It would appear as though I forgot I had a blog. Well i will probably do something with this soon but until then you'll find me being all sociable over on my social media things. If you have me on them then that's great, if you don't then tough.

First of all, apologies for not keeping this updated whilst in Japan. I'd like to blame technology, lack of WiFi or some other reason but the simple fact is I was having too much of an incredible time to fit in any updates. Now I'm back however I can begin to post about some of the amazing experiences I had, my 'review' blog posts should be starting shortly once I've recovered fully from the trip.

For now I'll simply say that Japan is incredible. The people are amazing. The culture is mind blowing. Everything is on another level and there are not enough words in the English language to describe the place. If you ever get the chance to visit this beautiful country then do it - it will be a life changing experience you'll never forget.

Arigato gozimasu

More Soon.

My blog posts will get more interesting from this point as I intend to post daily photo galleries from Japan here on my website for everyone to enjoy. This is obviously dependent on the interweb connection but as it's Tokyo I don't think that'll be much of a problem!

So until then. Sayonara.

It seems with this little adventure though being Vegetarian is going to present a real issue. The Japanese it appears have no understanding of what a Vegetarian is and therefore don't really have any accommodation for them. For the record at this point I feel as though I should point out that unlike a lot of 'Vegetarians' I don't eat fish.

This dietary inconvenience has led to some interesting discoveries during my research. Firstly that "Vege Restaurants" do exist in Tokyo but they're not exactly what we westerners would expect. For instance one proudly proclaimed that whilst all the food consisted of vegetables and meat substitutes, it was cooked in meat based products for flavour.

Another discovery is that the vast majority of food is served with 'Bonito Flakes" which are a combination of ground up fish and flavourings, usually chilli or seaweed. Mmmm.

There is hope however but it is a depressing one. I do like to sample foreign foods when abroad but on this occasion due to the language barrier and uncertainty on how something would have been cooked or garnished, it appears I'm limited to Western outlets such as Subway, Burger King (Yes! Really!), Dennys and a select few restaurants inside Tokyo Disney Resort. There's also a Hard Rock Cafe at the Universal Citywalk in Osaka which serves possibly the only 'Veggie Burger' in the whole of Japan. Yay!

All that being said, I'm not going to let this gastronomical failure get in the way of what is going to be a truly amazing adventure and whilst were on the subject of food I believe its the perfect time to introduce the robot "restaurant":

Photo: tokyo-fashion.tumblr.com

This is actually a thing. You get served a bento box of various nasties (which is not the point, according to Trip Advisor you just leave the food) and then get treated the most insane and nonsensical dinner show in the world. It has giant sharks, robots, dinosaurs, tanks, planes and plenty of scantily dressed Japanese girls riding the aforementioned objects. Take a look at the video below for further details.

Basically. The very existence of this thing has blown my mind. I. Cannot. Wait.

#Amazing2014

Photo: shinkansen-year2012.com

I'm not much of a train person but the idea of taking a Japanese 'Bullet Train' is somewhat exciting. Think a Virgin Pendolino on steroids, these modern marvels are capable of speeds of up to 200mph and link up the vast majority of major Japanese cities. That's not all, the Japanese are masters of punctuality as the average delay on the Shinkansen network is a mere 36 seconds. (2012 figures).

We'll be using the Shinkansen four times on our trip, twice for the journeys to and from Narita Airport into central Tokyo and again for our excursion to and from Universal Studios in Osaka.

All of these journeys are included in our "JR Pass" which is a specially priced rail/bus pass for tourists to Japan. The JR Pass is valid on the majority of Japanese rail and bus services with a few exceptions and has made planning getting around a lot less stressful.

Most of the rail networks not covered by the pass are included on the Pasmo mentioned in a previous blog post so with those two types of ticket it's more or less a free pass to all public transport in Japan. The JR Pass is exclusively available to tourists and cannot be purchased in Japan. We've used JRPass.com which sells the 7 day ticket at £164 each and posts it out to your UK address. Not bad at all.

It's beginning to seem a lot more real now. Just over a week to go!
#Amazing2014

So we've decided to do Universal Studios Japan as well. Why not?

9 days to go...

First up is the Tokyo Metro:

On first glance this beast looks like a complete nightmare, however to my delight on further inspection it works exactly like the London Underground. Presumably the major difference being it'll run on time and without any tramps.

It gets better. Tokyo Metro even has its own Oyster Card variant in the form of Pasmo and Suica. This far reaching electronic payment system is even accepted in vending machines, 7/11 convenience stores and the Tokyo Disney Monorail! In typical Japanese style it also comes with its own cute characters or "Kawaii" as they're known.

Yeah. Beat that TFL.

Next up will be the Shinkansen or Bullet Train as we know it. Check back tomorrow!

I've already mentioned the major reasons for visiting Japan in the previous blog post, but another is to explore and enjoy the amazing architecture of the city. Nothing symbolises this better than the Tokyo Skytree.

Photo: Superfuture.com

This amazing structure is similar to London's BT Tower, primarily a broadcasting tower but with a publicly accessible viewing gallery. It gives astounding views over Tokyo and the surrounding areas including Mount Fuji!

The top floor 'Tembo Galleria' @ 1,480 ft promises to be one of the most spectacular experiences on this trip - I think i'll be purchasing a new camera to take full advantage of it!

More details can be found here:

http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/en/index.html

I could give you a short answer of "Why not?" but that wouldn't make for a particularly exciting blog entry nor be entirely truthful. So I'll try to explain some of the reasoning for you.

Japan offers a unique combination of two of my favourite things, one of which is escapism from regular life and taking part in extraordinary experiences that many don't have the chance to do. This interest of mine has led to a variety of trips and general insanity with friends including spending an evening inside the Big Brother House last year. The other major thing which has drawn me to Japan is I'm a thrillseeker at heart. Japan strangely is home to some of the biggest and best rollercoasters on the planet! Here's a few:

The head over heels spinning craziness of Eejanaika:

Photo: ThemeParkReview.com

The 100mph Launch Dodonpa:

Photo: therichestimages.com

The sheer madness of Steel Dragon 2000:

Photo: CoasterGallery.com

...And that is without touching on the contents of the Tokyo Disney Resort which I'll keep for a future blog post.

So that is why I'm going to Japan!

#Amazing2014

With less than two weeks to go I find myself frantically researching anything and everything. I'm a pretty experienced traveler but only to European and American countries where the culture is not too dissimilar from our own. This experience is worthless in this case so I've never been more grateful to the internet for its overwhelming knowledge, translation tools and people willing to share their experiences of the land of the rising sun.

I thought I'd join in which is the reason for this blog! I suspect this will be one of those "Holidays Of A Lifetime" people harp on about. With that in mind I'm feeling the need to digitally document every stage of this insanity driven adventure into the unknown.

I wont bore you with the full details of the research I'm doing at the moment but here are some of the more interesting discoveries so far:

• Mountain Dew Crisps are a thing.
• Japanese Toilets are Hilarious/Scary (Delete as appropriate)
• Tokyo Disney Resort Looks Epic.
• Japanese Superstition is brilliant. Apparently If you lie down after eating you'll turn into a cow.

That's it for now. In short, I'm nervous and apprehensive but incredibly excited!

#Amazing2014