Japan Trip 2012, Day 13 - Tokyo Skytree

And finally, my last day in Japan came. My flight left at around half past midnight on... technically the next day, but pretty much I only had until 19:00 before I had to start heading to Haneda Airport, where my flight left from. I honestly could have gotten a flight in the afternoon the next day out of Narita, but that would have cost me around $250 more, plus a night's stay at a hotel... for a few extra hours in Japan where I could probably not get much done. Not worth it, in my opinion.

Pictures: http://caelk.shutterfly.com/pictures/817

Since my trip had been nearly devoid of shopping runs, I decided to fit in a quick Book-Off trip before I figured out what to do with my luggage - there was no way the hotel would hold it for me until the evening, and I wasn't about to ask. I ended up spending a good chunk of the morning figuring out where to store my stuff. What I knew - I'd leave from Akihabara Station, and I'd have to stop at Hamamatsu-cho Station to board the Tokyo Monorail to Haneda. I decided to split my wandering into two phases - I'd go out with my smaller suitcase (which I know can fit in large coin lockers), and scout for places where I could possibly put the extra large bag. I eventually left my backpack, duffel bag, and smaller suitcase at Hamamatsu-cho, right before the gates to the Tokyo Monorail. The only problem was my abnormally huge suitcase - the only place I found that could hold it was back at Ueno Station, where there are a few extra large coin lockers. I lucked out - these lockers start to get taken at the noontime rush, but I was able to grab... I think the only one left when I rolled in.

To note, there are some electronically locked coin lockers which can be paid for at a terminal using either Suica or cash. If you use a Suica card, you can use that to both pay and unlock your locker when you want to pick your stuff up. If you instead use cash... I think the machine will give you a receipt with a number code on it. When you pick want to pick up your bags, just enter in the code on the receipt and your locker will open. At least, if I'm remembering correctly this is how the electronic coin lockers work.

But, when I was entirely done with the trek, it was a bit past noon. I called up my friend and told him I was done, and that I'd be heading over to the Skytree. It was easy enough to get to - taking the metro Ginza Line to Asakusa (where it stops) got me to the connecting station to the Tobu Skytree Line. From there, I went to Tokyo Skytree Station. Pretty easy, right?

The Tokyo Skytree is now the world's tallest tower, standing at 634 meters, which is almost double the height of the Tokyo Tower at 333 meters tall. It functions mostly the same as the Tokyo Tower, as a broadcasting tower with two public observation decks to bring in tourists and with them their wallets. It was completed on 29 February, 2012.

At the base of the Skytree is a building dubbed the Solamachi (Sky City). There are a bunch of shops here, mainly food and ice cream and stuff, but you'll have to get to the fourth floor of the place before you get to where the ticket line is. I waited for my friend to arrive, and once he did, we lined up for some tickets.

Seeing as the place opened for general admission like... two days ago, the line was really long. I think it took us around 45 minutes to an hour to get to the ticket counter. There were a few things on display, I guess to give people something to look at while they waited. At the very end of the winding line, there were a few TV panels set up that talked about general Japanese culture... except all of it was really basic. When you get down to it, it was still a long wait, and long waits are lame.

Well, we finally got to go up the elevator to the first observation deck, and from then we pretty much hung out and did exactly what would have been expected of us had this been the Tokyo Tower instead: look out the side of the tower and take pictures of the place. We optionally could have gotten drinks and snacks at one of the cafes around, but since they were overpriced we skipped out on that. There was also a gift shop (as can be expected), but there was a long line to get in that one too.

There's actually a second observation deck at 450 meters up (the first is at 350 meters), which you can buy tickets for on the first observation deck. However, in what is probably a trend by now, the line had an approximate 30 minute wait, and we didn't feel up to it. As well on the first deck, there's a really expensive restaurant that costs like, one hundred and ninety nine US dollars per meal. Wow.

All there really is to do at the Tokyo Skytree is look out of it, so while it's interesting to be in the tallest structure in Japan, there's not a whole lot to do. Likely, most people will go up, take pictures and maybe buy something at the gift shop, then go back down... so it's just like a taller version of the Tokyo Tower. I guess we'll see whether or not the Tokyo Tower continues to be the target of random monster/alien invasions in Japan, or whether they'll start to look at taking down the Tokyo Skytree instead.

So, we got off, and walked all the way to Asakusa in an attempt to find something to eat (and failing to find oden), ending at Gyouza no Ou-sama near the Kaminari-mon. My last full meal in Japan was here, with some wonton ramen and their eponymous gyouza dish. Afterwards, I made a mad rush through Akihabara buying everything left on my list (and then some), as I only had a scant few hours before I had to leave for my flight and hardly shopped on this trip at all.

Pictures: http://caelk.shutterfly.com/pictures/817