The Tokyo Tower has two observation decks. The lower of the two is about 25 stories high, the upper, around 40 stories. It costs approximately 8 dollars to get to the lower deck, and another 7 or so will get you to the upper deck. Because it was not a particularly clear day (and due to the length of the queue for the elevator to the upper deck) we did not pony up the additional cash to get us to the top, instead contenting ourselves with views like this:
Perhaps I will eventually become numb toward Tokyo's scale, but it hasn't happened yet. What strikes me most about this picture is the high-rise buildings along he horizon, way off in the distance. They are still Tokyo.
At the bottom of the tower is a tourist area with souvenir shops, restaurants, and a trained Japanese Macaque that performs tricks to amuse the crowd. I probably do not need to tell you that Sarah was quite taken with the monkey, and even Robert appeared to enjoy the performance.
There was also an aquarium on the premises, as well as a smallish amusement park for toddlers:
Other than our trip to Tokyo Tower, we have been keeping it pretty close to home though we did attend several local food/drink festivals such as the Azibu-Juban festival seen below, and Brazil Day. These festivals are an excellent excuse to go for a walk, eat some tasty but bad for you food, and down a couple of overpriced beers while doing a bit of people-watching.
The next two Mondays, September 17th and 24th, are public holidays here in Japan, and now that the weather is beginning to cool a little, we plan to try and try and get out into nature. We found a promising looking book called "Day Walks Near Tokyo". It details a number of hikes on the outskirts of Tokyo and beyond, and we are itching to try a few of them out.
Oh, and in closing, we experienced our first Typhoon on Thursday the 6th. It was pretty wild. I left the office on Thursday with a friend; we were going to meet up with Sarah and Robert, then head over and have dinner with his family. Even though the full gale-force winds were still several hours away, I was only able to keep my umbrella pointed safely into the wind for about 30 seconds before a gust from an unexpected angle caught it, inverted it, began to tear the webbing from the frame, and finally bucked several spines. My friend (his name is Andrew, incidentally) managed to keep his umbrella together a bit longer, but eventually it suffered the same fate as mine.
Perhaps I should back up a moment -- Japanese really seem to like their umbrellas. A lot. Perhaps they appeal to the Japanese sense of practicality, of cleanliness and self-reliance or it could just be that during August when it is 90+ degrees and raining, the last thing you want to do is don a rain jacket, but at any rate, umbrellas are ubiquitous. Every commercial building has a rack just outside the entrance for wet umbrellas, and every convenience store has a display of umbrellas for sale next to the checkout stand. When the weather report indicates a high chance of rain, everyone, and I do mean everyone (excepting us clueless gaijins of course) brings their umbrella to work with them.
So we ate dinner (an Australian take on Thai food -- and excellent by the way -- well worth braving a tropical storm for) made it back home, and as we were getting to sleep the wind really began to howl.
Tokyo seems to be built to withstand Typhoons. There were no reports of major damage, no flooding nor injury that I heard of. But there was some detritus. Evidentally Andrew and I were not the ones foolish enough to take an umbrella out into a hurricane. Ruined umbrellas adorned everything: sidewalk railings, hedges, gutters, they poked up from garbage cans, stuck out from under parked cars, and blocked drains. All in all though, it was kind of a fun experience. One thing you can say for tropical storms: at least the rain is warm. :-D
