Long overdue new post - work has kept me very occupied the last week - my new office is in a very popular/expensive/nice shopping district called Ginza:

My Office Building (includes a shopping centre at the bottom like almost every building in Tokyo)

The place is most impressive in the dark when the lights are on:

One thing I noticed in particular is that shops aren't just a shop, they're a whole building - the Uniqlo (like a Japanese H&M) shop has 12 different floors - most of the menswear takes 9 floors of escalators to get to! Trek, but it's pretty slick:

(Image from tokyofashion.com - their photo looked better)

(From same site)

Nearby is Ueno Park, one of Tokyo's most popular, where it seems I just missed out on an ice sculpture competition (!):

Ice sculpture corpses were being hacked to bits when I arrived

Ueno Park




































My first water bill - I've no idea what the helpful water drops were trying to say to me, but happy to have them there:

Every object has a friendly personality here in Japan...they like everything to be 'kawaii' - 'cute', bless them

My area is very well located for me, as I only have to get one train line to work, and both train stations are right beside where I need to go. 

The green/white train below is the Yamanote Line, which does a continuous loop around the more central area of Tokyo, and carries 3.7m people on average every day - 1m more than the entire London Underground with its 12 lines. It gets cosy during rush hour...

JR Yamanote Line

A view of my area (Shinokubo - Korean Town) from the train platform

Monday was a public holiday, so we went out West to Yomiuriland, a theme park/water park with amazing views over Tokyo, accessible from the train station by cable car:

...great craic, the wave pool featured a 7-piece boy band (!) playing on a stage from above where the waves came out...the visitors loved that extra effort!

Tokyo is actually made up of 23 wards (like individual cities) - mine is called Shinjuku, one of the most centrally located, and home a good few of Tokyo's skyscrapers:

...and also a great park:

Of course I've also got my fair share of chaotic Tokyo-style streets around the corner:

There's a great energy about the place, never seems to be quiet!

A lot of photos from the last few days, starting with Shibuya and the busiest pedestrian crossing I've ever seen:

During the day...

At night from the other side

This 10 story building near my place in Shinjuku is topped with a castle and purpose built for karaoke - just one of many:

Daytime activities included a trip to Ice Cream City in Sunshine City, a massive indoor complex in Ikebukuro:

...where we tried some outrageous flavours, including Wasabi, Garlic and Mint (called 'Dracula the Cool' lololol), Cheese Risotto, Salt and a Viper flavour, complete with real snake bits (tasted awful):

The Viper

Wasabi and Dracula the Cool

A great selection on offer

Harajuku was overwhelming - like Halloween every day, especially on Sundays:

Extremely Squeeky Girl stands on podium shouting at people to come in to her shop

Dress like a lunatic on this street and no one will look twice

Starting work in the morning so I'll upload the rest during the week. Making a profile video with a very sunburnt face, good first impression of an Irishman...

<3 <3 <3

My gaf down sexy lane

So I've realised now that my road is the Love Hotel capital of the district, there's at least four within a stone's throw of my door:

'Sexy Lane'

The toilet is the most complex thing about my apartment; spent a while yesterday drawing the symbols into Google Translate to figure it out (except the self-explanatory picture buttons obv):

Toilet Controls

A nice setup otherwise:

Kitchen Area

Main Room

Loft (where the bed is)

Everything in Shinjuku is so close by, I leave the apartment thinking I'm going on a shopping expedition but come back 15 minutes later with everything I needed...

....this is despite the fact that very few people understand what I'm asking for - they say they speak English but they seem afraid to say anything. I guess it's my job to fix that - saw an ad for my company (Gaba Corporation) on the platform today (God knows what it says):

Bussing past Tokyo's Eiffel Tower (video above) - now dwarfed by the new Sky Tree, looking forward to getting up there:

This 'Love Hotel' is right on my doorstep...looks like it offers 2 hours in a room for 38euro, good value??