I went back to Tokyo Tower a few days ago as soon as I was free from my quarantine. It was a beautiful, clear day and perfect for taking pictures of the city.
5 months ago, when I last was here, it was during the night. Both times of day have their advantages, nighttime is romantic & mysterious, daytime is breath taking & mesmerizing. I honestly can't decide which time of day I prefer, perhaps I need to go back at dusk and catch both.
My visit this time started from the opposite direction as I was coming from Odaiba & The Daigo Fukuryu Maru in the bay earlier in the day.
As I got closer I entered a small park which may or may not have been attached to a large temple complex on the opposite side of the street.
That's one of the wonderful things about Tokyo, you really have no idea what's around the corner. In this case it was a this mystical, little park with towering trees right in the heart of the city.
As I write this I'm realizing it was probably the perfect time to be in this spot. The sun was moving close to the tower which cast great shadows and offered clear views of the tower just beyond the forest.
As I exited the small park the tower presented itself in all it's glory.
I honestly hadn't decided if I was going to go up until I got fairly close and realized I had to see the city from the main deck during the daytime.
$12 and a few minutes later I was 492' (150 meters) above the city.
This was the first picture I took looking NE. The tower casts a shadow on the park I came in from.
I walked clockwise around the deck as I snapped pictures. This is looking East.
South East. The Zojo-ji temple below & Tokyo Bay in the distance.
South.
South West. Unfortunately I couldn't get a good photo without the reflections. In the distance is Yokohama & Mt. Fuji.
Looking West. Mt. Fuji is visible on the left. Roppongi Hills' Mori Tower is the 54 story tall building in the center.
Very slightly NW, This is the Toranomon Azubadai Project, another huge Mori Company development. A city within a city. It's similar to Mori's older development, Roppongi Hills nearby.
Looking at this picture most of the buildings around the base of the tower are going to be replaced except the triangular building center right which is the Reyukai Shakaden temple. Its a massive redevelopment project, especially in this expensive city. Here is a video by Mori of what the finished project will look like.
And here is a link to the Toranomon project page in English if you are interested. https://www.mori.co.jp/en/projects/toranomon_azabudai/
The Tokyo Tower Main Deck has two floors. The 2nd floor, upper level is where the elevator up takes you to and first floor, lower level is where you exit to leave the main deck via elevator. You can take the stairs down to if you're feeling adventurous.
I made my way down to the second level for some final pictures and to see the glass floor sections of the tower.
I get vertigo just looking at these pictures.
A young couple in front of me had no such fears though and stood on the glass while taking pictures and laughing. Ah, that made me feel old....
It seems I forgot to take a picture of one of the glass panels. It just means you'll have to visit someday to see all four.
I did a video on living here while in the tower and I started to feel it sway a bit. That was enough for me and I decided I had spent enough time up there. I don't know if it's vertigo or something else, but when I start to feel the buildings sway in the winds, it was pretty windy, I get dizzy and very slightly nauseous. It's more uncomfortable than debilitating though.
I made my way out of the tower and on to a couple other adventures as the day wound on. I took a look back looking forward to returning sometime soon around dusk to complete my photograph collection of Tokyo Tower.
Until then....
All pictures taken on my iPhone 11, unedited except for correcting tilt.
