Today's the day I finally set off from Osaka.

I started the day with a Japanese-style breakfast from the great hostel I've been staying in and then headed to the internet cafe for yet another attempt to secure tickets out of Irkutsk. The internet cafe gave me a free breakfast as well, so by the time I left to catch the subway to the ferry port I was pretty stuffed.

When I emerged from the tram station it was a beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky. I strolled over to the ferry terminal, enjoyed a last drink from the vending machine, then after a wait of an hour or so I finally passed through customs, surrendered my gaijin card and boarded the ferry.

I can't say I missed Japan straight away because the ferry was Japan in miniature, including vending machines, karaoke, onsen, table tennis, and of course lots of friendly Japanese people.

My berth was in an open room with about 15 other blokes, but it wasn't shoulder to shoulder and there were lots of spare futons so it was much more comfortable than other ferries I've been on. I quickly made lots of friends including Cieren, an Australian hairdresser who's travelled around the world with 'We will Rock You', Haruka, a friend of my travel agent who was going to study Chinese in Shanghai for a year, and many other students doing something similiar.

We spent most of the day watching the sights of the inland sea roll past, including the longest single span bridge and the longest two-tiered bridge in the world. As darkness fell we had a chance to do a bit of stargazing, spotting Venus and Jupiter along with a few meteors and satellites.

When I went to bed we were just reaching Kyushu and I was was expecting us to pass between Honshu and Kyushu and head out into the middle of the East China Sea, so I had one last glance at the passing lights of Shikoku before turning over and going to sleep.

Today's photos  ¶ 1:00:00 pm