161, bus, Nagoya, Bus, Tokyo

Caught the bus from Fukuoka alright, finished High Fidelity which I loved, started on Will Self’s Cock and Bull, listened to some music and tried getting some sleep, which proved difficult as every 3 hours lights come on, the driver shouts over the PA that we’re having a break and everyone gets up and starts shuffling around. Arrived in Nagoya around 8 hours after I left Fukuoka, faffed around for 3 hours trying to work out where to get my next bus, it arrived and my name wasn’t on the list. I managed to bulldoze the driver into phoning the office, turns out I didn’t pay for it somehow online, though they let me pay for it over the phone and I am on the bus. On the bus for another 5 hours, reading more of Will Self’s book which is bizarre though am enjoying, (it’s split into 2 stories, one about a woman who grows a cock,  the second about a man who discovers a vagina on his knee) and arrive in Tokyo. I catch 2 trains and find my hostel pretty easy and email Ayumi and Saul to try and sort out a night out. Ayumi doesn’t get back to me though Saul does, so I meet with him and we go out for Gyoza (dumplings which are insanely good) and some other dishes, karage and this prawn thing in sweet and sour sauce, then head off to the newsagents for some beer for him, an ice cream for me and we sit by the river just chatting till it got too cold and we call it a night. Saul is very good company and a right laugh, he’s training to be a doctor and is full of anecdotes which make me crack up. He spent 6 months living in Japan as a 16 year old on school exchange, though still sees Japan as a super foreign beast and shares his observations which are hilarious. I got a litre of milk on the way home, tried emailing a couple of people though was distracted by a bloke who started talking to me who i instantly loathed, so went to bed.