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Last night there were signs up at the hotel alerting us to the fact that several Major League Baseball stars were staying at the hotel and we were not to bother them, or be asked to leave. No problem there, I wouldn’t recognise one if he hit me with his bat and even if I did, last thing I care about is an autograph.

And I forgot to blog it before, but Condi Rice was in our hotel when she visited Japan last week. Quite the high scale place I’ve been staying in.

The Sony building we work in has a ground floor lounge displaying all the Playstation products and is open to the public from 10 to 7 every day. When we go to lunch there is usually a group of people sat playing on the PSPs or PS2’s. But over the weekend they installed 4 PS3 kiosks. Each kiosk has a a PS3, controller and shiny new High Def Bravia screen. Slick setup. Yesterday we watched someone playing GT4 and I had a go on some tennis game, making Tim Henman cry like a baby when I out served him.

Yeah, I work for Sony but the PS3 is a sweet device. If you like games, its a must-buy. If, of course, you can get one. Sony has promised to do the best they can to get me one before Christmas. Yeah, I’ll accept bids.

We tried to take a picture of the lounge but two security guards came out from nowhere and made it clear we were not to. Spoilsports.

We all worked Saturday so that we wouldn’t have to work Sunday. I actually probably won’t have to work Tuesday either but we’ll see. I may have to hang around the office just in case something turns up that they need me to do. When I left the office Saturday evening they had turned the downstairs reception into a big PS3 play area, it looked sweet.

So, my final day of sight-seeing and I got up late and made my plan. First, I would go to Asakusa to see the Sensoji Temple, the oldest such building in Tokyo dating back to 628. From there I would go to Akihabara, the electronics capitol of Tokyo where lots of small (and not so small) vendors hawk the latest gadgets. After that, a long subway ride to Harajuku, famous for the Tokyo youth to prance around in freakish fashions.

I’ve uploaded some pictures to two new flickr sets: Asakusa set, and Akihabara set, and added some new ones in the regular Tokyo set that don’t belong in either. If you want to read more, click on the link….
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Just like the USA, cell phones are everywhere. Its rare you see anyone without one in their hand, if not talking then usually playing a game. The phones I see everywhere have a much squarer-look to them, not the rounded flip-top design popular in the US. But the biggest difference is that, in the 10 days I’ve now been here, I am yet to here one cell phone ring. I asked Aki last night and he said that it is polite to have the ringer turned off. Too bad we can’t have that in the US, save us from hearing the latest Britney tune butchered by tinny ringer going off all the freaking time.

I don’t really understand why but it seems there are requests for me to appear in some of the pictures. I was going to say that here is proof that I am working in Tokyo but let’s face it this could be a meeting room anywhere. So, trust me when I say this is at SCEI, Tokyo, Japan.

Outside our ‘office’ is a large cubicle area, almost every desk has a test PS3 unit and there are numerous large LCD TVs, monitors around. Everytime I walk out to the toilet I see people playing various games; there are some great looking titles for the PS3. I know its expensive, and will probably be harder than a TMX Elmo to get hold of, but if you like games I think it will definitely be worth it.

No word yet on whether we will be working at the weekend but, if not, we might try and get out to Fuji Lakes and see the mountain. If we do, I’ll try to get someone to include me in at least a couple of the pictures.

Looks like I am stuck here for another half-week, the Japanese task leaders have requested that we stay until next Wednesday. It seems awful not want to be in one of the major world cities “most expenses paid” but really I am tired of not being able to read anything, understand anything, find anything to eat, or afford a beer. And I want to be back home with my family. Sigh.

I’m really not cut out for hotel living, I don’t like the personal attention one gets and at this hotel it is like there is 10 staff for each guest. Everywhere you go there are people in uniform bowing, asking if you need something or just hovering. I’d much rather be left alone and go find someone if I need somebody.

Went to one of the Chinese restaurants in the hotel last night, I was the only customer so the staff were falling overthemselves to look after me. I know there are some who would feel good about that but it just made me more and more uncomfortable. It didn’t help that one of them was a young Japanese lady who was just beautiful and I don’t know if she had taken a shine to me, or was just bored because she would come and stand a few feet away from my table and just wait. At one point some spare ribs came my way and as I started eating she gave a big smile and literally ran from the restaurant. I wondered what on earth was happening but several seconds later she was back with some toothpicks, and a proud smile on her face. Yes, I know it is odd that I choose to feel uncomfortable when a beautiful Japanese girl is giving me such attention.

I put my clothes in for laundry service yesterday. As expected everything came back ironed and folded like it never has been since the day it was made. The t-shirts even had tissue paper in the folds, and everything was vacuum-packed. I was a little disappointed that the boxer shorts weren’t individually wrapped but they were ironed and folded. One week’s laundry – $60. Another reason I am not cut out for hotel living.

High tech Tokyo toilets can be hazardous. The stalls in the Sony office have heated seats and are fairly uncomfortable to sit on, in my view. Today I noticed a warning label that “low temperature burns” may occur with people with sensitive skin. Try explaining that to people. The same toilets also have an extra button for “powerful deodorizer” if needed.

Is my sense of ‘them and us’ really justified, or the result of too much reading and listening to others. Its certainly hard to feel at home when you can’t read the signs, understand what people are saying, or go into buildings without knowing for sure you are welcome. But I know people, my friend Steve included, who have lived here for many years and will say that you are always treated well but never allowed into the local culture. But, as Jim said today, if this is being treated poorly, it isn’t bad.

Everyone here is so fit and healthy looking. People of ‘average’ (by UK/US standards) build stick out like a sore thumb, not that you see them that often. Everyone is moving fast all the time. It makes me laugh to think of some stuck up California health freaks coming over here and looking like heifers, everyone here is so thin. And yet so many people smoke themselves silly. Perhaps it is genetics.

I’m not cut out for staying in “decent” hotels. Its only $250 a night here at the regular rate but there is hardly anyone not wearing a business suit at breakfast or dinner. Last night I was thinking of getting a steak at the Rib Room. The online menu said a sirloin steak started at $80. Yikes. Made do with a couple of $12 glasses of wine instead.

Sunday in Tokyo, maybe the last day to go exploring at our leisure. Over breakfast we all have different ideas so I wil be out on my own today. After consulting the guides I hit on a plan – the Tenmangu Shrine and Ameyoko market in Ueno district, followed by Toko Central rail station to see a bullet train, across to the Imperial Palace, and then to Shinjuku to see the mix of trendy shopping area and sleazy backstreets.

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Well, the URL to my flickr set was wrong in my previous post and I’ve now fixed it. But with over 200 photos now in the set I have created some new sets to split it up:

• the full tokyo set
• pictures around the hotel
• pictures of shidome district
• pictures of shibuya district
• pictures of ginza district
• pictures of ueno district
• pictures from shinjuku district
• pictures of japanese girls (yeah I know thats all you guys really care about)