I have now taken the same photograph about three dozen times. In the left-hand corner is Shinjuku, towers muddled with haze, mirrored on the right almost exactly by Ikebukuro. In the centre, low-rise Tokyo in all its bent perspectives. Roads that snake between the upper storeys; a canal suspended above the warren of backstreets, the neon dice and billboards that seem to float at ground level.

Tokyo, filmic in any weather, has been skipping channels. One day it snowed and was dark at noon. For three days in a row, the wind blew at 30 kilometres per hour and skittered dead leaves in through the window. Just once, in bright sunlight, a maintenance worker in a mask and overalls climbed up onto the water tower on the building opposite and balanced ten storeys up without a harness. Unable to leave the apartment, this is all I can shoot.

• Tags: Issue 19, Japan, Peter Guest