First Stop: Tokyo

Looking east from the Tokyo Tower.... towards Tokyo Bay
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May 8, 9 & 10 Tokyo

I left from San Francisco on May 8th for Tokyo on JAL flight #1. Gary was enroute to Tokyo also but from Baltimore where he had been attending another business meeting. I'm tagging along again on another business trip and feeling really lucky to be able to do so. We will return home on May 20th after spending two nights in Tokyo, five nights in Hong Kong and four nights in Taipei.

Tokyo Tower is a very striking orange and white structure......

Tokyo Tower
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When I arrived at Narita airport in Tokyo on the 9th ( I crossed the date line ) at 3:35 p.m., I was lucky to breeze through immigration and customs as there were no long lines and Gary was waiting at a coffee shop downstairs as promised, he had arrived 2 1/2 hours prior to me....... We caught the Narita Express train to the main Tokyo train station and then took a short taxi ride to the New Otani hotel (the Tower Building). We are staying in room 4809 on the 28th floor with a great view of the 400 year old Japanese garden on the Otani grounds.

Close up to the Tokyo Tower
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After meeting up with some coworkers, we all walked down to the little street by the Akasakamitsuke Metro station where there are many restaurants and ate at the Yakiniku-House, a Korean BBQ place where you get to cook your own food over the little bbqs built into the tables.... fun and really good.

The next morning, the 10th, after a nice buffet breakfast and all had gone to the train station to go to work, I stopped by the concierge desk to ask for a map and directions to walk to the Tokyo Tower. I had been assured that it would take about 20 minutes to walk there but the concierge said that it would actually take me about an hour (it really took about 50 minutes at a comfortable walking speed). I set out a little after 10:30 and followed her great directions. I walked miles down Sotobori Dori and then Toranomon to the Tower. The weather was pleasant, not hot and humid as I was expecting... there was even a nice breeze.

Children enjoy one of the Lookdown Windows
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Tokyo Tower is a very striking orange & white structure designed based on the Eiffel Tower and it was opened in 1958 and is the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. It's 333 meters high and the Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 meters high although the Eiffel weighs about 7300 tons, the Tokyo Tower weighs 4000 tons. The tower is used to transmit 24 different broadcast waves (14 are analog and 10 are digital). There is a Main Observatory at 150 meters and another Special Observatory at 250 meters. I only took the elevator to the Main level as the sky was so hazy, I didn't think I could see much more higher up. The first floor on the ground houses an aquarium, the third floor houses a wax museum and the Mysterious Walking Zone and the fourth floor has the Trick Art Gallery. I didn't check any of those out... they do seem a bit tourist trappy.. :-)

Zojoji Temple
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This is a nice way to get a perspective on Tokyo as it has great 360 degree views of the city. There were many school children there on school trips.....they have four nice interactive Guide Boards set up in each direction that are great learning tools. After spending some time taking pictures, I realized it was getting close to lunch time so I headed to the first level of the Main Observatory to the little Cafe La Tour and bought a ham, cheese & lettuce brioche and a coffee float (which could give Starbucks good competition for their Frappacino) and the total cost was only 830 yen ( or about $7) and was a great place for lunch with a view. After lunch I checked out the Lookdown Windows and enjoyed watching the kid's excitement as they stood on the glass and watched the cars and people 145 meters below them and pretended to walk on the sky......

Would you care for a little ice cream?
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I continued my exploration and walked again down the road towards Tokyo Bay past Shiba Park and the Zojoji Temple, then past Tokyo's World Trade Center and to the new Takeshiba Pier. From there is a nice view of the bay and the Rainbow Bridge. I went as far as the Hinode Pier and then realized how tired I was and considered taking a taxi back to the hotel. Instead I took the Tokyo subway, which is so easy to use, that there was just no excuse...... I got on at the Takeshiba station on the Yurikamome line and took it to it's end at Shimbasi and there I tranfered to the Ginza line that took me to the Akasakamitsuke station. From there it is only a couple of blocks to arrive at the New Otani....

There are special smoking areas on the streets of Tokyo.....
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After I arrived back at the hotel and was looking out the nice picture window at the city view, I suddenly saw a couple bolts of lightening..... from the area where I was earlier in the day... I'm glad I returned when I did as I had forgotten to bring along my umbrella on my walk today.