Day 1 Japan - Nagoya

Day 1 - 28th September 2019

It was quite a nice week at school really. Everyone was in a good mood because half term was coming. We had Hutchy and Sian back for Tuesday and wednesday evening before they left early on Thursday. On Tuesday night we went for Yang's dumplings, and on Wednesday, they had a day at Disney, so we met them at the Cheesecake Factory for nachos, mini burgers and fudge and cheesecake layered cake. Yum.

The rest of the week was fairly quiet and then before we knew it we were up on Saturday morning, heading for the airport and for Japan.

We flew air China, which was actually really nice. We were given a sandwich and drink and extra legroom seats. We landed in Nagoya at around 1.30pm and managed to work out the train system quite easily. The trains are very expensive compared to China.

The Japanese are known for being polite and they certainly are! Everything is very clean and it feels like people make time for you. There is no pishing and shoving anywhere. People queue up nicely for trains. No sharpening of elbows needed like in shanghai! Loving Japan so far!

Our hotel room was tiny, just the size of the bed really and with the smallest bath I've ever seen! We didn't see any of the city, but we were only there for the rugby really. We headed out for some traditional katsu curry, which is like chip shop curry sauce, served with breaded pork and rice. It's delicious!

The rugby was actually in the neighboring city of Toyota at their stadium. It was about an hour on the train and there were lots of fans headed that way. As we were walking to the stadium, Japan beat Ireland in their group match, so the Japanese fans were going crazy!

The stadium is very cool and seats about 45,000 people. The match was sold out. Beer was very expensive!!! The seating in the stadium is very steep, so it means that everyone has a really good view of the pitch, even if you are really high up. South Africa played their reserve team and beat Namibia 57 to 3. Namibia put up a good fight though, but you could see how tired they were at the end.

Leaving the stadium was very civilised. No pushing. Everyone just walking calmly along to the station. Amazing really. We decided to have a beer while we waited for the crowds to go. I had a 'fresh mint mojito' which seemed to have no mint or alcohol in it. It was basically lime juice!  The match was really good fun and I'm glad we got tickets. I'm really looking forward to seeing England though next week.