Arrived yesterday morning at Narita International on a SAS plane that may possibly have been as old as I am. It’s been seven years since I was in Tokyo and those Japanese architects and engineers have been keeping busy. Tested both the new Skytrain and Tokyo Sky Tree yesterday – from which the above image was taken.

Ate amazing sushi for lunch just below Tokyo Sky Tree. Here, the chef adds the amount of wasabi directly to your maki rolls and nigiri pieces. I had forgotten about that – which explained the confused look on the waiters face when I asked where the wasabi was.

The very first time I had sushi, some thirty years ago, was in Göteborg at a restaurant called Mikado. I was a regular there when I lived in the city and after I moved, I’d pop in for lunch when I was in town. Apparently, they’re still around, albeit in new premises by the arena, Scandinavium. The sushi I had yesterday at a simple lunch restaurant – one of maybe three dozen places in a busy shoppingmall – was far better than any Japanese food I’ve ever eaten in Malmö.

Like many others, I fell in love with the radioactive monster, Godzilla when I was a kid. And though those Japanese sci-fi movies were dubbed with American voice actors and offered a minimum of Japanese cultural references, there was still something that intrigued me about Japan. I still don’t know what it is.

Love those Japanese electric toilets – and above all, their comfortably warm seats.

Still no trash cans to be found on the streets or at subway stations of Tokyo.

There seem to be more locals that speak better English than I recall.

Paid extra for a bigger room which is still ridiculously small compared with almost any decent hotel in Bangkok. But it’s still significantly larger than any room I’ve stayed at in Manhattan.

I really appreciate that Tokyoites are extremely polite. So considerate in fact, that they wear surgical mouth guards when they have a cold or aren’t feeling well.

Today. Yoyogi Park and rockabilly and dolls fans of Harajuku.

More of my photos from Tokyo here.