First Impressions

27 hours of travelling, coach, plane, train...and we arrive in Osaka! The plane wasn't too bad, there was much excitement all the way here, we were with Emirates and so got a pillow, blanket, big tv screen with games, movies, music etc PLUS exterior cameras so we could watch the world go by and see the ground after take off! The group were even given Kiddy travel bags as one male steward took a shine to them. So that was fun.

We found the hotel by about 7pm as predicted (despite a tiny mix up with exits at the train station!) signed ourselves in and started to get used to the space we had.

Some have shared rooms with 'proper' beds and some have single rooms with futons. The hotel is nice, not what we expected - they gave us the impression that they had many rooms when we were booking, it turns out that all of those rooms are combined in the foyer!!! HOWEVER its really nice, friendly and we are managing to fit ourselves in nicely, it also means I can keep everyone together easier!

Everyone got a shower (again the showers are all downstairs when I was told there was a shower room on every floor - they had meant toilets on every floor, but this is fine since most of us are downstairs anyway playing cards and chatting, internet and diary writing!) Then it was off to bed for an early night in order to keep the Jet Lag at bay!

Today there were many bright faces (although a little tiredness did creep in as we went along) we deliberately had an easy day today. Everyone was allowed up late for breakfast etc, then we all set out in groups to explore the local area! We saw quite a lot of REAL Japan (as we are not staying in a 'tourist' area as such) and we got stared at a lot because we are not Japanese.

We found lots fun little streets with 100Y store (the equivelent to our £ shop, though things are 105Y to 150Y!!!) lots of decorations around the streets, lanterns etc and many sushi bars and places to eat.

When all the groups met up we chose one of the food places that people had seen on the adventure and made our way there together, it was only around the corner. We managed to get everyone seated, it was only small, and the waitresses were lovely but didn't speak a word of English, the menu was also completely in Japanese symbols. Luckily the chef DID speak English so they went to get him while we were rummaging through our language books!!!

He was lovely and asked us what we wanted him to cook, which was good because we wanted to avoid things like uncooked seafood etc! So he offered to make BIG dishes of lots of things like Rice, Chicken, Pork, Noodles etc so we could all share, then asked what price we would like to pay so he could cook enough to suit the price and ensure we could afford what we ordered! Despite his struggling English, and our appalling lack of Japanese, it all happened and the food was brilliant! Everyone tucked in and were careful to avoid sticking their chopsticks in the rice and made sure they thanked the waitresses in Japanese etc.

A little Japanese man was trying to be friendly with us but he was a bit drunk and the Waitress told him off and made him move away from us - so we are definitely being looked after! The Chef asked if we were from Liverpool and said that we come from the land of Harry Potter! He was keen to know why we were in Japan, how long for etc and invited us back. So we plan to go back towards the end of the trip to see him and try out our new Japanese words on him!

We arrived back at the hotel to rest shortly before heading out to the conference room (which is above the 100Y shop?!?!) to do a workshop.

The conference room is well smart and we began by talking about what we had seen and learnt earlier today when walking around Osaka. The group shared their stories about what they had seen etc and then talked about what they DIDNT like, most worries are not being able to speak to the language well while everyone is keen to meet new people and bond with the group.

We then worked on some Japanese phrases and words together and split into groups to discuss various things such as what they are looking forward to, what they are worried about, what they want to gain from the trip etc. This was fun and the answers were great!

The groups first imressions of Japan off the top of their heads when asked were:
Bright
Colourful
Friendly

They also talked about how different Japan is to the UK, here we have heated toilet seats and 'bum washers' in the toilets (!), different language, trains in the sky, lanterns and decorations etc

After this we played a quick warm up game and split into pairs to act out a scene using only Japanese language, so the group were able to look through the guide books and language sheets and create a situation using Japanese only! We showed some of these and they were pretty impressive! I hope everyone has learnt some words to put to use now.

Everyone is currently having dinner (or tea as it was argued!), it is 9.20pm. Then it will be bed time as we have a very early start tomorrow!!

Thanks for reading :-)