There is nothing quite as touristy as driving through the suburbs of Melbourne in a bus with Harold Bishop painted on the side in the search of all things Ramsay St. James, Heather and myself got ourselves up early this morning (despite a slightly drunken evening) in order to catch the official Neighbours tour and do a bit of celebrity stalking. Despite the early promise of a sighting of one of the stars, sitting outside the studios for half an hour failed to yield any results, so we were driven to Erinsbrugh (Sp?) High School for the obligatory photos before moving onto the famous but surprisingly short street. Plenty of photos, plenty of plot spoilers. All good fun, although a little disappointed we didn't get a photo with Steph.

The afternoon brought the arrival of Andrew who flew in from Brisbane. We took lunch at some street cafe that reminded me of Italy more than eastern Australia before jumping on a free shuttle and browsing around the town. Heather headed back to send some critical emails and do some shopping, while James, Andrew and I took a long (long, long) walk to a beach on the far side of the city. After working up a considerable thirst, we thought it was only appropriate to have a few refreshments and to sample some of the local cuisine (at a very nice restaurant) before heading back via tram.

Tonight we're back in the bar under the hostel. It's impressive considering the usual state of hostel bars, although we have become somewhat sceptical of anything that is advertised as 'free' here, finding that all the offers in the bar, hostel and in fact most of Melbourne are a little misleading. Tomorrow we take the great coastal drive, but for now it's another night sampling the local brews...

So after being asked on several occasions yesterday "Do you need a youth hostel mate?" (apparently falling asleep on the chairs in an airport arrivals terminal for more than six hours makes you look like you are one of the homeless), James and Heather arrived with copious amounts of luggage.

We grabbed a fast drink and decided that we needed to get from Sydney to Melbourne that night. The original plan had been to catch the 12hr coach, but this was less than appealing, so instead we booked ourselves onto an internal flight, and after stuffing ourselves with noodles we boarded and cut the travel time down by ten hours. It was the third time I had landed in Australia in a day, and I still hadn't been outside.

We booked into a hostel downtown (where we are now) and are awaiting the arrival of Andrew (a friend/fellow placementer of James and Heather). Looks like there might be an impromptu visit to the Neighbours set during the delay, as despite James' initial estimations, he might not be here until tomorrow.

Got to dash, but we need food and to explore Melbourne...

I've found a computer with Firefox on! Internet cafe with taste...

Anyway, they've allowed me to use a media card reader to put some photos online. Unfortunately its too slow to upload more than two, so scroll down to see the appropriate images. I'll try and upload more as I go along, but it's a bit of a nightmare.

So, I'm in Sydney. I'm not entirely convinced when yesterday ended and today started; even though I didn't have to cross any date lines or move more than an hour out of a timezone, the two flights still took nine hours combined, and despite it being ten o'clock in the morning, it feels like mid afternoon. I have a nasty feeling the jetlag is really likely to bite today.

James, apparently, is somewhere in New Zealand and will be boarding his flight in the next few hours to meet me here at 2.30pm. That leaves me doing some waiting. I mean, a lot of waiting. In fact, the past 24hrs have been mostly waiting. After I got back from the war memorial yesterday, I have spent most of my existence wandering around subway stations, 'skyliner' stations and in airports. For example, five hours of last night was spent reading, then re-reading The Weekly Telegraph. Unfortunately as someone with daily access to BBC News, the content is somewhat dated already.

Arriving in Sydney, I was a little surprised at the extent of the building works outside of international arrivals. On closer inspection (as I tucked into what I would consider half a baguette for the reasonable extortion of six quid) it is not works at all, instead a series of large arty, rusty iron meshes that act like screens, but have the unfortunate appearance of a crumbling construction site.

Not all is bad though. In fact you might get the wrong impression. Sydney is nice and cool, I can blow my nose in public, don't have to remember how to say thank you in Japanese and am enjoying comfortable surroundings on the sofas. With free internet access. Why are they still charging for it in the UK; every other airport seems to be offering it gratis apart from in the ones back home.

