I hit the sack early on New Year‘s eve so I didn’t get the opportunity to see what seeing in the New Year looks like in Tokyo. According to some Australians we met on the tube, Rippongi is the place to be; jet lag and a long journey to get there put pay to any possibility of that.

I didn't sleep particularly well - the bed was just too hard for me; this may be a good thing though - getting me used to it ready to sleep on a futon in the Ryokan we are staying in in Akan in a few days.

At about 10am, New Years Day, I attempted to meet up with Owen and Sarah. I say attempted because, due to the size of most of the main stations, there are so many exits to choose from and it's therefore really easy to miss each other. Anyhow, eventually we did find each other - partly to do with me doing laps of the station and partly due to them having finally actually turned up! First stop then, Akihabara - Electric Town.

I don‘t really feel that I have yet found the heart of this district; I have heard tell of there being shops selling electronic components and vacuum tubes and so on - but we didn’t come across any of these. Of course that may have been just as well - poor Sarah would have been bored to tears! What we did find, having chosen an computer store at random, was 5 floors of computers, accessories and parts. Best find for me - little £5 robot kits (much restraint needed to buy only one). In another shop I found a spare battery for my digital camera for only £20; I think they are about double that in the UK.

Perhaps to spare our wallets or perhaps to spare Sarah, we headed off from Akihabara by train to Harajuku. A quick note here on transport; we hear of how good Japan‘s train system is and my experience thus far has not done anything to diminish that perception. Having said that I still think London Underground holds up pretty well in comparison - the stations don’t feel as airy and clean but it does work pretty well. One thing that doesn't work well in Tokyo is tickets. There are two sets of lines around the city - underground and over-ground. You can buy a day ticket for the latter and maybe for the former, but seemingly not both; so you tend to choose the best method for you for the day (usually the over-ground JR Yamanote Line which does a big circle through most of the biggest districts), and stick to it, buying the odd extra (eg. Metro) ticket where needed. Of course on the topic of transport, I have yet to experience the bullet train! Also I must point out that it is with the over-ground trains where the UK trains suffer comparison poorly - Japanese railways are cheaper, cleaner, faster and much, much, much more reliable. The time-tabled time is the time it will be there; oh for a service like that to London!

Onwards to Harajuku to follow.