After getting off the plane, getting through customs was much faster than it had been at Tullamarine.

We reached a food court at the airport (Narita). Gabe decided the best course of action was to eat (as we needed to get some food in us), so he decided to get Freshness Burger as it was the easiest thing to order. He got me a burger from there so I could eat something as well.

It wasn’t the best food I could have had but it was certainly much better than many other things I have eaten.

We found an ATM shortly after. I needed to pull money out of my travel account. Despite it being an ATM that accepted international cards, I wasn’t able to pull money out.

I found this to be a bit odd, but there wasn’t much I could do.

We bought tickets for the Skyliner (an express train from Narita to Tokyo) shortly after and began to make our way to the train platform.

I ended up getting ahead of Gabe at one point, so I turned around and saw that he had been accosted (I use the term loosely) by some Japanese people.

I wasn’t sure as to what was happening. Gabe waved when he saw I was looking, so I went over.

He was being interviewed for a Japanese show.

They started interviewing me as well, so I answered the questions as best as I could.

I was drowsy. I was thinking “I don’t know what’s going on; what is happening?”, a and trying quite hard not to start laughing as it was a bit too much for me to handle with a lack of sleep.

After a while, they told us they’d like to film us climbing Mt. Fuji (as it was something we said we’d be doing whilst in Japan).

We had to move quickly shortly after as the interview took up a fair bit of time and we weren’t sure as to how far away the Skyliner was.

It was close, but we missed the one we needed to catch, so Gabe bought a second set of tickets.

Shortly after, the Skyliner arrived and off we went to Tokyo.

Whilst it was a fairly fast train, it gave some great views of the areas it passed through.

Eventually we arrived at Nippori station and found out we paid the incorrect fare, so we used one of the fare correction machines.

We then bought tickets to Minami-Senju (the station we had to go to to reach our first hostel).

We ended up getting stuck at a station just past Minami-Senju station for a while (as we missed our stop), waiting for a train.

We had asked for assistance from a station agent but we were still a bit confused.

Eventually we hopped on a train we needed to and arrived at Minami-Senju station, then proceeded to head in the wrong direction.

I asked a police officer for where we were meant to go to get to where we were stating (the Juyoh Hotel) and he guided us in the right direction.

Gabe was getting frustrated as it was humid, he was tired and he didn’t want to walk around much. I told him to calm down as we walked.

After about five minutes we reached our destination.

I offered to cover the first one as he had covered me up until that point.

When we checked in and I went to pay, my travel card didn’t work.

I then tried  the backup travel card and that didn’t work either.

This had left me a bit concerned, but I figured it out shortly after (I was using the backup as the main and with the wrong PIN as well).

We headed up to our room (it was a private one) and dropped our stuff.
It was a small but nice room with floor futons.

After resting for a short period, I asked Gabe where Akihabara was.

As I thought it was the main shopping district of Tokyo, I decided it would be best to head there on the first day to familiarise myself with it. We were returning to Tokyo at the end of our trip and were going to do our souvenir shopping then, so I felt it would be better to move quicker through the area at the end to have more time doing other stuff instead of going through it at a slow pace.
I asked Gabe if he wanted to come along but he declined, preferring to rest.

The first thing I did after leaving the hostel was head to the local 7-Eleven (the easiest place to get money out in the area I was in and many other areas too) to use the ATM there.

Despite most of them accepting international cards, I could only get my travel card to work with one ATM.

A few days later into our trip I realised it was random as to which ATM in a 7-Eleven would accept my travel card if there was more than one that accepted international cards.

Then I headed back to Minami-Senju station and then hopped on a train. I had to change at a station to get to Akihabara. However, I forgot this and thought it was one of the stops along the line I went to.

I ended up going farther than I than I was meant to and when I figured out I’d gone too far, I hopped off the train when I saw something that looked like a shopping area.

I ended up in Nishi-Arai, so I walked around there for a little while.

If I remember correctly, I saw a sign that showed where a temple (Nishi-Arai Daishi) was, so I decided to head in that direction.

Along the way I saw an Italian food café. It was the first of many. I was surprised by this and found it to be odd.

For a moment I questioned as to whether I was in Japan or had somehow not left Australia.

I kept on walking and reached (Nishi-Arai Daishi) shortly after.
It was massive structure that inspired awe.

I walked around it for a little while and felt as though I was being disrespectful by not praying at areas I was meant to.

With that being said, I did also feel quite relaxed there.

Eventually I headed back… and ended up at Horikiri station.

I told the station agent there that I was trying to get to Minami-Senju and he told me I had to cross to the other platform and let me go there for free; something I was happy about.

Shortly after I reached Minami-Senju, headed back to the hostel, told Gabe about m journey and then turned on the television.

Aside from the rare occasion, I do not watch television.
I wanted to see what their programmes were like and whilst I found some things that I enjoyed, I was as uninterested in it as I am with television in Sydney.

At around eight or nine P.M., I fell asleep.