Tokyo Tower

Well, today I went to three places again. But, one of those places was a revisit to an earlier location. So, in actuality, only two new places today. And, for those who know me all too well, you can probably guess what that earlier location was already. More on that later. LOL

Tokyo Tower was first on the agenda for today. This iconic tower in the heart of Tokyo looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower in design if not in color. It was built in 1958 as a broadcasting tower and is 333m tall. It has two public observation decks; one at the 150m level and another at the 250m level. I was at both levels and at the 250m level, you can really feel the thing sway in the wind. Standing still and leaning against the railing was a bit of a surprise at first because of that. They do close off the 250m observation level if it is too windy, though. Luckily it was not that windy today. They also charge two separate admission fees for each level, but you don't know about the second fee until you are already at the first level. I also felt a bit of vertigo going up to the 250m level as the elevator has glass windows. I was fine when I got to the top. It felt safer than the elevator. Oh, and in case you're wondering. All the observation decks are glass enclosed.

The day started cloudy and fairly warm, but it started to rain by the time I left the tower. By the evening, the temperature had started to fall a bit. It is supposed to drop by at least 10C by tomorrow, at least according to the forecast. I think the nice spring like days of high teens are gone, at least for my remaining time here anyways.

Note: all city pix from the 250m level. And yes, you can see people walking the streets and playing soccer in the green courts in some of those pix. I hate shooting through glass. It degrades optical/image quality. I wish there was a section with bars that allowed a lens to poke through.

Shinjuku Part IV

There's an "Electric Street" in this area, too, with another Yodobashi Camera store here (actually divided into two buildings this time). But, it's really small and not as well equipped as the main store in Akihabara. I bought a mouse today as my wireless mouse died a few days ago. More shopping and eating here to be found as well. Plus, games streets and more big brand name clothing stores as well. One of the bigger stores (Lumine 1) had some really nice French style pastry shops, too. I had a snack there.

All in all, quite a full day by the time I made it back to my hotel. I did travel in rush hour and it was not as bad as I had expected. Maybe rush hour here starts later than what I am used to, or maybe it really is not so bad in the afternoon, only in the mornings. Dunno. At least I now know I can stay out later and not get crushed while getting back. Of course, staying out really late would avoid the rush, altogether. But, I'm trying to make early days of it as one of my main goals this trip is to get some rest. Not really succeeding with that part yet! LOL

Shinjuku Part III

I originally went there looking for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office (Tocho) building as they have two free observation decks on their 45th floors of their twin towers. I eventually found it. It's a really nice building! And, the streets and businesses leading up to it were pretty nice, too. Gone were the boring North American looking streets of the earlier area and things became more lively. Although, I wish I had found out that the building itself has a subway station directly underneath of it sooner. I would have saved me a few hours of worthless walking through a boring area to find it. The subway station is Tochomae in case you decide to visit. Shinjuku station is fairly close, too, if you don't exit at the wrong exit. Then, it's a long circular route back to more interesting sights.