Japan Revisited - Odaiba

The island of Odaiba is a rectangular thumb of land set within Tokyo Bay.  Many visitors to Japan, and Tokyo in particular might notice it in one or two books, but never on any itinerary, and that's a shame.   Odaiba is one of the most open areas of the city, with vast, empty green spaces of lawns set between buildings and arcitecture of very unusual quality.   Created out of the economic book of the eighties and nineties, Odaiba attracted unusual from the start, and to this day it remains an eclectic place for the eccentric to visit.

Odaiba is a paradise for otaku, those fans of Japanese anime, video games and pop culture.  Next to Akihabara, its probably the best location to visit for otaku in Tokyo.  There are huge indoor malls, like something out of Las Vegas with their decor, a massive video arcade theme park called Joyopolis and much much more.  For the fan of buildings Odaiba is ultra modern, almost futuristic in the design of the buildings that lie scattered around it.   Several are well known like the FujiTV building, with its latticework and huge sphere, or the BigSight with its inverse pyramids.  

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Getting to Odaiba is a little journey in itself.  Its connected over Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge and you have to ride a self-guiding, automated monorail to reach it.   Getting on this train, one is surrounded by otaku, young people, and locals.   Indeed, the most foreigners we ever saw in Japan were on this one train to this one place.    The monorail weaves around the bay, and then goes under the tressles of the Rainbow Bridge with spectacular views of the city and Odaiba Island.  It makes several stops all over the island, but we got off at the second stop.  There were several specific things I wanted to see.

I grew up with a love of Japan and Japanese culture, but I never considered myself an Otaku.  Anime, manga, I wasn't aware of them or wasn't a fan.  I enjoyed some of the cartoons that came over to the USA in the 1990's and thereafter.  One of the images cemented in my head from that time of first discovering anime was the Fuji TV building.  Its a very unique structure, nothing else quite like it in the world.   From the outside its a latticework of steel and glass, with a large, slightly off-center sphere in the middle.  

I don't know why, but this building brings a deep sense of nostalgia.  I remember seeing it in a few Anime when I was a kid, thinking to myself, such a place cant exist.  Well, here it was before me, on Odaiba.   A few other people were around, snapping pictures, probably feeling the same nostalgia.  All were foreigners, just like me.  Some of us probably had memories of large, digital monsters, who used the sphere of this building as a volley ball in the Digimon Anime that came out in the 90's.    

There is an elegance to the Fuji building though.  In a way, its become the symbol of the island for many otaku, more than any other building.   One can see them dotted around, like a massive structure on the far end of the island that looks like some kind of empty tv, the upside down pyramids of Big Sight and other weird looking buildings.   Back in the 90's when Japan's economic bubble was at its peak, a lot of speculation surrounded Odaiba.  It was meant to be far more developed than it is today, and these buildings were built at the height of that speculation.   You wouldn't find many willing to do that kind of speculation today, so its another remnant of the past, albeit, a modern past.

This lack of development lends itself to another unique part about Odaiba.  I mentioned its open, with lots of greenways, empty spaces, and not so many people.  That could be quite a draw in itself.  When you walk through Tokyo and its buildings packed on top of buildings, packed on top of people, it gets old quick.  Going underground to get anywhere also gets old, so having a train above ground, to an open place with not so many people is refreshing.

Odaiba also has spectacular views of the city.  One needs only go a hundred yards from the Fuji Building to see Skytree, Rainbow Bridge, and parts of Shinjuku or Shibuya.  A small scale replica of the Statue of Liberty stands here, for what reason I don't know.  It's a great place to stand and get a panorama shot of the bay and the city.

Odaiba isn't lacking in food either.  One needs only duck into the dozen or so malls that dot the island and find a plethora of options.   The malls are ventures into themselves, sometimes loud, obnoxious on the inside.   The VenusFort in one part has an interior like Venice, with painted ceilings, fountains and other weird decorations.  We were hungry, and found a nice little yakkitori joint inside a mall right next to FujiTV.   Having a bowl of soup, with rice and roasted chicken on a cold afternoon was a pleasant diversion.  Didn't hurt we had great views of FujiTV out the window.

I wanted to meander the mall, see what I could find, but the day was already getting late and my parents were tired.  I decided I would visit the one other feature I -had- to see on odaiba.

