Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Ja...

...pan.

Because hell yeah people, I'm here I've arrived. Shining, fluffing, ready to rock... I have a shitload of things to tell so be prepared: today's post will be long... :D (surprising eh...?)

(Meanwhile I'm listening to Radio1... they are speaking about having lunch... maaan so weird. It's 2 am...:D)

So. I had this idea not to sleep between Thursday and Friday cos than on Friday I'll be sleepy and I'll be able to sleep during the flight which will be great cos after 11 hours of flying I'll arrive to Tokyo at 7:00am local time. So I did like this, and completely tired I went to the airport on Friday morning saying bye to mama. It was 30 minutes of flying to Vienna... zupa easy, enjoying some tea on the way. In Vienna I had 5 hours to wait... so I went into the city center. Bad idea! It was really really hot and warm, and despite I've checked out that Maria Theresa hasn't moved away from her throne and the Stephan's dom is still standing I've spent most of my time in the Stadtgarten. Very nice, relaxing, beautiful and stuff but... I've misschecked my boarding time and I needed to hurry back to the airport like a crazy guy. I needed to take a special train so in the end I've spent a lilbit more money than what would be acceptable... well Marci will always Marci. Unfortunately. :S So after my usual struggles with life I boarded in and started my flight to Tokyo. I've felt asleep immediately... but after 20 mins my neighbor woke me up cos the stewardesses started to serve the refreshments and stuff... and I couldn't go back to sleep for many, many hours. I was watching a Tarantino movie... Pure Romance I only can recommend it. Anyway I had a lovely neighbour a Japanese lady with the age of 55-60 but she was really friendly and cool. Ee've been chatting a lot. She told me that Japanese people miss a gene or something and cos it they cannot really digest alcohol... and that's why they cannot drink. But she is different. So I've drunk with her a bier and a wine (no, not bottle, just a glass...) but afterwards she became really cheerful. Anyway I've had some time to think about my stuffs on the flight and maaaan...

I mean this whole Japan thing. I've never really believed it. The first time when I've realized what is happening was when I looked at the flight details and I've seen that we are flying above the border of China and Russia... east from India. Maaaan! Where the fuck is that? Sooo far from Hungary... from everywhere. What am I doing? And then they've served us the dinner... Japanese kind of food (but with chicken instead of fish), with shitload of strange stuff I've no idea what was that. So yeah. I must be crazy to start this journey.

We arrive at around 7 am. Before the departure I was in a kind of surprised shock that 80% of the passengers were Japanese. Well after the arrival there was custom check, passport check and every crazy stuff and then I was there at Narita airport. Japanese signs, 100% asian people and... craziness. The first surprise was to see outside the airport building that people are smoking... inside a very small box which is for the smokers. Amazing! But I think it's a nice thing... despite it can be pure hell for smokers. The Tokyo/Narita airport is a lie. Narita is 65 kms away from Tokyo. To get to tokyo I've taken a suburban train (HÉV). There is the so called skyliner which is a supersonic fast train... but I didn't have money for that. Still. It was much much more faster than the Hungarian HÉV, or the average trains... and it was the first step into the cultureshock. Where to begin? Even the inside is craszy... monitors, advertisements... newspaperlike advertisements hanging from the ceiling... and everywhere Japanese signs, cartoons... PR on perfection. But after the first stop people started to get in the train and it became full.... of Japanese people. And trust me every single thing is weird on them. I mean. You know what is the difference between the European outlook and a Japanese? NOTHING! The clothes, the hairs, the eyes, the hair, the skin... Everything is different. Not  in a bad way but I started to feel myself really uncomfortable. I mean I looked so different from them and I was the only one in a huge crowd...wow. I felt like I'd have 3 legs or a 2nd head. I just didn't fit at all to the train. And then you look out and... rain. It's the rainy season so it was raining like hell, fog, grayness, bamboo forests, and every sign saying only one thing: You are fucking in the far east! The houses look completely different, the humidity different, the colors, the styles... the cars are taller and thinner... everything is so different. Amazing! Usually you have the impression that Japan and Tokyo is this superupgrated 23rd century city... but in reality as you look out on countryside: you see something like from the Vietnamese thematic american movies. Strange houses and buildings with strange shapes/materials and stuff... and as you go further and further into Tokyo you start to realize that it's the same there. I guess this whole area used to be forest but the people have cut out everything. Like Vietnamese bungalows/houses very close to each other just dropped on the top of each other... amazing. Everything is tall. You travel with the train and you feel comfortable cos above you there are the top of the buildings... but then you realize that the train is not going on the ground floor. but higher above. And still there are buildings (no skyscreapers of flats) above you. Like bodegas on the top of each other. During the ride we were in a crossroad were there were 4 roads crossing each other simultaneously... and they were just above each other. Amazing!

