By Brian Ashcraft

It's Saturday morning, early. I'm heading down a hallway deep in Tokyo Station, moving towards the Marunouchi Line. My destination? Sony Computer Entertainment.

While its facade may be multinational, Sony is still very much a Japanese company. More than that, it's a Tokyo company—not just part of the city, it is the city. While ads mark territory like dogs piss on fire-hydrants, Sony has made its mark with buildings strewn across the city's hippest neighborhoods, namely Aoyama and Akasaka, as well as ritzy Ginza.

I'm going to Sony to see if any insights can be gained on the company's corporate culture can be gained from the buildings and surrounding neighborhoods. I'm documenting the entire trip for the interested and curious.

At the end of the hallway, there are ticket wickets for the Marunouchi Line. The ticket machines are off to the right side. I buy a 160 yen ticket, and the wickets slam open as I pass through, my ticket spitting out on the other side.

I head downstairs and hop on the train bound for Shinjuku, leaving from track 1.

The fourth stop from Tokyo Station is Akasaka-mitsuke. I get off, walk directly across the platform to the train on the other side. It's the Ginza Line. What Park Avenue is to New York, the Ginza is to Tokyo. Just the word alone conjures up images of wealth for the Japanese. And it should, "Ginza" literally means "silver guild" and used to be home to the country's mint.

The doors open at Aoyama-itchome, the next stop. I get off. Figuring Exit 5 is a good bet, I move through the station, up stairs, down stairs and up again to what seems like the sky. At street level I am greeted by a familiar face: a Honda dealership. At the corner, I turn right. From here, things are only going to get more expensive.

The streets are wet. We're still in the midst of the rainy season. I head down the uncharacteristically wide sidewalk. To my right, I pass a car showroom. Bentley.

And following that, Maserati.

Next up, Sony Computer Entertainment. That's what it says. I'm standing in front the modern TK Minamiaoyama Building, SCEI's Headquarters.

The first floor is a super swish showroom, decked out with white furniture, slick flat-screens and PSP demo stations. There's no mistaking it, the outside of the building even reads "PlayStation" in frosted glass.

No one is around. It is Saturday. I double back to the Honda dealership. Honda girls in white pants and blue tops are parking cars and checking under the hoods. The dealership has yet to open.

Continuing, I cross the street. There are a few shops, and my eye wonders on Berluti shoes, Givenchy ties. I pass the Akasaka post office.

The sun is burning off the morning mist. The trees are saturated with green. It actually looks like it won't rain. I cross several small streets. Joggers whiz by.

A large, dark building looms overhead. This is the Akasaka Oji Building, and it looks weighty and glum. It reeks of the 1980's. I peek in the window and see a display for the LocoRoco PSP game. The lobby reminds me of a pediatrician's office.

Adjacent is the Canadian Embassy, which a stone fortress. It suits neither the neighborhood, nor Canada.

I pass a park. Two men in workmen's clothes sit outside, smoking. From behind, I hear women laughing and talking. A train of young ladies in dark navy business suits passes. There must be fifty of them. They stop in front of a small building and file in. One. By. One.

A BMW in a show window smiles at me.

And a hop, skip and a jump, I'm at the Aoyama Yasuda Building, home of Sony Computer Entertainment Japan. A quick look in the window, turns up more LocoRoco promotional material. There's a fabulous staircase that winds around the side of the building leading to a lower floor. A Sony security stops and watches me for a moment.

Retracing my steps, I go back to Aoyama-itchome Station.

I shove 160 yen in ticket machine and board the Hanzomon Line, leaving from Track 4. I take the train one station to Nagatacho. I exit the carriage and head left, take the escalator up and then the stairs down and change to the Yurakucho Line, leaving from Track 1. Green seats. Guy on a lap top. Another guy with bad skin. A cello case. Two stops later, I'm tunneling out of Yurakucho Station.

The walls are covered in Sony ads, a contrast to the Panasonic ads that dominate train stations in Kansai.

The morning sun has turned in to late morning humidity. I wonder down a green catacomb that runs parallel with the JR station, following it all the way down until I pass a police box. The pavement eases around a large building—it's Osaka and Kyoto-based Hankyu Department Store. A gold clock chimes of the time. Hello Ginza.

Across a large intersection sits Sony's Ginza Showroom. It's an eight story building filled with Sony gadgets and topped off with trendy restaurants. Directly opposite the Sony showroom is a large Toshiba building. Sony vs. Toshiba. Blur-ray vs. HD DVD. The next-gen format war is being fought out in Ginza with two large buildings.

I enter the Sony showroom. The first floor is dedicated to the upcoming LocoRoco. I take the stairs, passing rows of Vaio computers. On the second floor, I pass more products and catch a glimpse of a BMW dealership in the showroom.

More stairs, short choppy stairs, and I'm at the fourth floor.

"It's not only a game player, it's a Blu-ray player," someone says in English. Some kid explaining the system to his mother.

The fourth floor is the Blu-ray floor. There's demos running on Bravia TVs that compare the new format with DVD. Sony staff, decked in smart black suits, are on hand to answer questions and preach the Blu-ray gospel. And under a glass, there's a PlayStation 3. It's not a mock-up, but a working PS3. Of course, it's not working and only on display, but if you lean close enough and listen, you just might hear the sound of next-generation gaming. If it's not drowned out by the BMWs, the Maseratis and the Bentleys, that is.

Sony Map [SCEI]