[Thought I'd add a couple of entries, to give me somewhere to hang the remaining photos.]

We catch a shuttle bus to the airport, to avoid having to carry all our luggage on the train. The usual security precautions are in place at the airport - I notice a pile of confiscated scissors and nail-files at the security check.

[JAL's in-flight white noise]

[Windows for Airports]

We've left buying of presents to the last minute, so we do it all in the airport. I get myself a tie and some CDs (purely to use up our Australian currency, you understand).

A sense of foreboding hits me when I spot the plane out of the window - it sports the same livery as the broken Jumbo we left in Brisbane, and it turns out to be just as old. And then we notice the flight information monitor.

On the plus side, I got some really nice pictures of clouds over the South China Sea.

[Clouds]

[Clouds with sun]

[Cumulonimbus]

[More storms]

[And another]

I amuse myself by working out how to read Japanese city names. Tokyo is two space invaders. Osaka is stick-man, bloke-who's-just-caught-a-fish.

Our arrival in Japan is marked by chronic sweating. This place isn't just hot, it's also very humid. It takes about 10 minutes to find our hotel, and in that time we're drenched. We didn't notice this on the way out because we stayed inside the airport building in Tokyo.

Thankfully, the time difference is only one hour, so we're able to sleep for our flight tomorrow