So I've arrived to Nippori and I couldn't find my contact person (kummi student)... she said to meet at the exit in front of a store... well there were 4 exits and shitloads of stores. So... We've been searching for each other for a whole hour. So there I've met my kummi: Japanese girl #1 and a friend of him japaneseguy #1. While there was a girl travelling with the same plane I've met my first fellow trainee (we'll also work together) polishgirl #1 and her CP japanesegirl #2. So we went to have a breakfast and then to the city center, Shibuya area. And hell-yeah. Shibuya is slightly different than the suburbs. Metropolis. Like New York, or Tokyo. Ok, we are actually in Tokyo so... anyway. Lot of advertisements, tvs, screens, infinite high skyscreapers... just a couple of streets away from the piles of bodegas. Amazing. And shitload of people everywhere. Only asians, you do not see anything else. I am soo amused. I mean I cannot really say anything. Remember when I've sad: Finland was like the end of the world? Well if that's true Japan and Tokyo is already a completely new world. Crazy colors, clothes, people, everywhere cartoons, stickers... electronic and mobile shops. There was a dentist working on a second floor behind a huge window.. everyone could watch from the street how he is doing his job. amazing. Like when the end of the Story of Anvil movie Robb and Lips are amused by Tokyo. I felt the same. Amazing. Maybe some of you've heared about the movie: Hatchiko: A Dog's story. It's about a dog who were adopted in baby ago by a Japanese piano teacher and went every day to the railway station to wait for him. One day the guy died from heart attack when the dog was 1-2 years old. And the dog stays there and waited for him for 9-10 years till he also died. :( It is unfortunately a true story and a really said one. But at Shibuya where the dog used to wait for the guy there is the statue of the dog and it is an amazing story. So I've met some pics there with the statue. I've bought a Japanese mobile (they don't sell SIM cards just alone.. you have to buy the whole phone. 27000 forints for a phone... it was the cheapest one. But finally I have a Japanese number and I can interact with people. Aaaand it is not sony or  samsung or nokia... some totally weird Japanese stuff. But everyone has mobilephone like that. Btw there are 3 kinds of Japanese: the ones who always read on the train, the ones who are sleeping on the train and the ones who no matter what happen just all the time online with the phones and just pushing the screen all the time. Amazing. Afterward we bought some plugs and adapter cos of the electronics and then I've came back to the accomodation place to capture the room. It is a dormitory... there are other trainees here also. Run by an old guy and it has a lot of crazy rules. Where to put the garbage, how and when use the toilets, bathrooms, where what kind of slippers you can wear and shit... amazing. I am living alone in a room nearly as big as mine was in Oulu. Everyone alltogether ha one shower room... you have to digitally preprogram how warm water do you want. If you want to dry yor clothes you have to bring them out on the terrace... but it's always raining so it's tuff. :D While the guy was explaining all these things I've nearly died. In the past 56 hours I've slept only 8. So I was really tired and he said a lot of infos about food and everything. Till he finished it was 4:30. Japanesegirl #1 and Jguy #1 invited me to a party... starting at 6pm tonight. I wanted to sleep an hour before but that was not enough so I slept more and I joined the party later.