Japan is known for many things to the casual westerner:  Godzilla, Speed Racer, car brands, etc.  It's also known for giant fighting robots.   Well, one needs only travel to Odaiba to see one of these in person, standing outside the DiverCity Mall.

This is the Gundam, a 1.1 scale model of a mobile suit robot from a popular anime from the 90's in Japan and the USA.   It stands, stoic, as if it just landed, and its pilot had climbed out to hop inside the nearby building to get some ramen.  The robot is just a statue, albeit one with a moving head, but for me, it was another trip down the nostalgia of my childhood.  

This statue is huge, and incredibly detailed.  One doesn't really get a sense of the size of it until your standing about a meter away, looking up.   It towers over everything, and looks like it might spring to life at any moment and bust a laser sword through a building.  

The Japanese do many things small when it comes to scale figures, but when they do big stuff, they do it for real.  You look at this panel and there's warnings and hatches and special panels with writing all over the place.  It LOOKS real, like any aircraft or piece of military machinery.   That sense of realism ads to the nostaliga and to the cool factor I think.  I wanted to climb up and take it for a spin.

There is much more to see on Odaiba, but we were tired by that point and didn't have a chance.  You have a sense of the scope of scale here because of the open spaces.  Indeed, its a breath of fresh air, a different sense of culture shock to have that openness from the crowded areas around Tokyo Station or elsewhere.  I have to give my parents credit for hanging tough as tired as they were.  I think they enjoyed the island for a reason other than nostalgia though.  For them that breath of openness breathed new life after a busy day.  After all, we'd  ascended the heights of Tokyo Skytree, walked to Asakusa with its crowds, and then we traveled to an island in the bay just so I could live a nostalgia trip.  On the whole, a busy but a good day.  That night was their anniversary, and I was about to share a very special dinner with my parents.  

Next time:   Anniversary in Tokyo -

Japan Revisited - Sensoji Temple and Nishiki Market

Tokyo is a city of constant change and consistent transformation.  New buildings rise and old buildings fall, people come and go, and with the hubub of everyday life it is easy to forget that Tokyo has been the capital of Japan for hundreds of years.   With all the modern skyscrapers, it is also easy to forget that there still exist places that have not changed that much at all even for all that has happened around them.

Sensoji Temple in Asakusa is one such place.  The temple and its grounds look much the same as they did when Tokugawa's ruled Tokyo, at least the layout does.   The temple is the oldest in Tokyo, and the Nishiki Market that sits in front of it also looks just like it did when Ukiyo-e prints were made of it back in the Edo Times.   It is always a busy place, with hundreds of people coming to pay homage to a golden statue of Kannon (god/goddess of mercy) which was fished out of the river according to legend.

For my parents and I, our last trip to Sensoji was a good one, and we thought we could venture there from Skytree with ease, after all it looked so close.  Boy were we wrong.

Walking to the temple from skytree took the better part of a half hour, weaving through tangled streets and hoping we were going the right way.   I had some general idea where it was, but to be honest I kept hoping for signs.  Of course, in Japan, most of these are in Japanese, so maybe we got lucky.   

We followed our way along the river, past highrises and houses, people going about their everyday lives.   It is strange to me thinking back on it how ordinary things are when you travel.  Things go on around you, and while you are seeing and doing new things, people who live there go on with things as they usually do.  For them, this is ordinary, for the traveler, it is much more extraordinary.  

We arrived to find quite the crowd gathered for some kind of ceremony that was going on, though we couldn't see it at the moment.  I could hear speaking and music though as we entered the temple proper.   

The Japanese are very picky about pictures inside temples.   I can understand this as temples are a place of veneration, but sometimes you find that Japanese people themselves ignore these rules and nothing happens while foreign visitors will get glared at.

I wanted to get shots of certain things, but you cannot.  There are times when there is signage, and times there is not.  Simply taking a picture of the crowd from the temple doors kept getting a finger wagged at me, yet I was able to take a picture of the roof just fine.

No matter the temple, there is always something new to see and something wondrous to behold.  Even the simplest of temples have some little side room or area that's sometimes missed by the casual visitors.  I don't know how many people come here usually, but it was crowded, and almost everyone had their eyes on what was going on outside.   I chanced a glance up to see the beautiful ceiling paintings.  I am not sure who this is, I don't think I can guess.  There is something about the expression though, very calm and soothing.  The way she floats there, it is otherworldly.

