There's nowt as queer as folk

Japan, like most of Asia, hits you full on in the face when you arrive - especially after an 11 hour, sleep deprived, alcohol fuelled long haul flight.

It's nothing like India, for example, but the overwhelming initial feeling you get is one of bewilderment. A completely different culture and undecipherable language always make the first few hours the most difficult, and it is no different here. What makes this also more difficult is the myriad of different activities that you or I would find innocuous, but are very offensive to Japanese people - like eating while walking, apparently. Every time I so much as twitch I wonder if I'm committing the moral equivalent of shitting on your mum's new carpet.

As I catch the train to my hotel, I notice that Japan is very different to the other Asian countries I have visited in terms of landscape. It's closer to Europe in many ways, which can largely be attributed to its cold winters. The weather is not much warmer than England at this time of year, and already my mind is turning towards the hotter temperatures that await me down under.

After dumping my stuff at the hotel - a smart, basic, comfortable and affordable place just north of Tokyo station in Awaji-Cho - I find somewhere to eat. It is here that I am introduced to some of the strange contradictions in Japanese society. Virtually every sign or product you find in Tokyo is written in both Japanese and English - except restaurant menus. On most occasions you literally have to guess what you are going to get, with your only help being a few rather dodgy looking photographs akin to those you see on menus in Magaluf. The restaurant staff, like the vast majority of people in Japan, can hardly even speak the most basic English and are subsequently of little help. Given that I can't eat fish, this is something like a game of culinary roulette I'm being asked to play here. Fortunately, the option I go for turns out to be a nice stir fried beef dish that is actually quite tasty.

It's now 3pm - but 6am by my body clock - and I can't keep going much longer, so I return to the hotel for a nap. Oh, before I forget, the other strange Japanese contradictions are: Smoking is banned in the street, but not in pubs and restaurants (litter is clearly a higher concern than public health); and believe it or not it is considered highly offensive to blow your nose in public, but urinating in the street is commonplace. Work that one out.

After a five hour kip, I drag myself out of bed to explore the local area. There isn't much to explore. Almost every other building seems to be some kind of restaurant, but there are virtually no bars. Eventually I stumble across a friendly little bar where I sink a couple of beers before opting to return to the hotel.

Tired, drained and all the rest of it, again I feel strange as I lay in bed after the first day of my trip. It is at this point that I feel thankful that I brought my laptop and a case full of DVDs with me for company at times like this. I am reminded of my first few nights away at university aged 18, when I dealt with the daunting experience of being away by watching Only Fools and Horses videos in my room. For some reason watching them reminded me of times when we would watch the episodes as a family. On this occasion, I plump for the DVD of Queer as Folk. I have no idea why. There is nothing about my family that reminds me of the Manchester gay scene. However, tucked up safely in bed and watching something that is familiar and entertaining, I feel comfortable. It's barking bloody mental - flying to Japan to lay in bed watching a DVD about a load of old queens - but it helps me feel relaxed on my first night, and that's the main thing.