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Seven dead in Tokyo stabbing spree (BBC) - you would normally think of Tokyo as a crime-free place, perhaps with the odd pickpocket taking advantage of unsuspecting strangers in crowded areas, but it seems this kind of behaviour - random, psychotic madness - is partly expected from the Japanese. They are often quite reserved and polite but it seems their culture also causes things to bubble up until it explodes into something crazy.

I’m glad I wasn’t in Akihabara this morning, a nice place full of electronics goods and funky cosplay people that I do like to check out now and then. Thankfully, I was fast a sleep after a night out with friends. Let’s just hope I don’t meet any mad men during my time here.

Switching to a lighter note, another thing I don’t like about being in Japan is the timezone relative to everything else I know. For example, even though England aren’t in Euro 2008 and I don’t really have any team to support (who should I support??), I would still like to watch these big tournaments but can’t.

Same thing for Formula One, except when I do get to see a race, it’s plagued with Japanese adverts that interrupt every few minutes! Much worse than ITV. Quite glad to hear it’s going back to BBC next year.