/categories/landmark/ Recent content in landmark on Tokyo, endless city Hugo -- gohugo.io en Tue, 07 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/parkhyattshinjuku/ Tue, 07 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/parkhyattshinjuku/ The three towers of the Park Hyatt Hotel in West Shinjuku will forever recall scenes from the film Lost in Translation for me. In turn that film contains much that initially drew me to Tokyo. This is my favourite view of the Hotel. It would be nice to stay there one day and look down on Yoyogi Park and all the other places. /posts/zelkova-shrine/ Sat, 25 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/zelkova-shrine/ We came across this tiny Buddhist temple hidden away down a very narrow Tsukuda alleyway after following the smell of incense from some distance away. The trunk of a massive zelkova tree rises out of the ground and up through the roof to eventually spread out covering a good portion of the surrounding block of old appartments. A unique and special place obviously still used daily by local residents. /posts/shibuyacrossingbuilding/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/shibuyacrossingbuilding/ The Shibuya Scramble Square building standing tall and looking good on a sunny day. I am slightly sad that the Shibuya Crossing area is changing so quickly, but change is the norm in Tokyo, and thankfully it is still relatively easy to find everyday buildings and commercial premises going back half a century or more. Of course, I am also looking forward to seeing what the view from up there is like. /posts/suica-shinjuku/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/suica-shinjuku/ You never know what will pop out of the bushes in Tokyo. Company mascots can be overly cute sometimes, but being presented like this is still rather a nice way to liven up a station forecourt. /posts/docomo/ Sun, 22 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/docomo/ Whilst the address of the Docomo tower is Shibuya it is from Shinjuku that I always see it, and that is where this photograph was taken. /posts/sumida-kanda-yanagi/ Thu, 19 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/sumida-kanda-yanagi/ When walking up the west bank of the Sumida river towards Asakusa you have to take a little detour up a short stretch of the Kanda river to the Yanagi bridge where this photograph of a scene from another era was taken. /posts/rooftop_cafe/ Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/rooftop_cafe/ There are many places you can get great views over Tokyo. A view from Tokyo Tower revealed this scene over a rooftop cafe. It’s design and structure just cannot be seen from the ground, and even when sitting there as a patron you prabaly don’t get a good feel for the whole. /posts/postoffice_reflections/ Thu, 28 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/postoffice_reflections/ Some may think concrete, steel and glass buildings a bit soulless. But they have different and often appealing moods depending on the season and time of day. Here, the Marunouchi Post Office building shows interesting reflections of the nearby buildings and lovely clear blue December afternoon sky. /posts/tower-to-tower/ Wed, 05 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/tower-to-tower/ Two of the most iconic sites in modern Tokyo linked by this line of sight. In normal times countless eyes on the viewing platforms of both towers cast gazes that cross over the buildings below as they wonder who is looking their way from the other Tower. This is a tiny area of the whole panorama visible from Tokyo Tower, and yet see what a variety of style and scale compete for ground. /posts/sunny_minato/ Sun, 14 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/sunny_minato/ It is interesting to see how many of the buildings around Tokyo Tower are not as tall as you might expect. Here, looking closer along Sakurada-dori south through Minato City towards Takanawa, the apartment and business buildings seem to rise as they get further away. It may not be deliberate, but it does have the happy consequence of making for many wonderful views from the Tower. It was a lovely sunny day when I took this, making me want to join the pedestrians down on the sunlit pavement. /posts/zojojitemple/ Wed, 20 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/zojojitemple/ The viewing platform at Tokyo Tower provides an excellent opportunity to look down on the magnificent Zojoji Temple complex. Taken at the end of 2020, and a few days before I was standing in the Temple on a subzero New Years Eve, this is a view from just before the world changed and the travel options we so much took for granted were taken away. The narrow road on the left is a familiar route for me, being my approach of choice to the iconic