Japanese Manhole Love

Drain covers aren't the most obvious places to look for beauty. But the Japanese have an uncanny knack of beautifying even the most mundane of urban objects. And to celebrate this most unusual of art forms is photographer Remo Camerota with 'Drainspotting' published by Mark Batty Publisher (Manholes and Batty, you couldn't make it up!). You can also download the App from iTunes.

iPhone Bites: Tokyo Diner

If you're ever stuck for a decent place in Chinatown for some cheap but delicious Japanese food, you could do worse than this charming little place situated on the corner of Newport Place and Little Newport Street. Tokyo Diner prides itself on being authentically Japanese, and even follows the age old tradition of not accepting service charge. The menu, including photos for the uninitiated, is kept short but varied with prices for a Salmon Don (shown here) for £10.00, to the more hefty Bento Boxes for £12.00 onwards. Beers are served in cans at sub £2.00, or you could stick to the Green Tea which is served free . The staff are efficient but polite which is a shame as this is the kind of service I wouldn't mind paying extra for.

View on Google Maps.

Tokyo named most expensive city

The falling pound and lower rent has pushed London out of the top ten of the world's most expensive cities to live in according to the latest annual listings from consultants Mercers. London has dropped 13 places to 16th place because of the Sterling's poor performance against the dollar.

Tokyo and Osaka have knocked Moscow off the top spot down to 3rd place making it a one two for Japan. While Geneva has moved up four places to 4th and Hong Kong up one to 5th.

The survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

Read more at Guardian Online.

Japanese workers say 'Cheese'

In an effort to improve it's services, a Tokyo-based train company has introduced a smile scanning software to be used by it's employees. The 530 employees of Keihin Electric Railway Company have been beaming stupidly at a WebCam linked up to a computer which then analyses eye movements, lip curvature and facial wrinkles to determine the person's happy state which ranges from 0 (suicidal) to 100 (delirious).

Read more on Guardian Online.