Strange being back in Dublin for the first time in more than a year. Though it's not actually that long, it has been my longest stint without being back home and it was a shock to the senses to feel just how cold it was. Of course complaining about sub 10 degrees weather just makes those I'm talking to scrunch their faces in a "what the f*** are you talking about" manner. The skin is peeling off the soles of my feet as I'm getting used to being back in shoes full time, and the faintest tan that I was cherishing on my toes will soon have vanished to be replaced by my usual year round pasty white. I'm dreading having to contact recruitment agencies over the next couple of weeks, trying to negotiate an interview for a job in London. As well as meeting up with family and the few remaining friends in Dublin, I've already watched the Royal Family Christmas special, dodged crowds of rowdy students on their way to Funderland, glimpsed rain-drenched Christmas lights through car windows and been abandoned by public transport in the freezing cold. Just like I never left.

Ah, Japan in winter - that heady aroma of a million bakeries and udon noodles on the air. This time I'm here slightly earlier in the year, early enough to see the maple leaves change colour and early enough not toast my legs under a kotatsu while the rest of my body freezes. Of course I've also arrived months after one of the strongest earthquakes in Japanese history, and with the nuclear situation in Fukushima, posters are everywhere encouraging people to save electricity. But despite huge natural disasters and next to no economic growth, there's still stuff going on. Since being here last time the huge train station complex of JR Osaka in Umeda has had what looks like an airline terminal built on top of it. I went out to to Den-den down to see all second had video games and music shops and still busy game arcades with huge Gundam pods to step into and strange multi player online games with cards. There was even Christmas Gundam.. I went out to my old neighbourhood in Kobe of course to see what else had changed - plenty of places closed down, new towers in their place, and Harbourland looking pretty empty. Just as in Sydney at this time of year, Christmas lights were up everywhere but the background music featured many more explicitly Christian Christmas songs, presumably because no one listening can understand the lyrics. I've made sure to enjoy some proper ramen and also tried some cheap (but by far the highest quality I've had in ages) conveyor belt sushi, ordered from touch screen tv's at our table. The coffee is crap, but you can sit down in a big comfy chair in a chain cafe and fall asleep for a few hours without looking out of place!

Our one day trip while in Tokyo was to Kamakura, a town famous for its giant bronze Buddha, which I'd never managed to visit despite it being one of the biggest tourist draws in Japan (excluding Disneyland obviously). It was an hour on a local suburban train from Tokyo. At least a suburban train by Japanese standards - it stopped only a few times to drop off commuters and sped through to Yokohama at break neck speed. As well as being famous for its giant Buddha, it was also the capital of Japan at one stage and is full of enough temples and shrines to reflect its heritage. Thanks to the power of the intertubes we knew in advance which one to visit, complete which atmospheric bamboo garden.. We also had lunch at a BBQ eel place which was pretty tasty..

Today we did a shuttlestop tour around Shinjuku, Shibuya and Odaiba and saw Tokyo Tower up close for the first time. We've voluntarily given ourselves a tight budget, meaning every meal we've had so far has been eaten alongside all the dour and over-burdened "salarymen" in train station basements. That sounds worse than it is though - train station vending machine places are cheap and very cheerful, even if by the end of the day my lips felt like I'd swallowed a weeks worth of salt. Every train we took everywhere was busy, at all times of the day. The train at 11.30 tonight was full of people who were just leaving work - or at least work drinks. We popped into a Big Camera electronics shop to eye up all the super flat, high resolution screened (and now solar powered) mobile phones. Surprised at how many iPhones i saw on the trains. I saw less half a dozen foreign faces like my own for the whole day. In the evening we went to see the Christmas/Winter lights in Roppongi and Tokyo Midtown. Christmas may not mean much here, but they certainly know how to put on a light display. Its hard to explain to someone back home what the point of Christmas here is though. There's Christmas music playing everywhere, there's Christmas lights up in a lot of places - and in most cases a lot nicer than back home - but that's about the extent of it. And its a couples thing rather than having any family focus. We went to the observation deck on top of Mori tower which offered a very nice (and very expensive) view of the Tokyo skyline.

Well we're back in Tokyo. My first time here in five years. We landed late at Narita airport and it took over an hour on the express train to the city so we didn't actually get to collapse into our hotel until pretty late. Yet despite dragging our suitcases through the cold to the hotel (being in Sydney I'd almost forgot what real winter was) before the day was up I'd bought myself a weird Japanese Pepsi, ate a pork rice bowl at a fast food counter place (while the surrounding Japanese gave me double-takes every time they noticed the foreigner sitting on a neighbouring stool) and bought a few convenience store onigiri. The hotel we're staying at is this huge wonderfully dated place - fit for a James bond villian perhaps. Outside each room is a personal metal gate, painted cream to match the fading floral walls. Inside there's a cheesy Chandelier, blindingly patterned wallpaper and curtains, and wafer thin walls.

I got it into my head that I wanted a new gadget. Seeing as my phone's crap, I've no computer, and well..I'm bored. The PSP still sounds good and has that "oohh, ahhh" factor thing, but I don't think I'd be arsed playing the games. And I know if I took it out on the train I'd just be asking for some scanger to come and borrow it permenantly. It would also be swish to use the internet and upload photos from my camera, so I've kinda come down on getting one of those PDA type things. So what are the chances that I can find a shop in the city centre the sells them, yet alone has one that I could turn on and fiddle with? - slim to none as it turns out. Theres absolutely nowhere you can pick one up and turn on..man I miss Yodobashi camera. And just when I was feeling cheery, I saw this in town at the weekend.. And also, as I was bored out of my skull and wandering around Irelands latest could-be-anywhere-in-the-world shopping centre, I happend across the country's first...wait for it.. Starbucks!. I for one welcome our new coffee overloads.. Found this story off FARK. The next Japanese astronaut (J-naut?), and former top brass in Livedoor (one of Japan's more famous/only internet companies), wants to go into space dressed as a character from Gundam. Lovely jubbly