Tokyo Tower

It's Sunday, our last day in Japan. Before leaving we decided to check out Tokyo Tower and Zoyoji Temple. Both of these places were a short walk away from our hotel. Here's a picture of us on a pedestrian overpass as we made our way up to Tokyo Tower first. During out trip we had always used Tokyo Tower as a landmark when returning home to our hotel.

Tokyo Tower is a well known Japanese landmark located in the Shiba area of Tokyo. Standing 333 meters tall, it's claim to fame is that it's the tallest self supporting steel tower in the world. It's even taller than the Eiffel Tower in France, which is what this structure was modelled after. It's painted orange and white to meet aviation safety standards I am told and hosts a bevy of television and radio broadcast antennas. First opened in 1958, there is an observation deck that can be reached by elevator for a terrific panoramic view of Tokyo. I understand that on a clear day you can actually see Mount Fuji from here. I took this picture from a different angle that I thought helped to better convey the size of this monster.

As expected, Tokyo Tower had a "healthy" amount of omiyage for purchase including the ever present Hello Kitty! Where ever we went in Japan, including places outside of Tokyo like Hakone, there would always been some type of Hello Kitty item for sale. At Tokyo Tower we came across this giant one towering down on us as we shopped for gifts to take home. I ended up purchasing quite a bit of stuff to take home from here. With less than a day left to our Tokyo trip, this would be one of our last chances to buy gifts for home.