Japan Day 14 (jū yon)

Today we got to see what Bren has been up to for the past couple weeks.

Along the way to the Kamiyachō subway station Jerri noticed this Suntory vending machine:


Bren's new building is the Shin-Marunouchi building right across from the Imperial Palace. Western Asset was moving into this new space from the plain old Marunouchi building across the street.



The first few floors, like almost every other building I've been in, in Tokyo, are an upscale shopping mall type area.


The lobby is very nice. The subway station gives you access to the basement floor which has many shops, eateries, and even a little grocery store.

Bren took us through some winding 'staff-only' hallways to some elevators, where we went up to the 36th floor. The view from their offices is....well, better than the view from my office in Lancaster....

That's the Shinjuku skyline in the background, with the Imperial Palace proper in the foreground.


That's the Imperial Palace grounds where we were yesterday:


And that's the perfect little pine tree park:


From the conference rooms on the north side you can see Tokyo stretching away into the distance


Oh, and did I mention the kick-ass video conferencing setup they have? That's the Pasadena office on the monitor.


We finally pulled away from nicer offices than I'll ever have and went outside to attempt to get to a department store on the other side of Tokyo station.

Looking away from the Imperial Palace side of the building is the brick Tokyo train station.


The sign says "Tokyo Station"


We walked all the way around the station and under the tracks to try to get to the other side.


Not finding anything that looked like a department store, we hit a convenience store, got a snack, and headed back into the station to get back to where we came from. This was when we discovered all the stores and restaurants underneath Tokyo Station. Intrigued, but more hot, sweaty, and tired than anything else, we headed back for our subway to ride home. We'll definitely be coming back to check the place out.

The Tokyo stop on the Marunouchi Line.


I know I took this shot before, but it looked so neat I took it again.


Finally back in our own neighborhood we stopped at 7-11 to grab some more munchies.


I got the beer at the Nissin World market. Need I mention it's the best beer in the world?


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