Early today we left the Philippines after living there for nearly three years. We were ready for a change and were having a holiday break in Japan before moving to Perth, Australia.

Dark, grey cold weather greeted us upon arrival in Tokyo. It only took us a few minutes to realise what we were missing in the Philippines for this would be our first experience of winter for three years. Gloves and wolly hat out and at least I knew I would survive.

I was also interviewed by Tokyo TV for about 20 minutes which I believe by the looks of the interviewer would be for a comedy show.

It was a bit of a culture shock in Japan for the first few days. Japan in winter can be compared as a opposite to the Philippines. For example the trains are deathly quiet where as in the Philippines there tends to be noise everywhere. The Tokyo people are also very fashion conscious where as the Philippines tea shirt and shorts or jeans are the norm. Standing in the train station I was blown away by speed everyone was moving, they all looked in a hurry complete opposite to the casual gait adopted the Philippine people.

But after having a few Japanese meals and culture shock was gone.

My wife’s sister lives just out of Tokyo in a place called Kawagoe. It’s very nice and offers country side rivers and parks as well as a large market area in the town centre. If I had the option to live in Japan again I could quite happily see my self staying in Kawagoe.