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Looking down on Zojoji
Jan 20, 2021
The viewing platform at Tokyo Tower provides an excellent opportunity to look down on the magnificent Zojoji Temple complex. Taken at the end of 2020, and a few days before I was standing in the Temple on a subzero New Years Eve, this is a view from just before the world changed and the travel options we so much took for granted were taken away. The narrow road on the left is a familiar route for me, being my approach of choice to the iconic Tokyo Tower.…
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Hato Bus
Nov 09, 2020
There is something special about a Japanese tour bus, and these from the 70 year old Hato Bus company, at the foot of Tokyo Tower, are a fine example. They carry you in comfort along the paths and between the districts of the city and beyond. The smartly uniformed staff keep you informed and entertained, and the views and sights are an endless source of opportunities to note for future exploration on foot.…
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Tokyo Tower through the trees
Oct 30, 2020
Last Christmas Eve I approached Tokyo Tower from a new angle for me and saw it rising as if from a forest. The Tower really is the centre about which Tokyo spins. So long a symbol of the city and still, even with the modern prevalence of high-rise buildings, visible all over the city.
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Mori Tower
Oct 04, 2020
The Roppongi Hills Mori Tower is an amazing complex with one of the best observation decks in Tokyo. This photograph of the top dozen floors or so was taken from Tokyo Tower, and if you look at the full size image you can see people behind the windows of the 52nd floor looking back at you.
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Tokyo Prince Hotel
Sep 22, 2020
This hotel, seen here from Tokyo Tower, has the feel of another era that appeals to me. Built in time for the olympics way back in 1964, it still exudes a restrained elegance echoed by what I have seen second hand of its interior. Whenever I have walked past it or looked down on it as here, I think to myself, “One day we will stay there”. Sadly too many such buildings are being razed and rebuilt, or renovated beyond recall.…
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Meguro Housing Complex
Aug 25, 2020
There are a seemingly infinite variety of housing projects in Tokyo that are each fascinating and captivating in their design and detail. It would be nice to see some from the inside one day. This one, in Meguro Ward, is as seen from the Ebisu Garden Place, a landmark which has a great platform from which to view the four Wards of Minato, Shibuya, Shinagawa and Meguro.
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Blue Horizons
Aug 11, 2020
Looking south over Sumida and Koto wards from the Skytree on an almost cloudless April morning over countless homes and businesses all the way to the Tokyo Gate Bridge and Haneda Airport and the highrise cluster of Chuo City. It looks vast, and yet is still only a small slice of the whole of Tokyo. Below, in the long thin Sumida River Park where I had just walked, are chaperoned tribes of colourfully hatted kindergarten classes playing, and old men quietly fishing in a fragment of an old canal.…
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Urban Eels
Jul 01, 2020
It might just be me, but these Shinkansen, seen in Tokyo Station from a viewpoint on the Post Office viewing deck, look like giant futuristic eels lurking in an urban coral reef.
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Towers of Glass
May 23, 2020
Tokyo has many stunning towers of glass, and this one, the newish Kitte building on the south side of Marunouchi Plaza, is one of my favourites. Here looking especially beautiful against a clear blue winter sky. The viewing platform from where this photograph was taken is the perfect location for looking out over the plaza and Tokyo Station too.
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Marunouchi Plaza
Apr 29, 2020
Marunouchi Plaza is one of my favourite public spaces in Tokyo. There is an endless variety of contrasting architectures to look at and explore, not to mention some very fine vantage points for viewing the surrounding area. From the new post office building (where this photograph was taken from) to the wonderful Tokyo Station and even looking down Gyoko-dori towards the Imperial Palace there is so much to see and explore from this space.…