Beyond the temple there are a number of buildings, including the Pagoda.  Everything here serves its particular function of the temple.  Beyond the temple grounds is the Nishiki Market.  Many of the shops and stalls that line the street carry items and curios for the passerby.  This is something we in the States rarely have.  The thought of commerce outside a temple might conjure the thought of Jesus chasing out money changers in the bible, but in Japan it is common place.   

Shop owners are wise and wealthy when they are able to hawk their wares, especially when its tied to temples.  Everything from charms to masks to little toy robots, you can find it in these places.  The nishiki market also has a bunch of food vendors, though we didn't try any of them.   I did purchase a beautiful ukiyo-e print, one I'd been searching for quite some time.  It depicted a group of kitsune gathered around a famous tree at night.   

It is strange from the visitor's point of view to approach a temple and pay homage to some unfamiliar deity.  I try to do it out of respect, but also perhaps in hopes that some bit of good kharma will come my way.   If nothing else, one can admire the architecture and sometimes find things easily missed.

The two huge gates leading up to the temple have equally huge lanterns hanging from them.  The lanterns themselves are often photographed by tourists, but I don't think many people know to look on the underside.  If you do, you are greeted by this magnificent dragon above.  That is the beauty of travel, especially to Japan.  There is something for everyone, something new, something strange and often it can change our whole journey.  I had the pleasure to listen to the procession at the temple, to see people praying to their gods.   Though our walk there was long, I am glad we had the opportunity to travel to sensoji again.  That was not the end of our day however.  We had one more destination, one borne from a childhood nostalgia.  

Next time:  Odaiba!

Japan Revisited - Tokyo Skytree

Go anywhere in Tokyo and you will see it, a gleaming silver spire standing taller than any other structure in the metropolitan area.   It is the Tokyo Skytree and it stands 630 meters tall, that is approximately 2080.05 feet or 192 stories tall.   Even at night the distinctive ever-changing glow of the Skytree can be seen over rooftops and down city streets.  When I first traveled to Japan, the sheer enormity of the structure was a bit daunting, and we didn't go near it, but upon learning more about the tower I knew we had to go on our second trip.     

Before I continue further, I want to plug the Skytree for any visitor to Tokyo.   You can learn more and even book tickets on their website here:   http://www.tokyo-skytree.jp/en/index.html .

A real space needle

One of the lucky things about our trip to Tokyo and our choice of hotel was a view of skytree out of my window.  I could sit at night and look out over the city to see it lit up at night.  The slowly shifting glow was like a beacon to me, and a perfect excuse to get out and see this amazing building on our second day.   Getting to Skytree was an adventure in itself.  Its a new building in an old part of the city, and as such some of the subway system has been changed and renamed to reach it.  There are at least three stations that are within the boundaries of the tower.  We chose the route directly to Skytree city which was two stops on the subway, but when we emerged I wondered at first if we were in the wrong place.   Stepping out, you go upstairs and into what looks like any modern mall, with shops and stores.   

"Where are we?"  I wondered aloud.  "Did we take the wrong train?"   Thankfully there was a helpful little sign as there usually are in Japan which said "Skytree" and had an arrow.   So up we went, and up and and up through the mall, and I kept thinking I was reading the signs wrong or that we were in the wrong place.  Finally we emerged out and I realized my own mistake.   Like anything in Japan, Skytree is built with other buildings around it, or rather which grew up after the building was built.  The whole mall area is part of "Skytree City" which like Tokyo Station City, includes basements, bars, and complexes in a self-contained area around a main hub.   

Size Comparisons of other structures

If you want to have a sense of how small you are, you need only stand at the base of Skytree.  From our vantage point I could see the intricate silver laticework that makes its way up the structure.  The whole building is built on a triangular base, with more triangles making up the superstructure.  Gazing up, it looks like it goes a good mile up for what the human eye perceives.  The amazing thing is that for something so tall, it has a remarkable earthquake rating.  The structure withstood the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2010.  This is thanks in part to the triangular structure but also because of a huge concrete and reinforced steel central core that runs up most of the inner section.  In the event of an earthquake, the two structures - inside core and outside building- shake at different frequencies.  This effectively cancels the vibrations out to an extent, a remarkable feat of engineering inspired by ancient Japanese pagodas.


Skytree is one of the taller towers of the world, though not the tallest.  It's first function is as a transmission tower.  The helpful Japanese give comparisons to other tall towers of the world just inside.  There is a long queue area of course, and Skytree gets VERY busy later in the day.  Thankfully our old theory of come early paid off and we weren't overwhelmed by crowds.

