(Day 7) On Top Of The World

“Yosh! Let’s do our best today, okay? Yes!” I feel like I’m turning Japanese using positive, self-affirming phrases such as the aforementioned. This is good…maybe I’ll emerge from this trip taking all the best qualities of the Japanese with me. It can’t hurt to try.

Since the day appeared sunny and rain-free, I took Mother to a place I’d never been and having been wanting to go to all week, Tokyo Tower. Tokyo Tower is Tokyo’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, but in bright orange. It is actually taller than the Eiffel Tower, but, quite obviously, less notorious. Tokyo Tower is currently the worlds tallest self-supporting structure.

Getting off at Kamiyacho station, we stopped at the local ‘7-and-i Holdings’ (or 7-Eleven as it is known in North America) for lunch.



We sat on a bench(!!) and ate our lunch in the hot sun. I put (!!) as benches are extremely difficult to find in Japan and when Mother and I found one, we’d sit on it simply because the occasion rarely presented itself. After a brief hike in the heat, the tower loomed above us.





Buying tickets was similar to the Eiffel Tower – you purchase a ticket to the main observatory and then purchase another ticket to the special observatory. I think this method is called a money grab.

I was itching to see Mount Fuji, which had been evading me at every chance all week, so this was hopefully my day. Up we went all the way to the top.



The view from the top was spectacular to say the least – city, in every direction.




I recognize the tall building on the right! It’s Roppongi Hills…we are going there later today.








Odaiba! You remember, we went there on Day 3.

So I definitely should be singing the ‘Smoggies’ theme song for this particular batch of pictures. That pollution cloud is unrelenting. Due to said pollution cloud, Mount Fuji escaped my view once again. Boo hiss boo.

Since we were feeling the crisp, smog-filled breeze, we decided to walk down and give our legs a bit of a workout, albeit an easier one than going up.




I thought this temple-like building looked cool…like a hat.



The Tokyo Tower has these really kawaii conehead mascots…why? Here they are; say hello to the Noppon Brothers:



A few tidbits about our conehead friends are that they are 10 years old and twins. Their birthday is December 23 and they are 2m and 23 cm tall. Their hobbies are meeting people and sunbathing. The older brother (wearing blue overalls) is shy, cool and silent. The younger brother (wearing red overalls) is cheerful and lively, but often feels lonely and misses people. Their special ability is posing for photos, parrying questions and shaking hands. (Impressed yet?) They wish to be liked by children and receive lots of chocolate bars from kids on Valentine’s Day. Their goal is to become top stars (what does that mean?) Their mottos are: Older brother – “Look at thing with a hot heart with the cool touch”; Younger brother – “Start with small things and keep going on steady”. Yeah. I didn’t make a word of that up.

We made our way next to the building I pointed out earlier in the nearby district of Roppongi. I had only been to Roppongi once, previously for a night out clubbing on my last trip to Japan (which can be read about here.) Back onto the train we went.






Mori Tower, at the heart of Roppongi.



Completely un-thrilled at anything Roppongi had to offer, we were gone in relatively short order. The stores were too warm to spend any amount of time in and they were quite sparse in proximity to one another. It’s more of a nightlife area anyways. Off to Harajuku for another crepe, we decided.

It being a Saturday, Takeshita Dori was jammed with wall-to-wall people. Thank goodness it wasn’t raining.




Mmm, pumpkin pie pudding crepe (:-p)..

Since we skipped all of Omotesando on our last Harajuku outing and the day was turning quite lovely, we strolled down the busy, treed lane at a relaxing pace. Mother was interested in buying some souvenirs, so we went to the Oriental Bazaar before I wanted to shop at Omotesando Hills.






What a lovely mall, ne? I was feeling daring, so I took this picture right in front of the “NO PICTURES” sign. I should be lucky I wasn’t arrested.

We made it to the end of Omotesando Dori where it intersects with Aoyama Dori, so we decided on dinner and chose the teenage cheap food haunt, Sweets Paradise. 75 minutes of all you can eat! (Down from 90 minutes last time I visited. Boo.)






The food was mediocre…


…but the desserts were plentiful! It IS called ‘Sweets Paradise’ after all. They sat us at a tiny little table meant for tiny Japanese bodies and we picked at their offerings. At least it was cheap…and pink!



Leaving the restaurant and heading back to Ikebukuro, the sky was a lovely blue.



Ah, goodbye Tokyo night! See you in a week. Tomorrow we leave on the bullet train bound for Kyoto for a week of Kansai exploration into the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kobe.