Japan!

Well we finally made it to Osaka! It's amazing... and very tiring cos there is so much informationcoming at you all the time. Loads of people ride bikes and always on the pavement so it can be quite difficult to walk down the road. We are staying in a room in a tiny hostel where I think we are the first westerners to have stayed. The lady who runs it doesn't speak any English but she is very friendly and gives us peanut butter sandwiches for breakfast so it is all OK. She has a crazy kitten called Mimi who is really cute but quite quite mad. There are shops everywhere and malls that are underground and go on for so long that I don't know how the streets above don't fall in. The toilet seats are warmed for you and you can also play a flushing sound so no one can hear you having a wee. Then it washes your bottom for you as well. We have found whole shops dedicated to particular cartoon characters (gloomy bear is my favourite) and huge toy shops which say they are for kids but are full of adult men buying second hand toys in pristine condition. So far we haven't done anything cultural except eating food which we don't really understand and sleeping on tatami mats on the floor. We are moving to Kyoto tomorrow from where we can explore more of old Japan and of course more toy shops!