tokyo, tokyo

japan is crazy. one week into this country and all of us are still overwhelmed and surprized by the sheer energy and insanity of this place... music is blaring on every street corner, Mcdonalds workers spend half an hour bowing at you when all you care about is to not let your fries get cold, people are rushing to and from work, neons replace the sunlight and the weather
is so perfect that all of us wake up and smile at the sun each morning.

the country has the most colourful, vibrant feel to any place i have ever been, and yet on the busiest street there are shrines tucked between scyscrapers which offer relief from the noise and sunshine.

our concerts are coming along really well.. we have already got 5 shows booked in LIVE HOUSES (the name for clubs here).. all of which wanted glorybox after hearing the cd. We are playing them in a week so we now have time to wander around and make new contacts and sight-see. We have met so many amazing people here like our hosts Kei and Kaz who gave up their homes for us to stay in... we have had so many strange experiences while walking around, like the day we went to the tokai university. We heard a band playing as we were walking to our friends house for a meal of malaysian curry when we heard music coming from one of the practice rooms. We all decided to go and explore and found two bands practicing in adjacent rooms. We quickly made friends with them and they allowed us to join in and jam with them,and also offered the band to
use the rooms to practice in.. which is something we REALLY needed. Then they found out about our first gig and three of them came to the other side of Tokyo ( a 2 hour train ride) to watch the show... and LOVED it.. they are now glorybox fans and have promised to spread the word about our other gigs. Infact one of the guys who liked the band went home and called his friends who own two Live houses and thats how we got to play in those places too.

So, right now we are chilling out and practising for the upcoming shows, visiting some friends of ours who work here in Tokyo and live in a house with a huge balcony where we have slept for the past two nights. The feeling of waking up to find the sun shining and afresh cup of coffee waiting for you is pretty unbelievable after having spent so much of our summer in Europe. The nights here are so warm that we are constantly in T-shirts and always out late exploring the areas Shubiya and Shinjuku.

Tonight we are going to Roppongi where all the "gaijins" hang out... foreighners I mean. there are alot of clubs and nightlife in that area so we won`t be home before breakfast time.

Well, so far this trip has been unbelieveable.. to experience a culture so different from anything we have ever seen before and to be taken in by the people and accepted..its awesome. On monday we get to go to Mt. Fuji which we are all waiting for.... it will be amazing to see what only the television has afforded us before.

Okay, that about wraps up week one in Japan... watch out for episode two coming to you whenever i can tear myself away from the excitement.