Day 23 - Tokyo (The Tokyo Skytree, Kanda and Akihabara)

Lovely weather greeted us today as we woke up here in Tokyo. Today was planned to be a relatively quiet day as I think we are all pretty much all-holidayed-out. We firstly headed out towards the Okachimachi Station for breakfast before walking to the Ueno-Hirokoji Subway Station, catching the train to the Tokyo Skytree Station.

Down in the Ueno-Hirokoji Subway Station.

Standing at 634 metres, the Tokyo Skytree is recognised by Guinness World Records as the world's tallest tower, beating the Canton tower in China, which is 600 metres tall. However, the world's tallest structure is Dubai's Burj Khalifa, which stands at 828 metres. But that doesn't matter because they are all about to be dwarfed when Saudi Arabia's 1000 metre tall building is completed in 2020. 

The 634 metre Tokyo Skytree, the tallest Tower in the World.

At the base of the Tokyo Skytree is Tokyo Solamachi, a seven-story shopping centre with over 300 stores, including a Pokemon Shop. I'm sure that that excites just a few of us.

Josh's first visit to a Pokemon Shop.

Kyle, doing...not sure what Kyle's doing.

Some Christmas Tree photos before heading up the Tokyo Skytree.

Merry Christmas.

We headed to the ticket counter on level 4, noting that we arrived at level B3, which meant a lot of escalator rides. There are two viewing levels at the Tokyo Skytree, the Tempo Deck (350 metres above ground level) and the Tempo Galleria (450 metres above ground level). The elevator ride to the Tempo deck takes around 50 seconds and cost around 3000 Yen each (AUD $37). On arrival at this level, the view is breathtaking, easily seeing the whole of Tokyo, from the mountains to the coast. On a clear day, I'd expect that the view towards Mount Fuji would be spectacular. Whilst it was a fine day for us today, the air was quite hazy, possibly a combination of pollution and winter haze.

Even the Window Cleaners are getting into the Christmas spirit.

A distant Temple and Pagoda.

The Tokyo Skytree's shadow was amazing.

An older Shinkansen crosses the Sumida River.

Stepping on the glass floor.

We then headed up to the Tempo Galleria, which interestingly, has a spiralling walkway against the side of the structure climbing to the next higher floor level. The views at this level compared with the Tempo Deck, are honestly not that much greater, and 1030 Yen (AUD $13) extra cost is probably not worth it, except for bragging rights, though, real bragging rights would be climbing to the 634 metre tip of the Skytree.

Sky at the Tempo Galleria, as the walk spirals upwards.

The view from the Tempo Galleria.

In the foreground is the Sumida River and in the background, the Arakawa River.

The Tempo Galleria is sponsored by Dragon Ball Z

One of the great aspects of our visit up the tower, was the view of the Skytree's shadow, spreading several kilometres across the landscape.

When we finished, we headed back down and had Japanese Dipping Noodles for lunch. The friendly staff took our orders, then completely forgot Josh's meal. When we enquired about Josh's meal, we received blank stares in return, so no lunch for Joshua.

Afterwards, Maureen, Josh and I headed back to the Subway Station and caught the train to Kanda Station. We have routinely passed this station on the Yamanote Loop Line and have been meaning to check out the Kanda district. So what's at Kanda? Not much really, though we did notice that the food there seems cheaper than the more popular Akihabara and Okachimachi, so we may have to visit there for dinner.

Kanda Station.

Walking through Kanda.

Food options at Kanda.

We decided to walk back to Akihabara.

The Kanda River in Akihabara.

In the meantime, Sky headed off to Akihabara, whilst Kyle spent the afternoon exploring Tokyo Solamachi. We all met up at Akihabara again for a nice Steak dinner, before heading home. Sky, Josh and I elected to walk through Okachimachi.

Trying out some high ISO settings on the new Camera.

Interestingly, Japanese Steak is really an interesting thing. The Japanese restaurants seem to treat steak and even meat patties with reverence. Whilst we westerners might like to stick a meat pattie into a Hamburger, the Japanese will have the pattie as the prized main ingredient in a main meal.

Well that's it for today.