Japan 2019

Monday25November

Second wake-up in the Japanese capital, and second day of visits. We take the few streets separating us from Ueno station to reach the subway that will take us to our first stop.

Ueno station has put out its big Christmas tree that Japan will celebrate in just one month, at least for 1% of the population, the rest of the country being largely Shintoist or Buddhist.

A quick stop in front of the Kabuki theater, in the Ginza district.
"Kabuki is the epic form of traditional Japanese theater. Centered on a spectacular and codified acting style, it is distinguished by the elaborate makeup of the actors and the abundance of scenic devices designed to emphasize the climaxes and twists of the play." © Wikipedia

Ginza, the luxury shopping district where sometimes red whales themselves come to lick the shop windows...  

In this case, we are in the "Ginza 6" skyscraper which has a terrace with a sweeping view over the surrounding rooftops.

Come on, I miss Shibuya crossing, I'm doing another little slow-motion crossing a random street in Ginza...  

And here we are again underground in Ginza station.

The Japanese subway contrasts with the Parisian one. Here, silence predominates; people communicate mostly with their smartphones, rarely with their neighbor, even if they are accompanying you...  

Sushi and maki break at Sushi Takewaka restaurant where the "itamae" chef prepares our meal in front of us.

A quick visit to the Tsukiji fish market, the world's largest wholesale market for fish and seafood. © Wikipedia

There are still areas to build, at least after a zone reset...

We arrive at Hama Rikyu Garden, a small space of fresh air amidst the glass and steel towers.

This pergola is the perfect opportunity for a little nap!  

This Japanese black pine, spreading out in its small reserved space, has so far known no less than 15 emperors... Indeed, this three-century-old "Pinus thunbergii" was named in Japanese "Sanhyakunen-no-matsu" or "300 Year-Old Pine" in the English text...

The 25-hectare park was the property of the Tokugawa shogun family from the 17th century until 1945 when it was opened to the public.

In April, tourists flock to see the Japanese cherry trees (Prunus serrulata) in bloom. Well, in November, some varieties allow us to enjoy their autumn flowering to a lesser extent.

The garden is adorned with a large pond "Shiori-no-ike", or "tidal lagoon". The water level rises and falls slightly with the tide, as we are indeed right on the edge of Tokyo Bay.

A great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) ventures into this in-between sea/city, but its low-altitude flight will not be enough to pass over the skyscrapers of more than 200 meters...

And it will have even more trouble passing that one, since, as a skyscraper, the Skytree is the best in Japan with its 634 meters... It is, moreover, on its top floor that we will spend our last Japanese evening.

The top floor of the Skytree is not at the very top of the 634 meters (alas) but "only" at 450 meters, visible at the bottom of this photo.

Panoramic view of Hama Rikyu Garden.

We leave this little green space to dive back into the city underground, in the subway of the Oedo line.

The subway takes us to the foot of the Mori Tower in the Roppongi district. The building measures 238 meters, with 67 elevators serving its 54 floors!  

Once in the building's first observatory, it quickly becomes clear that the star will be Tokyo Tower...

Tokyo Tower is located 1500 meters from us. We would only need to lay it down 3 times in front of us to bridge the space separating us from it.

The star is making us wait... All observers patiently await nightfall when the tower will don its cloak of light...

A little green man is running in the sky!!!! Oh no, it's the reflection of the emergency exit...  

Aaaaaah. Here's the Eiffel Tower of Tokyo, which has lit its 176 projectors.

The tower is 7.6 meters taller than its big Parisian sister but, more importantly, 6100 tons lighter (the Eiffel Tower measures 325 meters and weighs 10500 tons)!

Night is slowly falling, I'll be able to machine-gun photograph the pretty lady posed like a little jewel on her steel ground.

The light trails of cars draw the city's arteries.

We are now outdoors on the Mori Tower rooftop terrace.

Millions of windows light up, filling the city with a diffuse light...  

In the distance, the large Ferris wheel Daikanransha also lights up.

Zoom in on the almost invisible offices in the immense mosaic of windows.

The helipad won't be used tonight, not a shadow of a helicopter's wingbeat...

Roppongi Dori Avenue.

The NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi tower next to the National stadium.

Back on Roppongi Dori Avenue with the light trails left by cars. An opportunity to note that in Japan, driving is indeed on the left!  

At the end of 2019, Tokyo's population flirts with 14 million inhabitants... That's 7 times more than our French capital...

Skyscrapers are everywhere, but the one that wins all the votes is the Tokyo Tower. And it deserves it!

This lighthouse in the night is superb, it must be admitted.  

Tomorrow, we will be in the middle of this perfectly organized tangle of metal beams...

8 kilometers from us, barely visible, the slender self-supporting Skytree tower can be made out in the diffuse atmosphere.

Last pictorial immortalizations before joining another place that will give us some distance from this ocean of buildings...

Down below, the trees are already all strung with Christmas lights.

And presto, by the magic of a shuttle, here we are on the other side in Tokyo Bay, 1 hour later nonetheless... We are in front of the Rainbow Bridge suspension bridge. The Rainbow Bridge.

The 570-meter bridge allows the passage of three different lines: the "Shuto Expressway" highway, the "Rinkou Douro" road, and the "Yurikamome" automated metro line that we took to get here.

We are now crossing the "Teleport Bridge" which allows us to cross not the sea but Wangan Doro Avenue to get closer to the Daikanransha Ferris wheel.

Here is Daikanransha, the Odaiba Ferris wheel, much more impressive from afar than up close despite its 115 meters high...  

The wheel was the largest when it opened in 1999.

The 120 thousand neons allow all kinds of animations, necessarily at this end of November, it is Santa Claus's sleigh and his reindeer coming to cross the Ferris wheel.

Back in our Ueno neighborhood where we dine in a "Yakiniku" restaurant, which means "grilled meat" in Japanese. The small gas barbecue has its own ventilation system positioned just above to collect the smoke.