Tokyo Tower. /posts/hato-bus/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/hato-bus/ There is something special about a Japanese tour bus, and these from the 70 year old Hato Bus company, at the foot of Tokyo Tower, are a fine example. They carry you in comfort along the paths and between the districts of the city and beyond. The smartly uniformed staff keep you informed and entertained, and the views and sights are an endless source of opportunities to note for future exploration on foot. /posts/tokyo-tower-trees/ Fri, 30 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/tokyo-tower-trees/ Last Christmas Eve I approached Tokyo Tower from a new angle for me and saw it rising as if from a forest. The Tower really is the centre about which Tokyo spins. So long a symbol of the city and still, even with the modern prevalence of high-rise buildings, visible all over the city. /posts/mori-from-tokyo/ Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/mori-from-tokyo/ The Roppongi Hills Mori Tower is an amazing complex with one of the best observation decks in Tokyo. This photograph of the top dozen floors or so was taken from Tokyo Tower, and if you look at the full size image you can see people behind the windows of the 52nd floor looking back at you. /posts/tokyo-prince-hotel/ Tue, 22 Sep 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/tokyo-prince-hotel/ This hotel, seen here from Tokyo Tower, has the feel of another era that appeals to me. Built in time for the olympics way back in 1964, it still exudes a restrained elegance echoed by what I have seen second hand of its interior. Whenever I have walked past it or looked down on it as here, I think to myself, “One day we will stay there”. Sadly too many such buildings are being razed and rebuilt, or renovated beyond recall. /posts/meguro-housing-complex/ Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/meguro-housing-complex/ There are a seemingly infinite variety of housing projects in Tokyo that are each fascinating and captivating in their design and detail. It would be nice to see some from the inside one day. This one, in Meguro Ward, is as seen from the Ebisu Garden Place, a landmark which has a great platform from which to view the four Wards of Minato, Shibuya, Shinagawa and Meguro. /posts/blue-horizons/ Tue, 11 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/blue-horizons/ Looking south over Sumida and Koto wards from the Skytree on an almost cloudless April morning over countless homes and businesses all the way to the Tokyo Gate Bridge and Haneda Airport and the highrise cluster of Chuo City. It looks vast, and yet is still only a small slice of the whole of Tokyo. Below, in the long thin Sumida River Park where I had just walked, are chaperoned tribes of colourfully hatted kindergarten classes playing, and old men quietly fishing in a fragment of an old canal. /posts/urban-eels/ Wed, 01 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/urban-eels/ It might just be me, but these Shinkansen, seen in Tokyo Station from a viewpoint on the Post Office viewing deck, look like giant futuristic eels lurking in an urban coral reef. /posts/towers-of-glass/ Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/towers-of-glass/ Tokyo has many stunning towers of glass, and this one, the newish Kitte building on the south side of Marunouchi Plaza, is one of my favourites. Here looking especially beautiful against a clear blue winter sky. The viewing platform from where this photograph was taken is the perfect location for looking out over the plaza and Tokyo Station too. /posts/marunouchi-plaza/ Wed, 29 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/marunouchi-plaza/ Marunouchi Plaza is one of my favourite public spaces in Tokyo. There is an endless variety of contrasting architectures to look at and explore, not to mention some very fine vantage points for viewing the surrounding area. From the new post office building (where this photograph was taken from) to the wonderful Tokyo Station and even looking down Gyoko-dori towards the Imperial Palace there is so much to see and explore from this space. /posts/tokyo-station/ Sat, 25 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/tokyo-station/ Tokyo Station is an immense building with an amazing history. Here is the south side of the station, and the central dome. It sits astride a massively complex transit system nexus and a vast underground shopping mall. With trains and metros, taxis, busses and coaches it truely is a location where journeys begin, end and transition. /posts/count-the-buildings/ Fri, 10 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/count-the-buildings/ The variety in size, design, colour, texture and function of buildings in Tokyo never ceases to amaze and fascinate me. Looking