My nights of sleep here in Tokyo have been a bit like Leandro Trossard’s performances for Albion.
They have either been excellent or pretty much non-existent.
Well, it’s one good night’s slumber out of three so far.
If you can refer to 3am-1pm as “night”.
To be fair to Trossard, his strike rate was a bit better than that.
And I suspect I look even more sleep-deprived than he does now.
Maybe it’s the time difference, the first night was partly down to the heat and it is also connected to the reason I am actually here - work.
Although I’m in Japan, I’m working remotely for a morning newspaper in England, eight hours behind.
So you’re not going to finish much before 3am.
Anyway, we are not here to sleep. Not those of us who are NOT professional athletes anyway.
The players need their rest and hopefully their body clocks have been expertly coaxed into compliance.
I’m not quite so bothered. Let’s make the absolute most of this week.
So, still wide awake after work, I headed to what is my local diner for some 3am ramen.
And I wasn’t the only one. And it wasn’t the only one which was still open by any means.
Very tasty it was too. Cheerfully served and reasonably priced.
The establishment would not be in any guide books but it was the sort of solid, authentic and no-frills place I love to seek out.
It looked like I was the only non-local in there.
I had a ramen with char-siu pork, Kyushu style, although I wondered what the item just above it, listed as “stamina ramen”, was all about.
(I now understand that refers to the garlic and spices which are thought to give you energy).
Anyway, it felt like a bit of “proper” Tokyo.
As I popped into one of the ubiquitous convenience shops to get a cold drink afterwards, the newspaper delivery man was there, dropping off that morning’s editions.
Baseball, baseball, baseball - but a bit about Brighton and Kaoru Mitoma a few pages in.
It turned into a totally sleepless night. A complete blank. Which was fine.
By 6am I had given up so I made the most of it and took an early morning ride amid the office workers on the underground.
I went to see the temples and ancient sights of the historic Asakusa district (although I'd love to go back in an evening)
Across the river stands the imposing Tokyo Skytree tower, a visit to which will be a target as the week progresses if possible.
And then a walk along the shady side of the Sumida River as England slept.
A long day but a fantastic one with the chance to visit the city and then a good ten hours of work to get through with a game at the Olympic Stadium.
But I might need that “stamina ramen” by the time the paper has been sent to press tonight.
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