Because real guns are illegal, there's a huge market for very realistic air guns in Japan. There are groups of people who dress up in authentic military uniforms and then take to the countryside where they battle it out with the weapons. It's kind of like paintball here, but you get a lot more little red welts on you at the end of the day. It's a huge subculture that I didn't even know existed. It's a wonder that bars like this don't exist in the States (maybe they do, but I've never seen them or heard about them), as drinking beer and shooting guns seems like as American a pastime as driving SUVs or eating hot dogs. Tokyo's beating us at our own game here, people.

One thing that surprised me about Japanese cellphones is how boxy and not-that-thin they all are. Almost everybody has the same type of phone, a rectangular flip phone, and none of them are as thin as something like the Helio Fin. Instead, due to features such as DMB mobile TV reception, they require bulkier batteries as to provide longer life. While I was expecting a wonderland of super-thin, amazingly-featured phones, I'm actually pretty underwhelmed. Sure, being able to watch mobile TV is kind of nice, but the TV stations here kind of suck. I'd rather have a thinner phone than DMB TV service.

And why aren't there more unique designs here? These futuristic concepts are pretty cool, but they're just concepts. I see much more variety on the streets of NYC, where I see smartphones, candybars, sliders and flip phones. On the subways here, it's 90% boxy flip phones. I've seen maybe one smartphone since I arrived. What gives?

In addition, another thing I didn't realize about the Japanese cellphone market is that most of the services only include access to walled gardens rather than full-on internet access. Sure, full web access is available if you've got a Crackberry or something like that, but the fees are astronomical when compared with service charges in the States.

I never thought I'd say this before coming to Japan, but we have cooler phones in America. There are just more diverse choices and we get better services (as long as you don't care about watching live TV). Consider me unimpressed.

The first floor held the flashiest stuff: the OLEDs and Rolly. Lots of people crowded around, snapping pictures of the super-slim displays, and there was an ongoing demo of Rolly that invited people to come play with it for themselves. Personally, I don't really "get" Rolly, as it just seems like a really expensive Bluetooth speaker that won't fit in your pocket. But hey, it's a crowd-pleaser apparently, so what do I know?

The other big feature at the building involves the new Sony Canvas line, which are laptops, cellphones, and digital audio players with skins designed by hip Japanese artists. There's currently an exhibit on the top floor about the products and the designers, with videos (only in Japanese, unfortunately) on each of the artists involved (Hajime Yoshio, ZAnPon, and Ryuji Otani). The designs are undeniably cool, but don't expect to see them at your local Best Buy anytime soon; they seem to be limited editions that are only available here.

On the floors in between, there was everything from professional-grade telephoto lenses to HDTVs to cellphones to laptops to, uh, minidisk players on display. Strangely enough, even though there was a bunch of Blu-ray stuff set up, there was a noticeable lack of anything Playstation 3 to be found, unless it was hidden somewhere that I didn't see. Take that how you will.

Overall, the Sony Building in Ginza is relatively cool, but I wouldn't go expecting to see any new gadgets or technology that hasn't been widely covered already on the internet. But if you like getting your hands on a wide variety of toys, you'll certainly get your fill. It's worth the trip if you're already in the neighborhood, to be sure.

Nope, there's no button to call the elevator, and once you get in, there's no way to tell it where you want to go. You get no control in this elevator; you're just along for the ride. Both elevators simply go up and down the four-story store, stopping at every floor. Want to go check your email on the top floor? You'll be taking a peek at a guy giving an iPhoto presentation in Japanese on floor 3 on the way. It's not exactly the most convenient thing in the world, but it forces you to scope out every aspect of the store as you make your way up. And really, you're just there to mooch their internet, so who are you to complain?

Rather than sitting down, looking through a menu, and giving your order to a waiter or waitress, at these restaurants the picture-filled menu is posted outside. Sometimes, in the window, there's a display full of examples of what you can order. You make your choice, insert your money into the machine next to the door, hit the button corresponding to what you want, and a ticket pops out. Want to add an order of gyoza or a beer to that? Get another ticket. You then hand your tickets to the nice person at the door, are led to your seat, and soon enough, your food arrives. Since tipping isn't customary in Japan, you just pay up front and leave when you're done.

That isn't to say this makes eating at a restaurant a cold experience void of any human interaction. There's almost always someone standing at the door ready to answer any questions you might have, and people, not robots (yet) serve you your food. Most of the time, it's an open kitchen, and the people who are making your delicious ramen are right there thanking you for ordering along with your server. But, as a traveler who doesn't speak the language, it helps avoid awkward, stilted ordering sessions and lets me use the one Japanese word I do know and that I've used more times than I can count so far on this trip: arigato.

There's more than just a train station in this building. It also houses a posh, 539-room hotel, a theater, two malls, a bus station, a museum, and over two dozen restaurants. It has so many restaurants, that an entire floor is dedicated to ramen restaurants. Yes, all different ramen restaurants in one place. It's just as awesome as it sounds, and I need to continually stop myself from eating every meal there in order to try them all before I leave.

One of the things that makes Kyoto Station so unique is that you can climb up to the top of it using stairs and escalators, with different things to see on most floors (the 10th floor is the ramen floor, for example). At the top is the grassy "Happy Terrace" sitting area and panoramic views of the city. You can then look down into the station from 12 stories up, feeling like you're on ground level, and the station itself is dug into the ground. There's a skyway that you can use to walk from one end of the station to the other 10 floors up, providing views of Southern Kyoto all along the way.

It's a great place to base a trip to Kyoto, with the buses that leave from here going to every temple and major sightseeing destination in town. The best part? If you're coming to Kyoto, it's tough to miss, as most people will arrive by train and have it be the first place they see when they get here.