The View from Tokyo Tower

I guess as far as towers go, Tokyo Tower is perhaps not so impressive compared to taller, more modern towers. Still, it is "the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower" (333 meters--hey that's half of 666!!), and if you want a good view of Tokyo and its surroundings, its not a bad place to be. The lower levels of Tokyo Tower feature some of the finest cheesy tourist attractions you'll find anywhere. I recommend The Tokyo Tower Carnival's "Wax Museum" (see the Frank Zappa exhibit!) and "The Mysterious Walking Zone" (strangely, it's not off the top of the tower...).

Anyway, I went there with my family last week and took some crappy photos which you'll find below. There was one amusing moment when, at a display featuring the tallest buildings in the world, my in-laws expressed genuine surprise that a third-world country like Canada could have built what is currently the tallest building in the world, the CN Tower in Toronto. I hadn't seen them that surprised since informing them that Canada has four seasons and that children there actually attend school...

As you no doubt have already surmised, this is what it looks like at the bottom of Tokyo Tower.

The cities in Japan all have a characteristic haze that makes shots taken at high zoom very, er, hazy. This picture is a good example (of a bad picture), but if you look closely you should be able to see Mt. Fuji looming in the background.

Here's a view of some buildings facing, um, one of the four compass directions...

Here are some more buildings from, um, another direction...

Here's a shot taken from a completely different direction...