Tokyo oh Tokyo - where for art thou Tokyo

Back to Tokyo: Against the loving requests of family, friends and governments we decided it’s time to go home – to TOKYO!

Japanese hospitality

A Tokyoite woman stopped us in the street when we first got back – “Are you allowed to be here?” She asked politely. “Oh yes” we said smiling. “No problems – Governments don’t know jack!”

It is good to be back though – Hannah and I feel good about it and felt bad that returning might worry our family and friends. But you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do I suppose.

It really isn’t as bad here as the media made out though. A slight shortage of food on shelves - but nothing major. I’d say the worry is more due to Tokyoites being so used to convenience in abundance. There are a few elevators, escalators turned off and some shops close early but other than that Tokyo seems very much the same. A BUZZING MASS OF PEOPLE! I also think that most of the people that left were foreigners. Dirty dirty foreigners.

But YES! We’re back. We are staying in Shibuya at a fellow New Zealanders apartment. It’s a nice place and cheaper than backpackers accommodation. Cozier too. Today we went around checking out apartments – but to be honest I think we’ll wait until we lock in jobs before signing contracts. We can only afford something tiny and petit at present and we’d need to lock it in for a year so it’s wiser to hold off for now.

Koyasan -4 degrees and beautiful

The Beeb: A lovely gent stopped us yesterday with his cameraman in toe. He was keen to hear our opinions on how Tokyo is post-quake and why we are here despite the supposed risk. It was good though – he talked to us on camera for quite a while and even got a few shots of us walking through the rain with our brolly. Who knows when it’ll be on – pretty soon I imagine – maybe even right now. Keep an eye out if you have the Beeb tuned in.

Apartments: They’re quite funny these little Japanese apartments. They really are tiny. They are very similar to the kind of rooms, bathrooms and features of say planes or boats. Little compartments where space is gold!

Desperate times call for... Starbucks

Rumble in the Concrete Jungle: Despite how excited we feel and the peace we have about returning here. We have noticed there are still loads of quakes happening – some of them fairly decent. In fact there have been about five in the last 24 hours. Here is the Hannah and Brendan procedure for dealing with an earthquake:

1.     Feel earthquake.

2.     Look at each other with wide-eyes and silently communicate and acknowledge that an earthquake is occurring

3.     Briefly think of where you would hide, lay, secret yourself should the quake escalate into devastation

4.     Continue eating udon and wait for quake to stop

There are two things that we miss over here. One is cheese. Two is bloody great coffee they have in Wellington. Desperate times call for desperate measure.

Oh it's raining again. Until tomorrow folks!

Osaka Skyline