Izu-Hanto

Konichiwa,

My baggage did arrive at the capsule hotel on Monday night as promised, but with no padlock keys. I was inches away from cleanliness but it was just out of my grasp. Dirty pants were perfectly acceptable on the Everest trek, when everybody else was in the same situation, but in Tokyo I was simply the smelly white bloke. The keys finally arrived on Wednesday – is it odd that my first instinct was to charge my iPod?

From Tuesday to Friday I stayed at a youth hostel in Iidabashi. For fifteen pounds a night you get a decent-sized bed, forty-seven vending machines, cheap Internet access and great views of the city (as it's on the eighteenth floor of a high-rise). Technology is utilised at every possible occasion, with automatic doors everywhere (even going into the showers), tannoy systems, vibrating chairs in the common room and heated toilet seats with non-touch flush! When you lock the cubicle door a sign lights up requesting that patrons "Do Not Flush Any Unnecessary Things Down The Toilet". So no squeezing then.

Japan is an unusual place. On the surface it is extremely Westernised and seems to idolise America; the national sports are baseball and American football and there are hundreds of American brands, including some that haven't made it in Europe (Wendy's, K-Mart, 7-Eleven, Denny's). Even exclusively Japanese products are marketed using Hollywood film stars (Brad Pitt and Cameron Diaz are part of a huge poster campaign for phone company Softbank) and US teen culture is visible on every corner. But once in a while you are reminded that you're in Asia; the beautiful stumble-upon Japanese shrines; the latter-day geishas running to catch a train; the endless bloody rice.

And the people here are amazing. If you enter a coffee shop every member of staff shouts out an indecipherable greeting at you. Everybody bows to you after any brief exchange; the lower the bow, the higher the respect. I got into a bowing contest with a very determined shopkeeper, who was grazing his face on the gravel to express his reverence. The Japanese also do everything they can to help you; if you appear lost for a single moment somebody will pop up to offer their assistance. An elderly gentleman walked me nearly ten minutes out of his way to show me to a museum. It's a shame I'd asked how to get to the train station.

On the other hand there are some real oddities to the Japanese. Firstly, the population is incredibly old, with noticeably more pensioners than young people. So few children are being born that the population of Japan is actually shrinking! The young people you do see are often dressed in a ludicrous fashion. I suppose it is to do with the lack of immigration throughout history, and the consequence that the Japanese are not an especially varied race (almost all are slim, with naturally pale skin, dark eyes and black hair), that they try to stand out from one another as much as possible. But I'm not complaining; a Japanese girl wearing a bright yellow top, black skirt and pink leggings with a blonde bouffant hairstyle certainly cheers you up on the subway.

So anyway; the sightseeing. I was in Tokyo for exactly a week and saw all the big tourist spots, as well as spending a lot of time relaxing in parks and cafes. An interesting urban area was Ikebukuro, which is surely the superlative capital of the world; home of the highest building in Asia, Japan's oldest shrine, the largest car showroom on the planet, the world's highest escalator – not as high as you would expect – and two of the largest department stores on Earth. However, my favourite place was Harajuku, a little suburb with a beautiful woodland shrine (Yoyogi-koen), and which at weekends is home to the Costume Play Gang – a collection of teenagers, most of whom are bullied in school, who dress up in ridiculous clothes and make-up and prance around for the tourists. When I went there on Saturday I saw a few of these kids, but the most interesting exhibitions were a German bloke in a spandex thong and a Japanese man dancing vigorously at his watching girlfriend. In all, I was very surprised how few tourists I saw in Tokyo; there were only a handful of travellers at my youth hostel as most were middle-aged Japanese businessmen (the word ‘youth’ is redefined in this aged population).

I found a place that was showing the Rugby World Cup final at 3.30am on Saturday, so I decided I would not book into a hostel for the night, but simply stay up all night in the pub. After the heartbreaking defeat I caught a three-hour train to Shimoda, a town on the Izu-Hanto peninsular. It was lovely to be by the sea, and I almost instantly fell asleep on the grass in a park. I awoke three hours later and wandered around the coast. I was a little disappointed that there was no natural coastline (everything was concrete) but it was still a nice change from city life. The following day I travelled west to Dogashima – another coastal town with several islands and rock formations visible from the (still concrete) coast. I went to my first onsen (hot springs) which were absolutely boiling, but very refreshing. And yesterday I went back north to an onsen town called Shuzen-ji and bathed in hot springs originally tapped in the 9th century.

At about 1.30pm I decided I could make it to Kyoto in the same day, so booked a train ticket. Rather than opt for the two-hour shinkansen (bullet train) for 10,000 yen, I paid 6,800 yen and spent eight hours on six different trains. It wasn't worth the fifteen quid discount. Anyway, I finally arrived at 9.30pm and went in search of accommodation. Everywhere I tried was fully booked and I had resigned to trawling the streets all night when one hostel told me I could sleep in their living room. I wasn't allowed to kip until midnight, and had to be up by seven, but I agreed whole-heartedly. I spent the evening chatting to other guests (there are loads of other tourists here) until everybody was turfed out and I could set up a mattress on the floor. All the hostels are booked out for tonight as well so I'm doing the same again.

This morning I went to a place boasting an English breakfast – toast, scrambled egg, bacon, sausage and pasta-salad (?) – then went to visit the northeast part of the city with several different shrines and temples. I met some American tourists and ended up spending a (perfectly innocent) half-hour with some Japanese schoolgirls. I'm now back at the hostel, doing some laundry and deciding what shall be on the agenda for this evening. I still need to try fugu...

Sayonara,
Joe x