Our trip started and ended in Tokyo. Here's the view of downtown as seen from the lobby of the Park Hotel, on the 25th floor of the Shiodome Media Tower. Though you can't tell in the photo, Mount Fuji is dimly visible through the smog. It's right behind Tokyo's copy of the Eiffel Tower, which is a little taller than the original and painted bright orange in case you might miss it.

Tokyo seen from above looks like Manhattan through a kaleidoscope: same vast expanse of tall buildings, no appreciable street grid or overall organization. I've since learned that it was laid out on a spiral plan to be intentionally confusing, thus making it harder for would-be invaders to make their way to the imperial palace in the center. Consequently, our first twelve hours were spent mostly wandering around bewilderedly until some friendly Japanese person came up to point us where we were trying to get to. The Shiodome Media Tower is a typically vast office building full of media companies, though with an atypical cross-section shaped like a giant guitar pick.

High modernism hit this place like a ton of bricks, especially since the postwar architects had so much blank space to work with after the extensive firebombing. Big swaths of the city have also been leveled at various times since then by earthquakes - Japan is really just a string of active volcanoes, like Hawaii or Iceland, and is consequently a real seismic hotspot. So there's been tremendous opportunity for Robert Moses type urban planning. It makes for an exciting skyline , but it can be a real bummer at street level.

back to top