There was mediocre excitement on the flight in between the film and finishing of Clarkson's book. I was dosing in the middle of the night, when one of the passengers waiting for the toilet next to my seat did a full on stunt-passout and landed flat on his back. This has happened before, and it might be advisable that anyone considering flying doesn't sit near me, except unlike when it happened last time and the ever-camp air host(ess) screamed like a baby, this time the very casual Aussie air host(ess) waved a magazine in the guy's general direction and told him to get on his way. It's this type of ruthless efficiency that drives this nation.

I am guessing we are going to be hearing some dose of moanage today. Apparently Australia are waking up to the news that Brazil won yesterday night. Well, that's another 10p on the free accumulative bet I got with Skybet... I'm going to have millions by the end of the World Cup.

[Apparently comments aren't working (I have heard). If you need to get a message to me it's going to have to be via email...]

Today started a bit disastrously. Despite my setting of my alarm clock, I was woken at 11.15am by reception saying that I had 15 minutes to leave my room before I was charged an extra fee. Turns out that in my tiredness last night, I didn't check that the setting was AM or PM; turns out it was PM. This isn't really a problem, except that I missed breakfast and I couldn't grab a morning shower (sorry Davies, I'm going to stink when I get to Sydney). I hurried out of bed, three hours after I was meant to, pushed my kit into my bags and headed down to reception. Thankfully they store backpacks for free, and so that's where I left my stuff as I trundled next door to the cafe. After glancing at myself in a mirror, I realised that a coffee was essential, so I had two. An a pastry thing.

After that caffeine kick-start I felt a lot more awake and decided to make one last tourist-visit before making my way to the airport. Apparently the National War Shrine at Yasukuni was only three or four stops away on the subway, so I made my way there. This morning I needed an umbrella. When I arrived I noticed every single person appears to carry one at all time, and after making my purchase (¥500 from a vending machine) I was rather annoyed that I hadn't managed to use it after carrying it around all day, and it had proved to be a bit of an inconvenience. In fact, the humidity had totally held in two days until last night when I got to Shinjunku (skyscraper town) and suddenly it got all drizzly. I had hoped there would be an almighty downpour, which might lift the stuffiness, but instead it just steadily has been raining since then. It's been a bit difficult with the camera, but I think I've finally mastered holding the umbrella and taking photos at the same time now. After not very long in the damp, bustling youth-and-neon-crammed Shinjunku and Shibuya districts, I decided to head back and get some much needed sleep, which I did.

The shrine is a little bit controversial, in that it holds a number of 'Class A' war criminals, which were secretly interred there after the war (it became common knowledge in the 80s). The people who run it are also damning of the way they were regarded, and say that the term of war criminal is a 'western construct' and that Shinto religion doesn't recognise this. I know certain people who won't be too happy that I made the visit, but the historian in me was too curious to omit the opportunity. The shrine was originally built to memorialise earlier wars, and if I hadn't known it contained the dead of later times, I wouldn't have realised as I didn't have the time to visit the museum (which apparently makes some fairly different statements to those in western textbooks, especially regarding the 'unprovoked' nature of Pearl Harbour - and bringing attention to trade embargoes that don't often get mentioned).

My flight is a ten tonight, and I will be making my way over to the airport fairly soon as I'm not sure how long it is going to take. Last time I had some guidance how to navigate the non-subway sections of the train lines, but this time is going a bit more open to experiment. Japan has been cool; I'm glad I decided to come here, although I wish I'd given a little more thought to learning some of the language before I got here.

Due to the nature of jetlag, it has felt like 6pm all day, although it is still only 5.30pm now. Soon I will be in sync. I thought I'd be adventurous, so I tried the full on Japanese breakfast this morning, and I did it with chopsticks too. I was a little disappointed to see all the natives using knife and fork, but I showed them how. I tried pretty much everything in the pots. Maybe a little too adventurous, and I will be staying away from anything blue and slimy tomorrow morning, because although it 'slipped down' it wasn't exactly a wonderful experience.

I thought I'd share this piece of information now, as if I tell you where I ate last night you will think that I am totally bland. I had a Subway. I will argue that Japanese Subs do taste different and you can have chips as well if you like (I didn't). I did however have a drink that was the colour of Kryptonite, which was nice.

So far there haven't been any major problems. Mostly things have been lost in translation, but once you get the hang of the subway system (I now realise the prices refer to zones as in London, not per trip costs) its fairly smooth going. I feel like a local. Well, a local who doesn't really know what he's doing, and forgets to use the money trays, and forgets how to say thanks. Apart from that, a real local.

