Arigato

View from the Sky Deck atop the Mori Tower

Sitting here, watching the early morning sun washing the towers rose-pink, an almost-full moon still bright in the sky, Mount Fuji clear in the distance and wreathed in a thin band of cloud, I really wish I own and had brought a proper camera, something with an adjustable lens. And that I had some photographic talent.
A few more random thoughts:

• Face masks are big here. I'm trying not to let on that I'm currently nursing a minor case of the man-snuffles. I don't want to cause a panic or get quarantined or anything.
• For such a large city, it's not very noisy. What it is, though, is musical. Maybe it's because they're employing a different tonal system, but all the usual chirps and beeps — like the sound zebra crossings make — seem just that little more exciting. I particularly love the "hurry up and get on the train" tune they play on the Metro. It reminds me on what used to happen when you were almost out of time in something like New Zealand Story or Rainbow Islands. I'm sure you used to be able to get a set of Tokyo Metro sound effects for the Mac. I'll have to look them up when I get home.
• I also love the little fanfare which Seven-Eleven ATMs play as they present you with your cash. It makes you feel like you've just leveled-up. (But we won't mention the slight ATM-related mishap I had — there are so many zeroes here...)
• I'm not sure whether I'd be able to recognise a police officer if I saw one — everyone from the garbage collectors upwards dress like South American generals.
• There's something old fashioned which I can't put my finger on it about the touchscreen tech in the subway. It's like how people envisioned the sci-fi tech would look back in the day — a mash-up of CRTs and physical brushed-aluminium buttons surrounded by a chaos of labels and slots. But I guess, back in the day, while we were only envisioning it, the Japanese were actually building it.
• There is a lot of random English everywhere. Most shops, even the smallest ones, appear to be named in English, and random phrases — sadly, more often than not, actually in context and making sense — appear most everywhere else, such as in advertising copy. (Also sadly, I haven't seen anything like this yet.) In fact, the only place that English doesn't seem very popular is on menus.
• A surprising amount of hawking goes on. Along the busier streets there will be people, often with megaphones, stood outside even the largest chain stores, trying to get people to come in and buy.
• Someone needs to introduce this country to proper sausages. Even in a faux-English breakfast, Frankfurters are not right. (And what is a traditional Japanese breakfast, anyway?)