A Monochrome View of Tokyo inside the Tokyo Sky Tree, Japan

After my short and yet productive time spent working in East Timor, I headed back to Tokyo for a week long stopover and to settle few things at the same time prior flying out again for another trip.

My limited time prevented me from venturing outside the boundary of the city, so apart from circling the usual areas that I normally spend my free time roaming around, I remember that there is one obvious place in the city that I never had a chance to peek inside and that will be none other than the Tokyo Sky Tree.

For some reason, I find much satisfaction simply standing at elevated heights and seeing the vastness of the surrounding right in front of my eyes, whether it is mountain hiking or simply riding an elevator up to a building viewing deck.

Maybe I can claim that my travels across Japan had allowed me to appreciate this country in a more detailed perspective, but I must simply had one final parting look, a bird’s eye view of the city that I learned to love.

I attempted to enter the Sky Tree several times mostly during non-working holidays and weekends, but my effort always resulted to failure, same day ticket is always sold out even on specific instances where I was at Tokyo Sky Tree station earlier than my usual Saturday morning waking hours.

Finally, having had the chance to visit during weekdays, I was able to easily purchase a ticket that will bring me to the first observation deck at 350m elevated height.

Tokyo is such a colorful city, but sometimes to appreciate this mega kingdom I must simply switch my camera setting to black and white.

A monochrome view not only elegantly strips down the associated complexity of this metropolis but it offers such an inspiring classical vibe just like the Ojiisan in suit and fedora hat, and simply a timeless appeal as if Tokyo has been and always been like this since the beginning of time.

Though the panoramic view is stunning to see, I know for sure that if I can only zoom in to each and every street corner, there must be something old or new places waiting to be discovered. So I force my newly acquired Fujifilm X-20 to its limit and see up to what I can reach down below.

A grid view of residential houses and an overlapping layers of buildings after buildings, leaving no hint or place for any new infrastructure to be born.

There is something equally heartwarming and satisfying seeing the Japanese visitors particularly family of generations who literally took their time digesting each and every frame behind the glass walls. Maybe sharing their thoughts about what the city used to look like back then and maybe thinking of what development possibly lies ahead.

This made me remember one of the conversations I had with an older Japanese female friend from work about convenience store and how nowadays, within 300 m radius or less it is highly likely you will spot more than one “konbini”.
She told me that when she was a kid, the first 7-11 store was open at their neighborhood. Everyone was so excited to line up to buy something not even important they just want to simply peek inside.

Maybe the feeling this days are basically the same, except we line up not to see the inside of convenience store but inside the world tallest tower, to marvel about the progression of life, of time or simply a tourist waiting to be awed.

Congratulations to Tokyo for winning the 2020 Summer Olympic bid!
Here is postcard for everyone..Until next time, Tokyo….