okay let me make a correction. lol sorry >< --
in tokyo where i went i didn't see any residential buildings.
i went to ikebukuro, asakusa, harajuku, shinjuku, shibuya, ebisu, roppongi, tokyo dome city, and probably a few more places i'm forgetting. i didn't see any residential areas there O_O
no i didn't think you lived in the parks so that's why i found it "strange" that i didn't see any residential areas. perhaps you guys live in the .. less touristy [? lack of better term] areas?

Once you leave these "touristy areas," even just a station or two away, you'd find that large parts, or even that majority of Tokyo is residential.

But a lot of people still live in those places you listed. There are apartments above shops and cafes, or even whole residential buildings next to them. If you do a quick Google search on housing in Tokyo, I'm sure many of these places will pop-up as choices. I remember walking around in the Harajuku-Omotesando area, just wandering a few minutes off the main street to find some very nice looking mansions.

But definitely as a tourist, there are way more exciting sights and sounds than these apartment buildings, so it's not surprising that you didn't notice them--I know I probably didn't on my first few visits there. It's like saying in NYC no one lives in Fifth Ave., Soho, Midtown, Times Square or other tourist-heavy areas. Granted they aren't your typical "residential neighborhoods" with places for kids to run around or whatnot, these tourist hubs are crammed with residential buildings as well.

That got quite a laugh from me too.

I take it the poster never left the main streets. Or maybe apartments/mansions don`t count as residential?

Leave commercial and tourist spots, and 95% of Tokyo is (albeit very crowded) residential. All you have to do is walk back through the wall of flashy buildings facing the main street, and find sprawling residential neighborhoods.

When you ride the train practically every building you see 30 seconds away from the station is residential. A lot of the businesses are centered right next to the stations.

About the theft thing:
Everybody said there isnt, but i got my wallet stolen in Ameyoko. So i was just unlucky to find the few percent of Japanese who actually steel. But when i called the embassy they told me that most times the things wich are lost come back (as everyone else told me), so i guess it is pretty safe. The thing wich sucked most was that the store even had videocameras but they refused to have a look as long as there is no police....
Well anyway, i still think Japan is a very safe place with a low crimerate and Ameyoko is the one place wich is know for theft.

About the "no residental area" thing. Go to Ueno and drive maybe 3 stations with the train and the residantel only areas will start and you can keep going with the train for far more than 30 minutes and there will still be just houses. I think many of the people working in Tokyo live outside there and commute every day for 2+hours (wich sucks!).
After having been on the morning rush hour for 3 weeks now (the worst part beeing from Ueno to Akiba) i would not want to lead that live everday.

thanks guys for the info. i guess that was pretty ignorant, but i honestly didn't notice any residential buildings when i went. yes i did stay on the main streets, and i was probably too busy trying to not get lost/ trying not to melt from the heat to notice any. o.o;;

My grandmother is the strange thing in Tokyo! =D

lol.
I'm joking.
"I kid. I kid."