Tokyo 2017: Tokyo Skytree (東京スカイツリー)

After I finished up in Asakusa I walked over to the Tokyo Skytree, which is the tallest building in Japan and has an observation deck near the top. It was a clear, sunny day in Asakusa so it seemed like a good time to take in the sight of the city from high above it, and as a nice bonus the ticket line at the Skytree wasn’t long. I only spent about two or three minutes in line and then I rode an elevator up to the lower observation deck. Coming out of the elevator I could see the endless city spread out before me. Being way out in the eastern part of Tokyo, the view from the Skytree isn’t that great if you want to view the attractions in the central part of the city, but what I like about the Skytree is that it really shows you just how big the Tokyo metropolitan area is. In just about every direction I only saw an endless sea of buildings. The only places where the city ended were to the south where the city hit Tokyo Bay and in the west where some low clouds were obscuring the sight of anything beyond the Shibuya/Shinjuku region. On the clearest days you can see all the way to Mt Fuji but sadly I’d have to wait for another day to see it. If you want, you can pay to move from the lower observation deck to the upper observation deck but I was content with the view I had and after about twenty or thirty minutes I came down from the Skytree to resume my sightseeing on the ground.