Because I know for a fact that I will not have the time to do this when I get home, I thought that a little retrospective is in order.

Looking back, I still find it slightly incredible that I really got round to doing this trip on my own (and with a bit of help from some v. nice people). I guess I have just affirmed a lot of things. That it is within my ability to wander around solo in a foreign country, navigate a subway system with 4342398420 lines, traverse between 95421 prefectures, and emerge largely unscathed.

It was the moment when Ringo was singing Alfie, and everyone was just spellbound in silence - it sorta occurred to me how unlikely it was that there I was, standing in the suburbs of Hokkaido, witnessing with my own eyes and ears, my favourite musician in the world singing one of her own favourite songs.

I feel like I am ready to take on anything now. I have made an incredible number of friends (ok, I don’t have the facebook contacts to prove it so you will have to take my word for it), and if they ever read this, here’s a shoutout:

- Hiroki, who showed me around Asakusa on day 1, and for the delicious tempura don
- Mathieu, the French dude from day 1 who told us that we should visit Kamakura
- Jen, the chick from San Francisco who did Kamakura with me (I only realised at the end of the trip that she is 10 years older than me! What a surprise!)
- Naoki, for putting me up for a night, and for the, uh, action =x
- Ben M - for putting me up at your place for 2 nights, and for putting up with my, uh, runs
- Hazumi - for being such a lovely person and for the delicious somen
- Melanie - biker chick!
- Ben Q - for buying my extra set of tickets which financed much of my shopping today
- Ivan and Daniel - the Swedes who brought me to the net cafe in Sapporo
- The random American couple who watched the Ringo show with me, who told me where the opening song was from
- The random American couple who I chatted up while standing on the Shinkansen to Hakodate - who woke me up in time for my stop
- The great people at K’s Hostel - I recommend that everybody on a budget trip to Japan stay here

I keep thinking that I might have left out some people. Oh well.

I’m definitely doing this again once I have cash (Fuji Rock Festival, anyone!), and this time must find someone to go with me so long train rides won’t be so lonely.