Magnificent View despite the weather

The first elevator we took was a marvel in itself.  The doors closed and without a whisper of movement, sound, or even a slight vibration the lift climbed the span of 600 meters a second.  Each lift has a capacity for 40 people, but let's simply say that it was just us, and we were up at the first level in seconds.  The doors slid open, like something out of star trek and there it was ... Tokyo stretching for what seemed forever in all directions.

Looking down at anything from this height, you get a real sense of how tall the building is.  The whole city looked like the train set in our hotel, with people, cars, and trains going about their business as we looked on.   It was a hazy day, so not the best time for viewing, but we caught a scant few glimpses of Mt. Fuji (which we would see more of later.)     The whole building has an unobstructed view 360 degrees.  This elevates it (pun intended) a deal above the Mori building at Roppongi that we visited last time.   It is also taller of course.

Interactive explanation of Skytree view

The Skytree doesn't just include views out, it includes interactive panels which you can preview what your looking at.  These panels can show both day and night views.  I can estimate that the views of the city lights from the tower at night are spectacular, but we didn't go at night unfortunately.   Above you can see one of the interactive panels, along with the direct view I looked out at below.  A video of the panel at work is at the bottom of the post.  

Cool Buildings

As a fan of Tokyo, and Japan,  I have to marvel at this building.  I watched a video on how it was contructed and it really is a marvel.  You get a sense of how big the Tokyo Metropolitan area really is.  All you see are countless apartment complexes, sports fields, office towers and the different waterways.  Tokyo has no one "downtown" so you can see main areas like Shinjuku, Shibuya etc as the densely packed spaces of tall towers.  Wherever there are temples or graveyards however, there are trees.  You can spot them from a mile away.  

Towards Shinjuku

My parents and I spent a good two hours at the skytree, which I think is reasonable for any visitor.  Looking out, we chanced a glance at Sensoji temple where we had visited last time.  From our vantage point it looked quite close (as anything does from that height.)  We figured we could follow the main street from Skytree over one of the rivers and be there in 10 minutes.   All of us figured to go that way, and I wanted to visit again as well and maybe get another cool fan from the fan shop near there.  It was to be a fateful decision, though I will cover that in the next post.  

It is like looking down at a toy train set

We did go up to the higher level, and of course there are plenty of other touristy things to do like look down through glass at the ground or get your picture taken.  I avoided both of these.  In fact, the glass bottom area was something of an anathema to me since I am so afraid of heights.  Just standing on the edge, looking down made me terrified.  

Baseball and apartments

It is interesting to think about all the people here.  I am used to the largest cities I know being Los Angeles and San Francisco, but those both pale in comparison to Tokyo.  The shear span of buildings is astonishing.  I believe something according to 50 million people live in the greater Tokyo Metro area.  Just take one of these littler apartments in the picture above and try to calculate the number of units it must have!

Looking towards Sensoji

Even the scale of the skytree itself is on display.  The support girders on the upper level are a part of the superstructure of the viewing platform.  Each of these was as big as I was, and twice as tall.  

Long way down

We eventually descended back down to the entry area, through the mall.  One of the things I wanted to see and was on the lookout for was the Skytree Moving Mural.  I had seen pictures and videos on the net of the thing.  I thought it would be in the main queue area, but it is actually in the "group and tour" entrance.   It's a bit off the beaten track but if you can find it, its marvelous to see.  

These girders are as big as I am

Looking Down

The Skytree moving mural is a whimsical "look" out the skytree view as painted the way only the Japanese can.  You look at the thing and you see the painted sections and you smile because it has things like Godzilla attacking or floating sushi or whatever.  Then you look again and some of the panels are moving, that is to say, they are actually video panels.   These panels include parades, people crossing at Shibuya, etc.  

Close up of the mural

The humor and whimsy of the different videos is quite amusing.  I didn't have time or the ability to capture all of them, but its definitely something to see.  

Colorful sumo character as part of the mural

So I close Skytree with our departure for Sensoji temple.  On the whole, I highly recommend if you go to Tokyo once, you go to Skytree.  I would go again for the night view, or a view on a very clear day.  That would be marvelous.  Just visiting Skytree city, I am certain there are other things to do as well in that mall.  Overall, its a tourist draw, and well deserving.  The Japanese are very proud of their new status symbol and they have every reason to be.   Skytree soars into the heavens, towers over Tokyo and it certainly was a highlight of my revisiting of Japan.   Below I include some videos of different things I saw in Skytree.  

