Today was my last full day. I started off by going to Tokyo Tower. It’s maybe not as cool now that Tokyo Skytree exists (Tokyo Tower is 1092 feet tall; Tokyo Skytree is 2080 feet tall), but I only wanted to visit one, and Tokyo Tower is the tower that showed up in the anime and movies I grew up with, so that’s why I wanted to see it.
There are go-karts around the corner from my hotel. Tourists put on goofy onesies and drive these through Tokyo, including the busy Shibuya Crossing.
This is the Great Gate of Shiba, which appears in a number of famous Ukiyo-E woodblock prints.
A bust of Commodore Perry, who forced Japan out of isolation. This is an incredibly flattering (if rather gaunt) bust, considering how he looked in photographs and Japanese caricatures at the time.
This is the entry gate to the Zōjō-ji temple, a Pure Land Buddhism temple.
Making my way closer to Tokyo Tower.
Jizō statues at the temple cemetery.
This entire temple compound, except for the large bell, was completely destroyed in the World War 2 air raids on the city. It was rebuilt in 1974.
It’s starting to really make its size known.
Here’s some of those go-karts driving by Tokyo Tower.
They really push the message inside that Tokyo Tower is a super romantic, lovey-dovey place. Though there were also Blackpink and Digimon collaborations happening.
And now for a series of photos showing how enormous Tokyo is, and also how high up I am.
I only paid to go up to the main deck (490 feet up). For a lot more, one could pay for a tour of the Top Deck (819 feet up).
I’m not normally really scared of heights, but my legs were pretty jelly up here. I don’t think I could have handled the Top Deck.
Tokyo itself has 14 million people living in it; the metro area has almost 38 million residents.
Naturally there are the extra scary look-through-the-floor windows.
The buses look so small from up here.
A silhouette of myself as I sit and watch a movie on the history of Tokyo and the Tower.
I took the elevator up (which was fast and made my ears pop); I took the stairs down. There are approximately 600 stairs, and they count them down/up as you move flight by flight.
You get a good view of the construction of the tower via the stairs.
The guy who decided to build the tower really wanted to outdo the Eiffel Tower. The tower color is “international orange” for safety.
The tower opened to the public in 1958.
A view of the Zōjō-ji temple I passed on the way to the tower.
Finally reached the bottom; here’s a view looking straight up.
After I finished visiting Tokyo Tower, I proceeded on a whirlwind path of subway stations to hit some key tourism and shopping spots. First up, Shinjuku.
Tiny waterfall in a park bordering Tokyo Tower.
Shinjuku has a lot of entertainment places, like this castle-topped karaoke place.
Taito Station Game Arcade is a chain with locations throughout Japan, but this one is particularly big.
The real reason I stopped in Shinjuku - Godzilla!
Then I headed to Jimbōchō, Tokyo’s book district.
Books Sanseido. Sanseido publishes a lot of dictionaries; this is the main branch of their general bookstore.
Jimbōchō is Tokyo’s book district, “the world’s number one book city,” filled with new and used bookstores. It seems to sit next to a sports equipment district.
Even the subway stations at Jimbōchō are book-themed.
I then headed to Shibuya, home to Tokyo’s busiest pedestrian crossing. It’s also where one can find Tokyo’s Nintendo store.
Shibuya Scramble Crossing, “the world’s busiest pedestrian crossing” can have up to 3000 people transversing it at a time.
I guess when Inspector Zenigata isn’t chasing after Lupin (or maybe it’s what enables him to keep chasing), he’s advertising Suntory Draft Beer.
A rare quiet moment at Shibuya, as pedestrian crossing ceases and vehicle traffic is about to resume.
The traffic cops keep everything moving orderly.
Hachikō, the faithful dog that waited nine years for the return of his unbeknownst to him deceased owner.
A wall honoring Hachikō.
“No music, no life.”
Outback Steakhouse! It feels weird for an American “Australian” restaurant to exist in a country just a couple time zones off from the real Australia.
The entrance to Mandrake, full of all kinds of wonderful secondhand anime and manga merchandise, some incredibly old.
An Aliens-themed club in Shibuya.
This-a way to Mario!
It was hard picking something for my kid; I was incredibly overwhelmed with choice.
Another view of the Nintendo store.
MewTwo at the Shibuya Pokémon store.
I thought of my dad - across from the Nintendo store was a Minions-themed café.
There was a Jump store and a Capcom store on the same floor as the Nintendo store. The Capcom store had some really cool Monster Hunter x Pop Team Epic collaboration merchandise, but it was all sealed don’t-know-which-design sorts of things, so I didn’t get any.
My feet were finished at this point, so I headed back to my hotel.
A Maneki-neko art piece near my hotel.
Here’s today’s haul of goodies:
At Books Sanseido I bought “The Dictionary of Words that have Disappeared from the Sanseido Dictionary.”
In Jimbōchō I happened on a store displaying this Neverending Story movie promotional booklet.
Behind the scenes photo of the Morla puppet.
At Mandrake I got some anime art / info books for some of my favorite shows.
At the Nintendo store, I got my kiddo a bath bomb with a mystery Kirby figure inside. I got myself a washcloth with my favorite Mario baddie.
In the morning I get to play Tetris with everything, get packed up, and head towards the airport.