Tokyo

Tokyo would probably be a more appealling city to me, if I weren't already coming from Korea. Coming from North Carolina or Canada it would be different, with the perfect blend of culture shock, high tech and a western mindset to help ease the transition into Asia. Compared to Seoul, however, Tokyo is like the tame baby brother that hits the books in the library on weekends and pays five times the price for a comparable education.

Although I would definitely say that Tokyo is the gateway to Asia in that it is so easy to get by with English, but it is still unmistakably Asia, unless you really have your heart set on Japan, if you ever want to travel to Asia and are thinking Tokyo, do yourself a favour and head to Korea where the experience feels more authentic, the food is just as good, the prices are six time less and the women are more beautiful. There are even plenty of temples to see in Seoul, if that is what you are into. After Japan, as cool as it was to see so many temples, I could go the rest of my left without ever seeing another Buddhist temple and wouldn't care an iota.

While in Japan we stumbled upon three separate weddings in various temples and cities.
Heading to Shibuya, which is where the famous Tokyo road crossing is--kind of the Abby Road of Asia.

Although Japan is way better at putting trash bins on the street-actually that is an understatement; Japan is spotless-I guess it all has to go somewhere, why not in front of the subway exit.
Figuring out where to go next at a Family Mart. Japanese maps are all oriented to a different direction, so it gets quite confusing.
Abby Road of Asia.
I have no idea what it is that these guys were celebrating, but they were making quite the ruckus and marching down the busiest street in Tokyo carrying some sort of statue.

Another example of Japanese efficiency: these machines are in a lot of restaurants, you buy your ticket for food in the machine, give it to the cook, and it comes out seconds later, still raw but on a blazing hot skillet. By the time the skillet cools, your food it hot and ready.
A Buddhist monk walking very slowly and ringing a bell at precise intervals.

This is on the Imperial Palace grounds, which you aren't really allowed to go in, as the president still lives there.

Tokyo International Forum Building: pretty amazing architecture.