To the Top of Tokyo Tower

One day last week, while the breadwinner was at work, I borrowed a bike from the apartment and went cycling. As a lady of leisure it has become a pastime that I really enjoy. You can cover a lot of territory and certainly see and get the feel of many places. My first port of call was Tokyo Tower. The photo below shows the road I went along to get to the tower.

 At 333 metres Tokyo Tower is 13 metres taller than the Eiffel Tower and is the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It was completed in 1958 symbolising Japan's rebirth as a major economic power. It also serves as a television and radio broadcast antenna and tourist attraction. Visitors can ascend to the main observatory at 150 meters and the special observatory at 250 meters to get a bird's eye view of Tokyo.  Under good weather conditions, Mt Fuji can be seen in the distance. An aquarium, wax museum and several more attractions can be found on the ground floors of the tower. Tokyo Tower's current height is not high enough to adequately support complete terrestrial digital broadcasting to the area. A taller digital broadcasting tower known as Tokyo Sky Tree is currently planned to open in 2011.

As the day was sunny and the skies were clear, the views were really excellent and I could just see Mt Fuji in the distance. It really only presented as a lump on the horizon though, nothing to get excited about. The views reinforced once again the extent of the Tokyo sprawl. For a fee of 1420 yen (about $18.50) I gained entrance to both observation decks. It was well worth the money. Our trip to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and its Observation Deck had been free but I think I got a better view of the waterfront from Tokyo Tower.

It was pretty cool standing on the see through glass deck and also ascending in the elevator to the special observation deck.

After descending the tower I decided I would take a look at the Wax Museum for an extra 500 yen. As the photos show this was a really good exhibition. I was pretty impressed with Yoda and Chewie!

I had a lovely chat with Einstein. I found we had a lot in common, not just our IQ but also our lack of intelligent conversational opportunities throughout the day. We discussed formulas and solutions to issues in the world and, quite importantly, the possible effects of smoking a pipe on his health!

I finished off my day's outing cycling over to the wharf/port area and criss crossing my way through the Shinagawa area. As the railway stations tend to separate areas quite significantly, I found  it a bit tricky navigating my way around the Shinagawa Station to get back to the apartment. After lots of riding up and down I successfully found a way and returned home satisfied with my day's touring.