Day 1 - thoughts from the plane

2 hours in: The first meal has just arrived, on the flight from Heathrow to Osaka. It's Japanese style grilled beef with rice, and tastes exactly like Yoshinoya's, which I had at least three times a week in HK. The wine's not bad either - this is a good omen, I feel...

Also, the chap next to me is wearing a Mad Capsule Markets t-shirt, while I am sporting a Dattebayo one - we are both clearly fans of Japan, albeit in a somewhat geeky way.

4 hours in: I have just watched Die Hard 4, and got quite into it. When it finished, I looked at the flight map, expecting us to be somewhere over Siberia, but no, we're barely past Denmark, and I'm crammed into a tiny seat with my knees around my chin. Boo. The Stewardess is hot though, so it's not all bad.

5 hours in: Everything's coming up Pincess - having requested an exit seat, got all baffled at check-in and ended up with a window seat, I now have a row all to myself! After the lights went out, I went to the loo (I'm only 5 hours into this odyssey, adn my innards are already fighting me) and noticed a few empty seats. I asked the aforementioned hot Stewardess if there were any free rows, and then persuaded her to take the occupied signs off the row reserved for emergency ill people. I mean, it's only 5'6" long, but it's certainly an improvement.

6 hours in: The remit for Japanese sweets appears to be "taste as unlike anything Matt's ever had as possible, while still remaining based on a foodstuff". I've just had a packet of small yellow cylinders which turn into fruity chalk the second I bite them, a spicy rice cracker the size of the palm of my hand, and what I can only describe as a pickled apricot, all individually wrapped. Also, I've had about 5 cups of green tea since I got on this plane. We're currently over Siberia, and the whole country looks as if it's been frosted over, the mountains look like giant snowflakes from the air. It's pretty awesome.