Sky Tree Tower

 Our final outing from the boat was a bus ride to see the view from the Tokyo SkyTree Tower.  The ride offered the added benefit of providing a prolonged view of Tokyo and Yokohama at night. The SkyTree is the third tallest tower in the world at 2100 feet and though the four floor observation deck is not located on the top, the view is both very popular and spectacular. There were a large number of people which seems to be the general situation in Tokyo, but with a little patience and four floors there ended up plenty of opportunities for photos. This appeared to be a popular location for amateur glamour photos for young Japanese girls who posed endlessly for their photographers with the distant city in the background. I did take one photo of Cindy, but I am quick with a great deal of experience in glamour shots. Cindy doesn’t use that pouty look that seems to be in among the younger set.

My first impression of Tokyo is that it is dense. Great industrial buildings, massive apartment buildings, and lots of people all packed closely together. You may have seen that view of a multiple directional crosswalk containing nearly a thousand people moving through each other every time the light changes. I have my own version of that shot. Not at the same locations, but just a cross walk we used today. It was raining and a large number of folks were emerging from a train boarding site. As each individual hit the street, he or she opened an umbrella. Watching the nearly perfect repetition of this simple process was very interesting. Then the procession began to pile up at the light to cross the street - both sides. Walking into the group walking toward you was like moving through a wall of umbrellas - most it seemed at my eye level.