Before I've met on the corridor Chineseguy #1 and Africanguy #1. It was again a reall guessing game to find my trainstation from the dormitory. Travelling is really expensive. From the dorm to get to the city center a one way ticket is 4.50 euros it's about 1350 forints. One way. You can buy a monthly ticket... but just for lines. There is no ticket like BKV monthly ticket for everything. But the public transport s really clean, always hyperpunctual and... really crowded. :D So I went to the CCenter... lot of people, neon metropolis, amazing sights... girls and guys dressed to kill... amazing! Crowds, rivers of young people ready for some party. I've missed the predrinking but I've arrived to the "normal" drinking... to a British pub. And faced to sad thing:

Alcohol is even more expensive than in Finland.

One minute silence. :'( Hell yeah. In a shop bear is around 600 forints the cheapest one. In the pub I've drunk 4dl bier for 1500 forints. Cheapest one. I'll not make a regular thing out of it. But fortunately the university pays out the lodging, the food, some transport...so I can spend my salary on trips, and hopefully some parties and drinks. The thing is that already there are only 11-15 foreigner trainees here. But there are around 50-60 iaeste organizers.. so in these parties we are always sorrounded by Japanesepeople. It is not a problem just a lilbit strange. :) But I've talked and started to make friends with an Austrian girl, an other Polish girl,an African guy, a German guy... and some Japanese organizers.

But don't misunderstand it... Tokyo is not a Spanish fiesta. We are only a few exchanges here and... In tokyo which is a 30million city: THERE IS NO NIGHT TRANSPORTATION! Amazing! That's why I didn't go further to party. If you cannot come home with the last train you have to be out till 6am. And after sofew hours of sleeping I won't be able for that tonight. Some Norwegian guys went but I haven't met them yet... so we'll see. Anyway partiingm clubbing is really expensive and you have to be really ready to rock to spin all night. As far as I've seen from the group noone is the crazy partyhead bastardo so I'm not sure how often we'll go out. But anyway I hope sometimes it'll happen.

So that was the day I've arrived home around 1 am. Let's see some other stuff: Japanese people are weird. But I like them. they are really really friendly and nice. Helpful. And it's super cool. But noone speaks english. And when I say it I mean it. NOONE. Even the ones who believe they do... have such a few vocabulary and strange accent that it's really hard to understand them. From the ones I've met today... they were not so partiing and outhoing but of course it is depending on people. I mean it's Tokyo... here you can find everything and everyone, every type of characters. Tomorrow we are planning to do some more sightseing with the other exchanges. But let me tell you still two more stories. First: Before the train/subway (here subway goeas above the ground floor...) arrives  everyone stand where the doors will be in proper double line. Amazing. Looking at the people waiting like this is crazy. They always keep on the left side of the escolator... also amazing. :D Aaand. Despite we were really supercrowded on the last train... there was a drunk guy sleeping on the chairs. But taking a lot of chairs. And noone woke him up... people understood he has problems he is drunk let him take 4-5 places... while we were standing like the fishes in the can. Amazing! :D So Japanese people are supernice and cute and friendly... but they are really shy and I think it is not that easy to make contact and long talks with them. Now everyone is surprised, little scared, and shy...s o now we'll need to have time to make everyone feel comfortable and starting to make real friends.

So. That's the stuff. Tokyo. Amazing. Really. I've written down lot of bullshit but it makes sense. You have to come here and see this by your own two eye. It is really different from everything else I've ever seen. Totally different world. A very closed world where you can have a long and pleasant living only if you speak Japanese proper. But and interesting and crazy one. I think people cannot be natural with this crazy city. You can love it or hate it. Love or hate everything in it. Which one I choose? I don't know. Let it give some time! but this is the craziest and weirdest experience of my life. It is is AMAZING! True story.