Tokyo Tower

Despite having been to Tokyo several times already, I haven't gone up the Tokyo Tower until this year. So let's have a look at this symbolic tower that represents Tokyo.


We got off from the Akabanebashi station by taking the Toei Oedo Line, and from there we can already see the Tokyo Tower (the first picture) from the exit.



The tower starts to light up as we were approaching it in the Shiba Park (芝公園, Shibakouen). I think this happens around 7pm.


Lots of black cars near the Zojoji Temple at the edge of the Shiba Park.


View of the Tokyo Tower with orange lighting from the ground. Apparently the light changes depending on the season or to a specific event.


Bottom of the Tokyo Tower. Unlike the Eiffel Tower in Paris where there's an open space in the middle we have a building with restaurants and shops there.


A 'floor plan' to show what shops and restaurants are available on the first four floors. The admission fee can also be seen on the right.


Hello Kitty (ita)bus spotted!


A good tip for those planning to go to Tokyo Tower:
Go there on your birthday and you'll be free of admission fee as well as a coupon to have a small birthday cake! That's the case with my sister, and she was one happy girl on that night.





Taking pictures of the city at night on the Main Observatory. As one can see it's getting darker as I took those 4 pictures.

There's another observatory floor much higher up, but one will have to pay a bit more to get up there.


A closer look of the really bright road seen from the previous picture


On each side of the observation floor there's a computer to show you what buildings can be seen from that direction as well as the scene viewed from morning to night.


Touch a building with label and it will show you its height, height comparison with the Tokyo Tower, as well as distance.





More night scenes


There's a small window on the ground for you to look down the Tower. Couldn't take a good shot of the view though due to the intensive lighting







And even more night scenes. This is my first time trying to take night scenes with my compact digital camera.


Tokyo Tower shaped water bottles. I've bought one for myself too~ ^^;


Model scenary of Tokyo in the 50s I think, which is to show how the area around the Tokyo Tower before it was built.




I am a fan of miniatures, and am always fascinated by the details that look as if the atmosphere would be alive.


Apparently baseboard board game comes out roughly the same time as the completion of Tokyo Tower, therefore there's a small display of baseball board games to show how much it is evolved throughout these 50 years.


For dinner we had ramen again. This time with these vending machines (no ramen don't come out straight from the machine ^^;). What happens is that you order what ramen you want with them, and you get an order ticket. The staff will cook them and call the number when it's done. Many fastfood style restaurants in Japan have this system too.



Various ramen for dinner


A light projecting text of Tokyo Tower near the entrance as we left the Tower.




One of the most important tourist attraction, Tokyo Tower is quite a sight to see for oneself. The Main Observatory floor gives a good 360 view of Tokyo, and there's a number of restaurants and facilities on the first 4 floors too, which I haven't mentioned above (there's an aquarium too I think). Oh remember, you get free admission if you go on your birthday~ ^^

Tommy of The Inferno Project also has a nice coverage of his visit to Tokyo Tower too!

For those who want to go to have a good view of Tokyo without having to pay admission fee, the observatory floor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building in Shinjuku is a good alternative place to go to too.