I finally got my pictures from Tokyo off my camera, cleaned up and uploaded to Flickr. I've found that most of my pictures fall into about three groups: Food, People and ... Stuff. Here are some of my favorites.
Food
There is of course amazing food in Tokyo. Every time I go there's something new:
Japanese food in the US is typically a single dish; a plate of sushi, a bowl of udon or a dish of tonkatsu. However in Japan, everything comes with a myriad of small side dishes. Before the main meal even comes we get (clockwise) taro balls, pickled vegetables, tea, savory custard, and a corn salad. These are typical sides, but every restaurant will do it in a slightly different way.
This is yakisoba, which basically means 'fried noodles' and usually consists of noodles and vegetables. This batch also includes shrimp and scallops and is being made at a BBQ I went to with some coworkers. Its delicious.
This is some gellato I got in the Ginza area. What as really surprising was that it came out steaming. It turns out they put a chip of dry ice in there for the effect. It doesn't really change the taste, but its certainly a great presentation.
There are so many baked goods in Japan. Every city seems to have their own claim to fame and almost every time I've been in Tokyo I've smelled baking bread on my walk to work. These are green tea rolls (kind of like cinamon rolls but lined with a green tea paste).
People
People watching is as fun abroad as it is at home. Here's a few folks that caught my eye:
This seemed to be a dog grooming factory, reminding me a bit of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." There were a team of identically dressed girls all working diligently but effortlessly on grooming a variety of dogs. I didn't notice until afterward the "No Photos" sticker on the window. Oops.
Here's my coworker Kaneko-san delivering a presentation at a Six Apart user meetup. I didn't understand anything he said, but from his delivery and body language its easy to tell he's a great presenter.
This is a closed street in the Kapabashi area of Tokyo, known for its cooking and restaurant supplies (this is where you can buy amazing fake plastic food!) There was a taiko drum group playing here and its obvious they were having fun.
This is another coworker, Yuji who is an excellent cook and BBQ master. He was the architect of the yakisoba shown previously.
This is one of the station agents on the Yamanote line that circles central Tokyo. He keeps order on the platform and on some lines his role would include forcefully packing people into the train. I've never seen that on this line however.
Stuff
What is stuff? Well, there's a whole inanimate world that catches my eye because of its shape, color or composition. In Japan, there's a lot of stuff:
This is an area of Roppongi in Tokyo that was on my walk back to the hotel from work. It had been raining on and off this night and I think the sheen of water on everything a really great look.
I'm probably alone on this, but I love these outer spiral staircases. Tokyo has a lot of them crawling up and down buildlings and it makes them look like they've been screwed into the ground. I almost compulsively take photos of these.
These are cookie cutters and there are hundreds of them. If there's one thing to be said about Tokyo, its that its a town of variety. I don't make cookies very often, but I really wanted some of these.
Caligraphy brushes. A whole wall. Here another case where I wanted to start a new hobby just so I could pick out and purchase my favorite brush.
This is a building across from the Six Apart offices in Akasaka. There are so many buildings packed into such small spaces that I find there are often interesting interactions between them, like this city skyline reflected in a building.
If you want to see the rest, check out the Flickr set of these photos (78 total).