Interactive exhibit on the view from Skytree both day and night.

Second tier elevator - moves 600 meters per minute.  It takes 50 seconds to go from the first viewing level to the second

Moving "Mural" of Sumida River

More of the mural

Giant Sushi and other eccentricities

Next time:   Sensoji Temple

Summer for the Ages

It has been a long, hot summer.   So much has happened in the world, both good and bad.   It seems like everything is coming to a head for something though I don't know what.  I don't forsee things calming down anytime soon, but I've had a long break from blogging and writing in general.

Looking back over this summer, I've got no regrets.  Work dominated my time, and we worked hard this summer, but my school looks better than it has in a while.  It's always so good to have teachers and kids come back and appreciate the work I do.  It's something that makes all that effort worthwhile.  In a way, the end of summer is the start of the year for me, more so than January 1 would be.  I don't know why it is, but I always think of my calendar year according to where I am in the school year.

Ahead is uncertainty.  It's an election year, and there's a lot of turbulence about that.  I am pondering some political musings, though I may make a separate blog for that.    There's also great movies coming out, things to pique my interest and the interest of my readers so I intend to go out and review as I have done once or twice.  Finally is my writing.  The Japan Travelblog will continue and I may even do some travel video logs on my thoughts about Japan.  I'm not much of a speaker, but I may try and see what I come up with.   I also intend to update on my work with my second book, with artwork, ideas and insight.

It's going to be very interesting.  I know this blog is something of a mixed bag but then again so are my thoughts and ideas.  I hope everyone will enjoy what is to come.  Happy summer!

Senseless Violence

Yesterday UCLA experienced something that so many other schools and individuals have faced ... a school shooting.  In the wake of this tragedy, everyone will try to twist the events to their own political or personal viewpoint.  People will argue who is right or wrong on gun control, or man versus woman or white versus black or religious extremities.   I don't want to do any of that.  I want to think of the lives lost, the senselessness of the killing and the bickering that follows.  In the end this isn't the fault of a gun, or religion or any viewpoint.  It is the result of an individual who needed help, who didn't get it.  It is the result of people falling through the cracks caused by the rifts in our society.  

We can blame no one for ourselves in the aftermath of how we act or react.  Me, I'm tired of this senseless violence.  I'm tired of the pro versus anti gun debate.  I'm tired of everyone twisting and turning, squeezing events like this for personal gain.   I'm tired of the violence that goes unnoticed, unreported, because it happens everyday and is "normal" in some neighborhoods.  It doesn't get sensationalized like this will.

I suppose in talking about this, I'm part of that problem.  I don't want to debate, I don't want to argue. I like to hope that my focus is on the tragedy itself, on trying to find a unifying solution.  I don't know what that solution is, but it's not in what's followed every shooting before it.

Japan Revisited - A Path into Shadows

The city of Tokyo is sometimes described as the city that never sleeps.  Its an apt description because when night falls the city lights come on and everything seems alive with buzzing electricity.  There is a human energy to this city long after the rest of the world might go to bed.  Businessmen crowd tiny izakaya (bars), karaoke places light up the night with glitzy music, shops close, but their windows gleam with the promise of the next day's wares.  Even Karaoke bars try to entice passers by for another moment, just one more song.  Indeed, the city doesn't seem to slow down until the very early morning.  Before the sun comes up, everything is quiet, still.  No one is around, and you can feel that for once you are truly alone in the metropolis.

Karaoke Bar

Buildings in Tokyo become canyons made by the hands of man, stand within them and you dont know east from west or north from south.  You are simply there, in that place in that moment in time, a stone in a river of people moving through lives that don't involve your own.  Its a strange experience, going out at night, and something anyone going to Japan needs to do at least once.  In fact, I would challenge my readers:  don't hole up in your hotel at night!  Go out, tempt that next door building, go inside, 9 chances out of 10 you'll find its loaded with delicious restaurants just begging you to try the food.  Better yet, sidle up to a tiny bar or yakkitori (skewered meat/food) joint.  Walk by one of these places and smell the delicious aroma and try not to salivate.  