The Hotel Universe is a stones throw from a subway station, so getting out of bed, through food and onto the underground by 9am this morning wasn't a problem. First stop was Aoyama and the Meiji Shrine, which sport the largest torii in Japan apparently. It used to be the personal gardens of the Emperor and the iris garden was a favourite of his. Luckily I have arrived in the two week gap every year when the irises flower, and it is spectacular, if not rammed from beginning to end with a stream of (Japanese) tourists who all are trying to outdo each other with camera kit. It makes my SLR kit look quite pathetic. That said, I have taken approximately 70 photos in the past two days, so doing quite well.

I ate lunch after a comprehensive walkabout and ordered the Beef Curry Rice when the woman behind the counter couldn't tell me what the 'special toppings' on the buckwheat noodles was. After a stroll back through the busy streets (past all the designer shops; Harajuku and Aoyama have a reputation as the place where, as my guidebook states, the 'Teenage Hipsters' hang out). On from here I took the subway to the crammed riverside markets of Asakusa where I wondered for an hour or so in the heavy heat, pursuing the narrow streets and winding stalls that are woven tight with an unhealthy number of overhead cables. I also investigated the Senso-ji Temple, the oldest temple in Tokyo and impressively lavish. By midday the place was brim-full of tourists and so I moved on again.

For the next stop I came right back across town to Marunouchi, the oldest quarter of Tokyo and possibly the most barren. Like Washington DC, it was very sparse bar the important buildings, and it took quite a walk from the station to the Imperial Palace. After taking some photos of what I thought was the Imperial Palace, I walked a little further only to discover I had been a little mistaken and I had to take all my photos again.

On the walk back I used the vending machines again. A different experience to the ones in the UK, you don't always know what you are getting, mostly due to the language issue. I most recently bought an ice tea, although I didn't know that until I opened it.

Tonight there are two final districts I want to explore (rather than stay inside and watch the interesting, colourful and somewhat bizarre television programmes). I can't remember what time my flight is, but I will need to check that out. I haven't yet decided what I have for food tonight either. Oh, by the way, the girls here are stunning.

I managed to lynch another Mac today and have been abusing the free internet. Notice came through of my dissertation mark (finally) and I managed to hit 70. I'm happy, very happy to have a First, although I do think I would have appreciated a mark one or two points higher... Can't complain though; I did manage to acquire international notoriety after all. Swanny did the calculations the other day and worked out (even though he was drunken) that I was on for a definite 2:1. I'm more than happy at this as there are many friends of mine back at home sweating that they are sitting on the borderline. I'd much rather know than have to wait until grades day.

I was hoping to upload a photo, but I haven't got my USB cable with me.

Well I made it. Its a bit hard doing punctuation on a Japanese keyboard, and also a bit tricky avoiding eye contact with the staff in this Apple store, who no doubt will be trying to sell me this Macbook Pro when they realise how long Ive spent on it, so you'll have to excuse the lack of apostrophes. The flight was easy, I got down to Heathrow in plenty of time, and after 11 hours and a bit we touched down in Narita. The last hour of the flight was spent conversing with the lady on my right, and the girl on my left, who have given me enough instruction to get to the vicinity of my hotel.

It was partially a mission - the Japanese do not have a street name/number system, and so it is down to the individual local to tell you whether you are in the right place or not. Most of my locals did not know where it was.

I finally checked into the Hotel Universe and kipped for an hour. Although I knew the result of the England game, it was good fun watching it in Japanese, so I tried that.

I'm about a ten minute subway ride from Ginza (where I am now) which appears to be a main shopping district (Prada, Burberry etc). I have yet to try any of the cuisine as it all looks a little intimidating considering nothing is translatable, and when I told the girl on the plane that I didnt even have a general knowledge of Katakana, she looked like I night not survive. The guide I bought says I will be fine however, and as its subway map seems to be reliable, I am putting my faith in it.

Tomorrow I will try and find the temple district as it is my only full day, and if I can get up early enough apparently the fish market is worth a visit. Currently its humid but bearable, getting dark, and the neon lights are all on. This is what I expected of Tokyo.