Mushi mushi!

I have arrived in Tokyo and I haven't stopped sweating since I got here. It is SO humid and SO warm that every time I get into my room alone I start stripping. I walked around today in clingy jeans - worst! Everybody here carries around a face-cloth to pat down there upper lips from time to time (it seems gross but I'm getting to the point of contemplating it).

After getting a bit jet-lagged and messed up, I started the day a bit early and headed to the Imperial Palace Gardens (kind of like Tokyo's answer to Central Park - but with more bonzai trees) 'cause they're within walking distance of my hostel. I spent the morning there and realized I NEED AN UMBRELLA! The rain jacket was making me just as wet from my sweat as I would be from rain if I weren't wearing the jacket at all (so attractive, I know).

The food so far has been typical - typical for me that is, not typical Japanese food. I had the traditional cheap hostel breakfast (blech!) of whiter-than-snow bread with sugar-dyed-red-raspberry jam and a cup of weak tea (which some of you will notice, coincidentally was T-daddy's first single). For lunch I discovered a McDonalds (woo hoo!....?), but it was a bit bizzare as it was all in Japanese, the place was styled all retro, and they were playing trippy obscure Beatles tunes (for the Benefit of Mr.Kyte...that whirring/carnival part of the song was too much to handle in the situation).

After taking a couple wrong trains due to an address that is now obsolete, I finally found the Japan Association for Working Holiday Makers office - basically, they're supposed to help me with finding a job, finding a proper place to stay, and all that jazz. The woman who helped me out gave me a warning before she even started my registration that jobs are scarce. I looked through their listings for a bit but nothing looked great. I'm going to keep looking and remind myself that I've only been here 2 days.

Japan can be a bit overwhelming - there's so much to look and it's so vast that it feels like my first day at University again. But instead, there's 13 million people in this city.

sayonara for now,
Pola