You know that warning you get when a train is about to close its doors and leave the station?

I don’t know if it has a special name in England.

Here in Tokyo, they give you a few seconds of carefully chosen music when the doors close and it is called the “departure melody”.

What you hear varies. The tune on the train to Tsukuba yesterday sounded like it could have been an ITV theme to World Cup coverage in the 1970s or 1980s.

Some trains have carried publicity for Albion in recent days.

The club have come out in force for a first-ever trip to the Far East.

And The Argus are with them – just like we were when going out east meant Leyton Orient away.

I am based in buzzing Shinjuku and will be at training sessions, as well as two friendlies versus Kashima Antlers and Tokyo Verdy.

The team have been working hard in the city, training when the sun has dipped and temperatures go down to just the low 30s, even high 20s.

It was humid in the extreme on Tuesday and a dramatic thunderstorm swept across the city within an hour of training coming to an end.

I spoke with head coach Fabian Huerzeler after that session and will be talking to players on the trip.

Huerzeler told me about the leaders and hierarchy within the group and looked ahead to the first friendly.

I also had the pleasure of that trip to Tsukuba, where I spoke to Kaoru Mitoma’s former university coach Masaaki Koido.

It is now well known that Mitoma put his J-League career on hold so he could develop his game at university.

I spoke to Koido about that – and saw the famous thesis Mitoma compiled about the art of wingplay as well as his own self-assessment of his capabilities and his dreams which he compiled when he was 19.

As Koido drove me back to the station, we spoke about Roberto De Zerbi, about what Huerzeler would offer, about the Albion squad and various players.

Paul Barber gave me this in-depth scene-setter for the trip.

Albion’s name is growing but this trip has been quite a departure even by recent standards. With its melodies, of course.

We will be keeping you close to the tour as the week progresses.

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