided to sleep length-ways across the 'priority seating' and a few very loud schoolkids. The very worse though tends to come during these rush hour journeys when the Japanese seem to leave their little polite world behind and its a basic free for all. Getting dibs on seats is a must - hence the mad rush by the obaachans once the door opens. The second is getting off the train. Basically you can push people out of the way and it is not always necessary to say 'suimasen' (although obviously it would be nice.)

Today was one of those days where I ditched being the nice English gentleman and decided to do as the Romans do. Its becoming a recurring thing as I get used to life over here. So despite being stood fairly central to the exits I managed to push about three people aside, stepped on a old geezer's foot and then just casually strode off the train with a sense of guilt that would be to evaporate the moment I climbed the escalator.

It still doesn't pail the experience of last week though, when I simply 'guided' an old lady off the train because she was a little stuck at one end and then decided to grab my short tail and hang on for dear life as a I made a parting of the suits like Moses in a business conference making way to the coffee table. It was also the same day that when I arrived at campus I was said 'hello' to by a quaint looking Japanese fellow. It was very surreal as its the only time I have ever had this. Just a complete random stranger say something to me in English. It was actually rather uplifting after the monotony of Tokyo life in the morning. Like a small petal that floated up from somewhere and danced in front of my eyes.

There are always two ways when riding the train. The way into Shinjuku and the way out of it. Pretty much 90% of the time, the train heading into central Tokyo is a pain in the arse and relatively squashed up until you hit Shimokitazawa (the gateway to Shibuya) or Yoyogiuehara (the gateway to Asasaka, Roppongi and Ginza.)

The ride back is in complete contrast (bar the last train home and rush hour) when its just as bad as going there, if not worse. It becomes a lottery of getting the cute schoolgirl to be squashed up against or the ojiisan with halitosis. I just stand there, restraining my loins and think of England whilst my Ipod blasts out electro.

So after a mild squash into Shinjuku, I headed into the local Midori no satsuguchi (basically a ticket desk) and bought my Seishun 18 kippu. The wonder of this ticket is pretty much simple; you pay 11,000 yen during the holidays periods to have 5 free days of unlimited travel in Japan. Whilst this sounds great, there is one huge drawback in that you are not permitted to travel on trains which require advanced booking (such as the limited express and Shinkansen.) Therefore what should be a relatively simple 2 hour journey to Osaka from Tokyo is turning into a 9 hour marathon from my digs here in northern Kawasaki to Osaka station involving about 7 transfers at various stations. Cue Christmas Eve I say... I can't wait for this little journey.

However the added bonus is that having the ticket has allowed me to travel to Himeji for a day - which is awesome, as its been on my 'to see' list for a while since I got here.

Ultimately though, it may be long journey but you get to see the countryside of Japan and actually get to witness what this place is like outside the big cities which is sadly lost when you are hurtling down a track at 200km per hour.

Trying to expunge these thoughts of trains for a moment brings me onto my second focus of the day as I headed on over to the amazingly wonderful store named Don Quixote (ドン キホーテ) in Shinjuku.

Don Quixote is pretty much hard to describe. Its like the offspring of a department store and a hundred yen shop, where you can buy some really quality goods at low prices as well as some absolute bargains. And the most important thing is that they are freaking everywhere in Japan. The main idiosyncrasy of the store is its narrow little aisles with everything squashed up together tightly as you have to weave in and out of customers coming and going. The products line the shelves up to the ceiling and there is no such thing as a floor map. Quite frankly its like a labyrinth of the tacky and cheap.

Although that sounds like a really bad thing, its actually not - because if you root around the store for a bit you will find some killer products available. They have some awesome t-shirts and some really quality niche items like jewelry, belts and trainers. But above all, its the little things like Keroro-Gunso hats or some sort of Purin toy.

At first I entered to buy myself a really cheap Santa hat for Christmas but in the end I bought myself what can only describe as a ridiclous impulse buy, one of those things you see and say to yourself "I must have that!" Probably the greatest tracksuit I will ever have the fortune of buying over here.



Genius. For those of you who are not adept at Japanese or seeing the blurry image. The front says ナンパ師 which means something like 'pulling/flirting teacher' whilst the back says すいません、ナンパです！ - sorta like 'excuse me, but I'm pulling/flirting here! or I'm gonna start to pull you'

I simply have decided I must wear it when and if I ever decide to go to nanpa.

As well as that, I bought myself the aforementioned Santa hat as well as a cool red t--shirt which I clocked and thought was pretty smart. I don't have any red t-shirts in Japan and apparently its a lucky colour, which might help my nanpa in conjugation with the tracksuit. *ahem*

On the way back to Seijo, which as you would image was relatively 'ojiisan with halitosis squash free' I bought my new commuter ticket, only to discover that upon going back to the exchange office at the university I needed a fancy receipt so I could I get the rebate back from them. D'oh.

During these two visits I was introduced to a student who was interested in going to Sheffield next year as an exchange student from Seijo. I think her main concern was the fact she has learned American English even though she spoke with what I considered quite a British accent. Weird. Any ways I have no idea who is coming to Seijo next year and who indeed from Seijo is going to Sheffield!

Funny times. Oh on the way back home I stopped off at OK supermarket and saw what shall be known as from now on as 'Supermarket Girl', which is a funny little story I shall relay in due course. Needless to say it pretty much sums up my love life and is one of tragic romance tales I am desperate to make into realtiy, by either nanpa with my spiffy new tracksuit or by turning it into a slushy Japanese TV drama.