Tokyo Skytree and Model train shop

First Blog Post: On the way to Japan Tokyo -Day 1

Second  Blog Post : On the way to Japan - visiting Fuji-san 

Third Blog Post: Tour to Mount Hakone and Ashi Lake

On our second day in Tokyo, we went to see the Tokyo Skytree, which is located in the Sumida area. It was within walking distance of our hotel. Our slot to go up was exactly at 10 AM. If we hadn't made that time, we would have been out of luck. Since we had booked tickets in advance, we were able to go up to the 350-meter deck and then the 450-meter deck within about half an hour. The total height of the Skytree is 634 meters (around 2000 feet). This means it's the tallest television broadcasting and observation tower of its kind in the world, but it's not the tallest building (Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building at 828 meters).

It was clear that a significant number of people come to see this. That's why everyone is given a specific time slot. They are very well-organized in taking people up. Staff members were assigned to monitor, operate, and provide information for each elevator. Even though having someone in every elevator might seem old-fashioned, it effectively manages the crowd. Seeing the organization there made me feel a bit like I was in Germany. You can get a good view of the entire Tokyo area. We took quite a lot of pictures. Here are just a few. I've uploaded videos to YouTube if you'd like to watch them.

The inner walls of the upper observation deck are adorned with illustrations of characters from a major Japanese anime story.

Looking down from such a height, it becomes clear that Tokyo is like a concrete jungle. It's also apparent that most people live in apartment buildings. This is truly due to Japan's population density, which is 338 people per square kilometer (compared to 370 in Sri Lanka and 287 in the UK). Japan's population is 123 million, the UK's is 69.5 million, and Sri Lanka's is 23 million. Japan is about five times larger than Sri Lanka and 1.5 times larger than Britain. Even though Japan addresses its housing problem this way, it still seems insufficient. Most of Japan's population lives in cities.

Tokyo isn't a green city like London. London has large parks like Victoria Park, and tree planting is done well there. There are big gardens and trees planted wherever possible. Tokyo is now making efforts in this regard, but it's still not enough. The largest green city I've seen is Moscow, which has parks covering about 100 square kilometers. However, the few parks in Tokyo are incredibly beautiful.

There's a large shopping complex at the base of this tower. I'm not sure if it's due to the peak development of capitalism or because it's Japan, but you find various types of the same food. It's a paradise for people like me who love fish.

After seeing this, we walked to the Asakusa area. We didn't know the way, and we didn't have internet. Even though most Japanese people didn't speak much English, they were incredibly helpful. At one small shop, the owner even drew us a map. However, you can find free Wi-Fi at phone booths or near shopping malls. Since things were a third cheaper than in London, we went to buy a "Tomix" model train set. 

On the day we went, there was a festival at a nearby Shinto temple. So, almost everyone was dressed in traditional Japanese attire (kimono). The Japanese family below was very happy to pose for the camera. I asked if it was okay to post them on Facebook, and they said "Hai, hai!" (Yes, yes!), so I guess they understood.

On our way, there was a small café that only served tea and sweets. We bought something like a cheesecake and a small fruit tart of the kind called "British Tart." There were two lovely Japanese girls working there. They gave us directions using the English they knew. These people eat a lot of matcha tea and matcha ice cream. There's no place without matcha! Matcha is powdered green tea. You can make tea, ice cream, and sweets from it. We bought two iced matcha teas. The good thing about it is that it's an antioxidant, so you don't get unnecessary gas or acid in your stomach. In fact, I slept really well for eight out of those ten days, without waking up. I decided I should drink more green tea.

While walking, we saw two people collecting discarded plastics and other items. Apparently, these can be sold. There are such people in Japan too.

 After getting the train set we wanted, we went to the Sumida River (not "White Mom") for a boat tour. From the river, the Skytree tower we had climbed was clearly visible. They sell white and gold models of the Skytree. Look at the picture I took now; that's how the model looks. During the day, the Skytree casts a shadow on the side of the nearby Asahi Beer Company building. The walls of that building are designed to resemble the yellow/golden color of beer. They call the yellow beer drop a "pee drop." Well, I also took a picture of the golden Skytree.

This article is getting long, but I'm trying to finish the Tokyo travelogue because there are details from four more cities. We said goodbye to the two girls at our hotel. They were genuinely very good.

I included a photo of the two of them. After that, we boarded the Shinkansen bullet train to Kyoto. We bought a bento box for our meal. Honestly, one was enough for both of us. We wanted to do that because we'd seen it in TV series. Picture with the top circle in the ceiling the station entrance. The pictures below were taken while on the train.

 I've uploaded a couple of videos to my YouTube channel: one taken while on the river, and a few taken on the train as it passed through the beautiful Japanese countryside. Sorry, I don't have walking commentary like some others do. I usually record videos for myself to watch later.

We hadn't booked seats on the train coming from Fuji. In the three-person seat rows, the middle seat often remains empty, or people place their bags there, just like in London. So we just went ahead and sat down, asking them to remove their bags. It felt a bit unsocial at that moment. However, when you do sit down, unlike in London, they do remove their bags. I didn't see anyone putting their feet on the seats. We booked our seats for the Kyoto train because it was about a two-and-a-half-hour journey. We saw rice paddies in Japan; they're quite similar to those in Sri Lanka. The mountains and valleys are also somewhat similar. Passengers travel very quietly. In that respect, it's better than London.

    

I'll be uploading more videos soon, so keep an eye out for them. 

- Ajith 06/06/2025

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