east from the superb vantage point of the Skytree out over Kyojima and Yahiro, I wonder how many buildings there are in this one small area of the city. I wonder if any two are the same. The windows are like stars in the sky or grains of sand on a beach - uncountable. /posts/shibuya-in-the-rain/ Thu, 26 Dec 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/shibuya-in-the-rain/ The night time city is always aglow with its endless neon (or more likely LED) lights, but when it rains the streets are covered with rivers of reflected lights that are quite otherworldly. The Shibuya Scramble Crossing is always a special place to be, but at night in a quiet warm rain with my combini umbrella there are few other places I would rather be. /posts/towards-marunouchi/ Mon, 25 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/towards-marunouchi/ Around the Imperial Palace there is open space that allows you to step back a little from the tall, close set forest of concrete, metal and glass. This is a view up Gyoko Dori towards Tokyo Station and Marunouchi. The people lucky enough to work at or near one of those myriad windows must surely have a splendid view of the Palace grounds behind me. /posts/mukojima-district/ Mon, 14 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/mukojima-district/ Mukojima is a shitamachi district, meaning that it is comprised lowrise buildings in a somewhat less affluent area. The nearby Skytree looks over it now, and is a great place to view the district from, especially on a brilliant sunny day like this was. Remember you can right click on the image to access it full size - something I especially recommend for photographs like this one. /posts/sports-park/ Fri, 13 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/sports-park/ The Shiba water Stations Park is a public park where kids can play football in the heart of urban Tokyo. What it must be to be able to play in the shadow of the iconic Tokyo Tower, from where this photograph was taken. One of the things I like about Tokyo are the many small oases of green scattered between the apartment blocks and business high-rises. /posts/tracks-and-skytree/ Tue, 27 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/tracks-and-skytree/ The Skytree watches over vast tracts of Tokyo, much of which still has an older, smaller, more patinated atmosphere. Areas around train tracks especially have that feel. Looking across the Tobu-Kameido Line here in Oshiage is one such place. Though only taken a year or so back the red building opposite is now gone, soon to replaced with who knows what. That is another constant in Tokyo: Change. /posts/living-city/ Sun, 11 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/living-city/ This photograph, looking over Minato city, shows in microcosm, the complexity of Tokyo. It does not take long, witnessing scenes like this, to feel that the city is a living entity. Remember you can right click on the image to access it full size - something I especially recommend for photographs like this one. /posts/hachiko/ Sat, 27 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/hachiko/ The statue of the loyal dog, Hachiko, is probably the busiest meeting place in Tokyo. Outside Shibuya Station and next to the Scramble Crossing it is almost always heaving with locals waiting for friends and tourists posing for photos and touching his paw to ensure their wish to return to Tokyo is fulfilled. This photograph was taken on a rare occasion when the area was fenced off for a ceremony. /posts/government/ Tue, 16 Jul 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/government/ There are few words less interesting to me than the title of this post. However, having been based in West Shinjuku on my first stay in Tokyo I soon warmed to the magnificent Metropolitan Government Building there. It looks majestic during the day and stunning at night. Combined with the twin viewing platforms at the top of each tower, a very nice cafe, excellent restaurant and a useful tourist information centre, it is one place I enjoy returning to. /posts/wall-tiles/ Thu, 23 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/wall-tiles/ One of the more fascinating details of traditional Japanese buildings are their roof tiles. Often they are too high to get up close and really see the detail, but here, topping a section of wide wall around the Zojoji temple grounds near the Tokyo Tower, they are low enough to touch. /posts/rainbow-candyfloss/ Fri, 10 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 /posts/rainbow-candyfloss/ There are countless businesses producing a myriad products I just cannot see being viable anywhere othere than Tokyo. Long may they all thrive. This Totti Candy Factory Rainbow Candyfloss is one such product many enjoy on Takeshita Dori in Harajuku.