Puttin' on the Ritz

So, Tokyo is pretty badass.  I really like this town.  Having the Ritz-Carlton as my home for the last 4 nights has only made it that much better.  Seriously though, I am loving Tokyo.  The weather is super hot (in the upper 90s and full humidity), the cabs are WAY too expensive, and there are crowds of people everywhere, but somehow, none of that has put a damper on my trip.

It has been an absolute whirlwind of a week here, jam packed with so many great moments that I could never list them all, but here's a little potpourri of my last few days:

Our office here is awesome.  It's located on the 26th-30th floor of the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower (which is this insanely huge building that has about 50 restaurants, a hotel, 3 Starbucks and who knows how many offices).  The view is great, the styling is fun and the food at the cafes was amazing!

The view from my desk in Tokyo

A fun room with a projection of a koi pond that creates a rippling effect when you walk through (left) and a beautiful mural by a famous Japanese muralist (right).

 

                           

Delicious lunch in the cafe:

Everything was so fresh & tasty!

There are vending machines everywhere (no charge!) and even a fun little android-themed library:

            

My client meetings in Tokyo were some of the most fascinating of my trip.  None of the clients spoke english, however, my wonderful colleague Chris -- who I hope to repay by hosting him in NYC one day --  speaks both Japanese and English fluently.  Funny story actually.  He grew up in LA as well, and went to USC (I've decided to forgive him for that).  He moved to Japan after graduating and worked in Tokyo for about 9 years, before recently moving to Singapore with Google.  He and I have worked together for about 2 years now, however, we never had the chance to meet in person before this trip (ah, the beauty of video conference calls!).  Anywho, Chris was an amazing host, and in our client meetings played the critical role of translator for me!

After a full day of work on Wednesday, Chris and I went out for a Yakitori dinner to welcome me to Japan.  I didn't even bother looking at the menu, I just had him order (one of the major pros of liking just about everything) and the dishes came out.  OMG, so tasty!  Chris did trick me though and I ended up trying horse meat.  I have to say, it was quite tender and tasty.  I felt pretty bad about it (it was one of the food animals I wasn't so keen on eating as I love them) but when in Rome, right?  After dinner we met up with another Googler friend and headed to drinks at Xex Atago, a really fun bar on the top floor of another skyscraper. 

With Chris, toasting to my first night in Japan

The view was unreal:

There was even live music by a Jazz singer who used to perform in NYC.  When he found out I was from the Big Apple, I got a special serenade:

With Sarasa and my new singer friend

As busy as I was, I made sure to fit in a little R&R:

Reading in my Ritz-Carlton PJs

Some jacuzzi time

Back in the office, I convinced another visiting Googler to join me to check out the observation deck of the Mori Tower.  This may sound like it would be simple, but we must have taken 4 different elevator banks and 2 stairwells, but the trip was worth it, once we made it through the scary jail-cell like entrance to the roof:

Just sittin on top of the world