A few random shots of Derek's day

I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks, but finally got around to it. Here are a few pictures of what the daily grind looks like in Tokyo.

This is the sign at the subway stop where my office is located. If you've lived somewhere with good public transportation, the subway in Tokyo probably isn't that interesting. But to me, it's still novel that I don't have to check a schedule before trying to ride somewhere - there's always a subway within the next 6 minutes.

My floor. This is, from what I've been told, typical for Japanese companies. Besides saving space, it is thought to foster togetherness and communication to have everyone in the same room and able to quickly talk to one another. I've found that it also makes it difficult to have a TC because of the background noise. Luckily for me, the time-zone difference with the US/UK means that I have most of my TCs at night from my apartment anyway.


The director on our floor is the only one who has his own desk. He is centrally located so that he can be consulted easily, which helps him stay informed of what is going on. The Japanese style of management is very hands-on and not as removed from the front-lines as in the US.


After a relaxing day at the office, a nice quiet ride home. My subway is actually busier at night than in the morning, because our apartment is located in the "nightlife district". Often in the morning I can see across the tracks to the subway going the other direction, and it's PACKED. I'll get some pictures of that as soon as I can.

Let me know if there are any requests for pictures of anything here and I'll try to get them taken and posted!