This is very annoying. I basically just wrote all this and my browser crashed, so I’m having to write it again, and no doubt it won’t be as good as the first time but anyway, here goes.

I was up early on Friday – and headed to Starbucks for some caffeine while I wrote my blog. Then I headed off to the shops at Namba Parks, where I picked up a shirt from APC before heading to the main shopping street in Osaka and having a good wander.

Then, it was time to meet up with someone I hadn’t seen for a very long time – one of my flatmates from when I lived in London (before I started working in TV). Neil was on a whistle-stop tour of the Far East with a mate called Nigel, and it was really good catching up with him, as it had been ages since I’d seen him. I went and met them at their hotel, and then we headed to Dotonbori – a famous street by the river where we were going to sample the Japanese staple, ramen for lunch. Ramen’s best thought of as noodles and meat and vegetables in a tasty broth.

We headed to Ichiran – which apparently does some of the best ramen in Osaka. The ordering process was far from straight forward, and involved buying a ticket from a machine which you then handed to a lady. She then gave you a slip which you took to your seat (free seats indicated by a green light on a board). There you used the slip to customise your ramen how you wanted it, and pressed a button whereby a hand took your slip through a hatch.

It was a pretty neat (and authentic) Japanese experience.

And when the ramen came, it was good, satisfying food.

After that, we headed back to Namba Parks and did some wandering around the shops. Nigel had a long conversation with a woman in an electronic store about buying an unlocked iPhone 6, which ended up with him drawing a visual representation of her going home with him and setting up a home on her iPad.

We all wanted a sleep before heading out that night, so went off our separate ways, and I had an amazing one hour sleep.

After getting changed, we met up and headed to a Hawaiian style burger restaurant before heading to a club called G3 which was hosting a “Why Not” party. They’re parties organised so that Japanese people can meet foreigners. It was a bit weird though in that Japanese people had to pay more to enter than foreigners which seemed a bit unfair.

Also, it was unlimited drink once you paid your entrance fee of 2,500 yen (about £14). Although we arrived two hours after the party started, so our ability to take advantage of the free drink was somewhat restricted before the party finished at 11pm.

We mingled and chatted with Japanese ladies, and before we knew it the ‘party’ was finished, and practically all the women headed home. The music increased in volume to a point where you couldn’t hear yourself think, so we did a bit of a Google and headed to an Irish pub. Which was empty.

On the barmaid’s recommendation we then found a place called The Hub, which was pretty fun.

Several drinks later, (this was about 2am), we decided to head back to G3. A Hallowe’en themed party now seemed to be in full swing (which was weird as Hallowe’en was three weeks away) with people handing out cardboard tubes with pumpkins on them that glowed and changed colour.

I think it’s fair to say at this point that things got slightly hazy for me. I can remember getting my photo taken with the MC (who shouted random things like “Every body know Katy Perry right?!!!” and securing a glow in the dark eyeball ring.

I had a really good time, but obviously would be paying the price for having fun the next day….. I remember thinking 6am was pretty late to be getting in.