Life at Dormy Baraki: Tokyo Sky Tree

Well, I guess this will be my last official post in the land of the rising sun. No words can really describe what I have experienced here, so I will just leave it at that. There is one more thing I managed to fit in before the dreaded packing/moving out days. Tokyo Sky Tree. I went with Haruna, the best e-pal ever, and while we didn't get the opportunity to go to the top-most level, I am glad I went and had this last hurrah on the one of the tallest towers in the world.

We were meant to meet up with Lindsey and her friend from Nagoya there, but got there early and had lunch. The Sky Tree boasts an entire mall at its base including a floor just for restaurants. As I have not had the pleasure of trying it yet, we went to have okonomiyaki. I have heard it described as a Japanese pizza, but it's not really an accurate description. Yes, it's made with dough and has a sauce spread on top, sometimes with cheese added, but that's where the similarities stop. It reminded me more of a giant pancake with a bunch of delicious stuff mixed in. They mix it and grill it right in front of you. Some places let you make your own. The one we went to did not have the latter option. But that's fine, I am sure I would have really messed it up anyway.

Here is my tiny plate and spatula. The metal part of the table in the background is pretty much a grill and when they finish making your okonomiyaki, they place it on the hot surface and it stays warm as you eat it. Good thing, it was so big, it took us forever to finish.

Nice and hot and fresh.

We got the shrimp, of course.

Yummy.

Afterwards, we wandered around the mall for a bit until Lindsey called. Her friend had not quite made it so we wandered around some more. We headed outside to find the Sky Tree looming above us.

Of course, Lindsey was the first to notice the Studio Ghibli store, so we went up to the second floor to check it out.

Giant Totoro.

It was starting to get dark (it gets dark so early in Japan) so Haruna suggested we start heading to the Sky Tree. Lindsey still had to wait for her friend, so she stayed in the Studi Ghibli store (not that it was a hard thing for her to do...) and we headed out.

The bast of the Sky Tree.

An hour-long wait to get tickets. And this was a weekday. Imagine if we'd gone on a weekend. o_O

The lobby area had a long row of different artist renditions of the Sky Tree. Some were odd, some were interesting. This is, of course, the basic model.

Knotted rope. My personal favorite.

Made me think of a teardrop.

Ummmm, I don't know...

Either futuristic, or retro.

Double helix...or Fruit-by-the-Foot

Ikea lamp.

*shrug*

Palm tree trunk.

No idea.

Also kinda looks like something you'd find in Ikea.

Somebody got lazy...

And finally, we made it to the ticket counter and into the elevator.

Very cool decorations in the elevator.

Now in the lower observatory. This is slightly higher than the tallest point in Tokyo Tower.

I kinda like how the long exposure made little circles. Looks like some artist took a stamp and made their own version of Tokyo Tower.

Of course, my best shot turns out crooked. -_-

Anybody remember this? We passed by it on the bus boat during the Tokyo Tour. It seemed like ages ago.

Christmas decorations. The character with the star-shaped hair is named "Sorakara" and she is kind of the Sky Tree mascot. A literal translation of the name would mean "from the sky" but even Haruna couldn't say for sure if that's what it really meant.

Standing on a glass window, looking down to the bottom.

I started feeling really tired and sore, so I decided to skip out on the top level (I'd like to come back again with Skylar during the day to see it) and head home.