4 Images - Tokyo Station at Night

Better yet, take in the night color of Tokyo's skyline.  Stop a moment or climb up to a good vantage point.  For me, it was a nearby department store that I walked by and saw that there was an outside veranda.  I went up and found that this building not only was a department store with delicious food, it overlooked Tokyo station.  Standing there, I could see the warmth of the lights on the structure reflecting off the black roof and the red brick.  The station itself glowed from the outside and from the windows, almost like a castle from some enchanted place.  To the east were more towers, with their pale white hallogen bulbs in offices offsetting the warmth of the stores and station below.  To the west was a vast black void of inky trees, the Imperial Palace, and beyond that rose the skyscrapers of Shinjuku like lighthouse beacons across the sea.  

Never stand still in Tokyo, lest you get run over by the pedestrians going somewhere productive.  Always move, and move to see something.  I came armed with a point and translate map of Tokyo station and a rough idea of the surrounding area of Ginza.  I had other maps of course, but I decided to be daring.  "I'll walk south, along the length of the tracks, then west four blacks, then back north and then east.  I'll see what I can find, and if I feel lost, all I have to do is follow the train track in the distance to find Tokyo station."   It was a risk, but I took it and what sights I saw!

Ginza is a glitzy area of high priced shops and incredible wealth.  The land here is perhaps some of the most expensive in the world, and many corporations have set up shop.  You don't have to be a high roller to have a good time however.  Just walk along the streets and you will find such interesting discoveries as the fellow above.  This is on the side of the Sony building, displaying the paper lantern style float used in another part of Japan.  Normally such a float would be lit from within, giving it a very ethereal quality, but this was an impressive design on its own to see on the side of a building.  

Walking down the street, I sometimes paused to glimpse down other ways.  Billboards line the sides of buildings, piled one on top of another in weird, jumbled meses.  To the Japanese eye it must be easy to read, but for me the sight of these glowing signs was weird and cool all at once.  I wondered what lay down that way, could I chance passing by, seeing what was there.  I didn't and stuck to my path.  

There was more to see above the streetview, huge flashing signs and screens all competing for attention.  The sound of cars meshed with people, trains, and sirens.  It's a cavalcade to the foreign ear, but even then there are points of quiet.  

Walking by one shop, I stopped and stared at the ceiling.  It looked as if a crowd of floating paper lanters hung over tables and chairs surrounding stacks of books.  This library, or store, whichever it was, glowed fromt he inside as much as it did out.  The lanterns alone struck me for their beauty and unearthly quality of light.  

There is history to be found in Tokyo, sometimes int he strangest places.  The Kabukiza Theater sits just beneath a huge, new skyscraper built on top of it just last year.  The structure itself is old Japanese, lit by white light against the white painted walls.  The building looks like it's appeared from a different place and time, and sat itself in defiance of the taller structures around it.  Inside, Kabuki plays were going on, with posters of stories and actors I wouldn't know or recognize.  Just a chance, and I could go in, but not this night.  

Wako Department Store - Ginza's official symbol

Just down the street from Kabukiza is the Wako Department store with its icon tower.  Another building out of time, it sits nestled against the neon and glitz that's grown around it since the Second World War.  This beautiful building is like a time capsule of cool, a jeweled box with wonderful things inside just waiting to be bought.  As I followed the path, i caught an impromptu performance of sax on a street corner.  Such things are common in Tokyo I think and only come to those who explore.

To those who wonder about my safety, I will say this.  Tokyo for all its size is one of the safest cities in Japan, maybe in the world.  There are policemen/women all over the place and even in the dead of night I felt perfectly comfortable walking around.  People park their bikes without locks all over, and wherever you go you can be sure that there is someone who is willing to help you find your way even if you get lost in translation.  Of course, walking with more people ensures more safety, but I would rather walk alone at night through Tokyo than dare go out into Paris after visiting both cities.  

Tokyo at night is a place and time removed from our sense of reality.  If Tokyo is the city that never sleeps, then it is a waking dream.  As dawn approaches, the city lights go out one by one and the stars in the sky fade.  All is quiet, solemn and still and even the buzzing of electricity fades.  As the sun peeks through the canyons made by men, the light of day reflects off glass and steel.  No one is around, and for a moment it seems like Tokyo does indeed sleep.  Then, bit by bit, the city wakes, stretches its arms and then the day starts again.  Throngs of people pour through the gates of subways, and night becomes forgotten.  Its a surreal experience to witness this transformation, but one I think anyone could enjoy.  

Next time:  Tokyo Skytree