Google Streetview now available in Tokyo

I was using Google Maps to scout out the area around the new apartment when I noticed an additional button had been added to the top of the map, ストリートビュー (Streetview), which provides a nifty panoramic street-level view complementing the bird's eye perspective of the satellite / aerial images. This is Tokyo Station seen from ground level:

A very useful feature (and would have been more so if it had been launched a couple of weeks back while we were apartment hunting), but on the other hand it's slightly scary - one person I know has discovered himself standing in his open garage, his face and its contents visible to the whole world. I checked out my usual haunts and seem to be mercifully absent. It wil be interesting to see what odd scenes turn up.

The images appear to have been taken in late winter / spring this year; in some areas snow is visible on the ground, while in others the cherries are blossoming. Streetview is also available for other Japanese cities including Kyoto and Osaka.