A warning. If you are not a raging Mac fanboy and try to organize your digicam pics whith "Photos".... Shoot yourself, it is less painful. And a LOT less.
Since the Tokyo Skytree - second highest building in the world after the Burj al-Arab in Dubai - is pretty near to my hotel it was a natural first choice. Google told me it opens at 8 am which was a blatant lie. But since I was there a quarter to 10am and 10am was the actual opening it wasn't too bad. Actually it was a lot of luck, since I could see the line behind me growing by 10m per second...
That is the base
And this is the top. Both pics taken from the same spot. Awesome construction.
The view from the top is as awesome.
I only bought a ticket for the lower of the 2 levels in 350m height. But this is completely sufficient. Costs like 20€. 100m more would be another 15€. Both are crowded and if you come late you wait for a long time. Or.... You use your gaijin (foreigner) bonus and pay 30%b more and earn the right to skip the line. Pay2Win is strong in the asian soul it seems.
On . this day even the Fuji was visible. A bit hazy, but hey it is like 120km away from the tower. A bit of the haziness is also due to using full zoom.
Since from up there everything looked like toyland I tried the toy filter of the camera:
Looks funny. That would be the same motif without filter:
Asakusa, which is like the Tokyo old town is directly adjacent to the Skytree city and home of the oldest temple in old Edo, the Sensou-ji, which dates back to the 8th century. Temple means always buddhist temple. Shrine means Shinto "Temple". They are often next to each other on the same premises and especially Shinto is pretty much all encompassing. Yep. Nice idea. A few minutes in I remembered why I had a plan to avoid the most known, oldest and "best" spots at all costs.
But well, those spots are known and magnets for the masses for a reason. They are beautiful and full of history. But if a million people beside you want to see that it is hard to get any feeling for the place.
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| The Skytree as seen from Sensou-Ji temple entrance |
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| The 5 story pagoda with its golden tip. |
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Zoomed out a bit. The Kimono wearing women and girls were mostly Japanese. You can rent Kimonos at many places
around the temple and it comes with Getas and hairdo. Looks really good in most cases. |
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| The main Temple building. |
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| In relation to the Pagoda |
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| More details |
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| More Kimonos! |
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This is the Asakusa Shrine on the same premises as the Temple.
The funny thing is, that the deities enshrined here are the founders of the buddhist temple.
Talk about good neighbourship. |
Since this is a buddhist temple a Buddha should be there!
Near the temple is also one of the oldest shopping malls in Tokyo. It started in the Edo period and exists until today. Wooden floor!
All over Tokyo you can see proof how individualistic the japanese culture is actually in spite of its image. Every house is different (with exception of the latest ones which are like premade) and every estate has a perk. In Asakusa it is actually not much more prominent than in other suburbs, but since I was there.... Just 2 pics with street impressions.
And then, while strolling through the streets the funny Japan comes back.
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| Who would NOT want to be saved by Mighty Atom? |
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