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That’s me been in Tokyo for almost a whole week now. Writing that actually makes me feel a little sad as I’ve had such a fantastic time already that I don’t want to only have 7 weeks left – I have completely fallen in love with Japan! Thankfully, I don’t have time to be upset as I am constantly excited by what lies ahead. I’ve already had the opportunity to hear, see, taste and learn so many new things that I never would have been able to, had I not got this internship – so thank you SaltireFoundation for making this possible!

Let me tell you a little bit about what I’ve been up to so far:

I arrived in Tokyo on Sunday, getting into my studio apartment at about 4pm; leaving me just enough time to wander around the area and find myself some food before trying to get as much sleep as possible. I hadn’t slept well on the plane (I was too excited!) and had to get over my jetlag before starting my 8-week internship with the Royal Bank of Scotland at 9am the next morning…

To give you slightly more detail, I’m working with the Markets department of RBS Securities Japan – this means that I’m in the ‘front office’ with all the traders, sales and research people who try to make money for RBS through securitised products (for example, government bonds). The building I'm in (the Shin-Marunouchi Centre Building) is amazing - I'm working on the 20th floor and on one side there is a fantastic view across the Imperial Palace gardens towards Shinjuku. I spent most of my first morning being shown around the all the offices and introduced to everyone. My boss, Gavin Catto, then took me out for lunch and I got to my first authentic Japanese sushi :-)

For the moment, I’m trying to learn as much as physically possible – the jump from physics to finance has resulted in a very steep learning curve on my part! The aim of the first half of my placement is a bit different than the other iterns as I don’t have an official ‘project’ yet. I have so much to learn that my project will come later on. Just now, I’m spending time with different groups of people everyday and being taught about what they specialise in. So far we’ve covered trading and sales of bonds, swaps, options, futures and also a bit of FX. Currently, I’m aiming towards learning enough to sit the 'JSDA Securities Sale Representative Class-2' exam. I'm hoping to sit this (the Japanese equivalent of the FSA's exams) in the second week of August. It would be more than fantastic for my CV - most people don't get to sit it until their first year in a graduate position. If I pass, it also means I might be able to study for the 'Sales Rep Class-1' exam and sit that too. If (and that's a really big IF) I pass that one, then I would technically be fully qualified trader!

I’ve also had the chance to visit the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Bloomberg’s Tokyo office. Outside of working hours (which are a lot longer than in the UK!), I’ve so far managed to explore:

The rest of the financial district - very similar to Manhattan in that all the buildings are new skyscrapers with fancy interiors and even fancier shops, sitting next to a large park that acts a bit like a small version of central park.

Ginza - like Times Square on steroids and spread over a much larger area, every skyscraper is a massive designer store.

Akihabara - locally known as 'electric town', bought myself a new camera, lens and memory card for £530, which would have cost in excess of £1600 at home!

Tsukiji – the world’s biggest fish market. I got up at 4am today to watch the tuna auction and then ate some in sushi form for breakfast (I’ve gone native!).

Asakusa – hundreds of market stalls and shops that all lead towards beautiful Buddhist and Shinto temples.

This weekend is a long weekend as everybody gets Monday off for ‘Marine Day’ (even the locals don’t know why it’s called that…) so I should have plenty of time to explore more of Tokyo! I’ll be sure to let you all know what I get up to.