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You think you know what to expect on your trip to Japan. You've prepared as well as you can, you've reserached on the internet and looked into all the places you're going to visit, you've studied the Lonley Planet and Rough Guides, and you've even learnt a few useful word and phrases - Konnichiwa (hello), arigato (thank you), kudasai (please). But within seconds of stepping off the plane, you realise it's not enough. It will never be enough. Because this is a place that no amount of preperation could prepare you for, this is a place unlike any other, this is Japan.

Your first impression of Japan will be of getting photographed and fingerprinted at the airport. Every foreigner (or gaikokojin as we are known) has to have their photograph and fingerprints taken on entry - if you refuse, they won't let you in.

You'll start to notice other differences in the airport - the drink vending machines for one thing. They are everywhere. And I mean EVERYWHERE. You can be standing on a beautiful mountain in the middle of nowhere and there will be a venidng machine next to you. You can be standing between two convenience stores (which are so convenient that they are on every street corner) and there will be a vending machine. You can be driving through a small village by the sea and there will be a bank of fifteen vending machines. You will never be thirsty again. Barely does the thought have to cross your mind before a vending machine will appear in your view. And they are not always drink machines. Noodle, beer, battery, egg, rice, cigarette, and snack vending machines are also fairly common.

The next thing you'll notice will be the shouting. Sounds strange, but Japanese shop assistants really like to shout. The first time I entered a shop and someone yelled 'Irassahimashe' at me I thought it was another way of saying hello - so I tried to copy it. Later I found out it's a way of saying 'welcome to our shop' and is not usually replied to. You'll find people yell it at you in every shop you go to. They also yell when you buy something - 'arigato gozaimashta' 'thank you' - this is sometimes yelled by everyone working in the shop, no matter that they are way out the back stacking shelves and you can't even see them. Eevrytime someone buys something, shouts erupt from all around the shop. It does take a bit of getting used to.

Look around for all the bad English. Bad English is everywhere in Japan, and sometimes it is hilarious. I recently found a sign on a supermarket checkout

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