baldylox Posted May 12, 2017 Ah yes! It's time to visit Skytree! The last time I was in Japan, back in 2010, Skytree was in the middle of being built so I couldn't go see it. But this time I was making sure to go up to the top and check things out! Checking online, we found this info on tickets: 001 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Checking the maps of trains and such, it was an easy train ride there from Akiba. 002 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Part of the trip was thru subways and some of them had REALLY low overheads! I had to duck under these things. 003 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Coming out of one station to go back down to another for the final train swap. 004 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Down in the subway. 005 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Check out the cute pandas painted on the gates! 006 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Here's our train! 007 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr It's the giant golden poo! LOL That building is the Asahi Beer headquarters and that roundish looking gold thing is supposed to be some sort of symbol of man's triumph blah blah blah. Everyone knows it's a giant golden poop meant for good luck. 008 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Cool bridge. 009 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr As soon as you hop off the train, you know where you are. 010 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 011 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr That girl doesn't have a train drivers license! 012 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr At the base of the shopping area you can see the tower. It's so friggin tall! 013 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 014 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Hey, that guy's taking my picture! Right back at'cha! 015 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr The area at the bottom of the tower. 016 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Another up shot. 017 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr It seems Skytree has it's own bunch of mascots. 018 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Gotta love these warning stickers. 019 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr The top of our elevator was clear so you could see going up. 020 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr The first observation deck was at 350 stories ( or floors depending on who you ask ). But we decided to go to the very top first before all the tourists showed up and it got crowded. Of course there were lots of windows everywhere to see out onto Tokyo. The following are shots of the city while walking around the top deck. 022 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr We got there just as it was opening so there was still a haze over the city that the sun hadn't burned off yet. 023 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr A sign showing what is where down below. These were all along the windows. 024 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 025 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 026 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 027 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 028 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 029 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr The inner framework of the area. 030 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 031 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 032 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 034 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr OMG.... I finally get to see Mount Fuji! The last time I was there, it was raining and the top was covered in clouds. This time you could barely see it thru the haze but it was there in all it's snow capped glory. I didn't get to go there like I wanted to this time but seeing it with my own eyes did help me feel better. 035 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr WAYYY over there in the center of this pic is Tokyo Tower. 036 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Even tho I've seen this view before, it still puts me in awe. This is the only city I've ever seen where there is city from horizon to horizon. No matter where you look ( except Tokyo Bay ) there's city. It's enormous and huge and breathtaking. 037 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 038 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr More walking away from the main areas leads up a sloped incline to a higher point. 039 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Odaiba Island and Rainbow Bridge in the background. 040 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 041 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Seriously..... cityscape all around. It's nuts. 042 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 043 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr I suck at selfies sooo bad... 044 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr That cluster of buildings in the center is Akihabara. 045 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr There's Fuji again..... mocking me. 046 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 048 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr I found this funny. One little blue building all alone in a see of browns and grays. 047 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Zoom time! 049 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 050 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr There were more rivers running thru the city than I had thought. 052 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 053 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 054 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Tokyo Bay. 059 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Another corridor. These empty spots weren't going to last tho. Soon, more and more people started showing up and filling them. 060 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Sheesh, I can't get a moments peace with all the loons around me... 063 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 066 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Speaking of loons.... 069 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 070 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 072 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr They had some art exhibits at the top of the inclined area. 074 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr This area was for all the Skytree mascots. If you download an app to your phone and hold it over these characters, you could interact with them. 075 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 076 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 078 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr It's time to go back down to the 350th floor. 080 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Waiting for the elevator to go back down. They had a space limitation up here so when people came down, others could go up. Also, zoom in on my face here..... I'm not sane anymore. 081 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Nope, I've lost it. 082 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Another glass topped elevator shows us the tiny shaft we go up and down to the top in. 083 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr And what awaits you as you come out of the elevator in the main lobby? SHOPPING OF COURSE. 084 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr And the obligatory glass floor to scare all the kiddies. 085 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Becca testing the glass floor. 088 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Ed right out in the center of it. Just after this pic was taken, Ed decided to jump up and land on the glass. EVERY kid around him scattered when he went up into the air. It was hilarious. 089 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Me standing on it looking down. 090 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 091 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr A few more supports down here. 086 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Hmm, I wonder who helps sponsor this place? 087 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr We took stairs down to another level where there was food and other stuff to do. 092 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr These were workers at Skytree who would take your photo against the backdrop of the city. They would also take a pic of you with your own camera for free *IF* you paid for one of theirs first. 093 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr These huge interactive screens were amazing. You touch them and places you touch would zoom in and tell you what they were. You could also see night time pics of them too. Here. Becca is checking out the Golden Poo. 094 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Sakura blooms hanging over the guardrails. 095 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Fake paper blooms! Booo! Still looked really cool tho. 096 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 097 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Just in case you wanted to know what a men's bathroom on the 350th floor of a building looked like.... here ya go. It was quite clean and fancy! 098 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Wanna be cops. 099 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr The main observation deck was huge compared to upstairs. 100 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr What's a rare Saber Lion doing way up here? This is NOT her natural habitat! Maybe the wild Lancer population near her normal hunting grounds has been depleted so she has had to wander farther away for food. 101 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr A couple more pics of the outside city from here. 103 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 104 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr 105 by Billy Bennett, on Flickr Okay, that's enuff for now. Part 2 will go up this weekend and show more of the areas inside the shopping district as well as us going to the Meiji Shrine and shopping in Harajuku! Billy I gave up counting the girls I own, they keep multiplying and won't stop. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Silverwing Posted May 12, 2017 Oh man that's a long way down. Funny story, despite being a former Paratrooper I'm mortally terrified of heights. I'd probably be fine up top but none of that glass panel looking down stuff! Your pictures are so cool! the view of the city looks so awesome too. It's interesting how so many landmarks and places in japan have their own mascots too. really interesting culture. The bit about the Golden Poop had me cracking up. I'm looking forward to the rest of your pics! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Monty Posted May 17, 2017 Those aren't Skytree mascots, they're characters from famous manga throughout the Shojo magazine Ribon's history. (The publishing name for the graphic novels is called 'ribon mascot comics' but has nothing to do with mascots, it's always been called that.) They were having an exhibition about them for a limited time in sky tree and I know this cos I wanted to go and didn't get to 8') (I'm not big on Shojo manga but Kodomo no Omocha remains one of my favourite series of all time) When we went to Skytree it was night. We thought it'd be a nice relaxing night view but when we got out of the elevator, there was a rave going on at max volume. I still can't get over that. An honest to god sky-rave with the loudest music I have ever heard in my life (and this isn't even a 'weird japan' thing because the DJ and half the ravers were foreigners.) I still can't get over that, but needless to say it wasn't exactly relaxing and after shouting 'WHAT?!' At each other too many times (since no one could hear a thing over the music) we eventually went back down. It makes for a funny memory but I'd like to go up again to actually be able to take on the view without my eardrums exploding 8') Your photos definitely convinced me. (The night view was pretty spectacular though, it's a shame I couldn't tolerate the noise for long) *twitter*instagram*art* Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
