My apartment block has what I believe to be 100Mbps FTTH into the building’s basement. Each room has a LAN port that connects to the apartment’s small Buffalo 10/100 switch. This is neatly housed in a mini-wiring cabinet within one of the walk-in closets.

Alas, after seven years dutiful service the Buffalo finally bit the dust and so I went to pick up a new one in downtown Shinjuku. (It’s only 20 mins from home whereas Akihabara, Tokyo’s “Electric City”, is a good 40 mins door-to-door.)

I bought an 8-port 10/100 Buffalo Ethernet switching hub for about 2500 Yen (about $30), which is a bargain by Tokyo standards.

Here are some photographs of the Shinjuku area of Tokyo on a Friday evening. I don’t much like downtown Tokyo during the daytime but after dark, the neon-lit ‘pencil buildings’ are a pretty sight indeed.

Shinjuku East:

Near Seibu Shinjuku Station:

Looking to West Shinjuku (tall buildings).

Have a great weekend.

- Mark McClure