(no subject)
So this week, in a typically uneventful school day morning - trip to Shinjuku. Japanese class field trip. You may remember Shinkuku as that city in the background of those shots from Odiaba.
So I arrive in the Penn station sized station - navigate through a maze of painfully long underground tunnels- finally arriving at the Metropolitan government building - basically Tokyo city hall.
As befits this town its a typically understated epic 52 story building evoking a gothic cathedral:
We arived at the 32nd floor (the top of the connection between the two towers) on one of the of the 20 elevators, to enjoy a lunch at the food court with the government of Tokyo. The views were naturally EPIC - but I'll hold off on those pics - because it didn't get REALLY ridiculous until you get to the 47th floor observation deck. There you had the opposite view looking back towards odiba.
Naturally - it was ridiculous. I was totally in awe. Really study these pictures - look how far the city goes - look how many centers it has (not all are represented in these two pictures) - look at how many tiny buildings there are (and that in fact each are about 15 stories high) - and keep in mind if I could pan down how far it would be to the ground. I've never seen so much human development in my life. I've spent some time in both New York and Hong Kong - and they don't touch this - it is the bulk of the population and economy of a G8 country in one 360 panarama, millions people in millions of tiny apartments. THIS is the world's second largest economy - 5 Trillion dollars (the US IN AGGREGATE is the first) all right here. Keep in mind this was looking East - the sprawl still continued West - pretty much all the way to the mountains on the horizon. Capitalists - think of the market there - think of how many microwaves, air conditioners, and light bulbs there are. Keep in mind that they have been building down too - there are countless subway stops and there is an underground mall at practically every station (I'm not talking Marketfair mall, I mean like Cherry Hill mall). Its not nature with some buildings in the middle - its an endless spread of glass and concrete in every direction with the ocassional park. It goes on and on. You are eye level with 50 other buildings that tall in the distance - the Tokyo tower is dwarved and distant. Look at the mori building which in all its hugeness is dwarfed (to the right of the tower in the second picture)
Anyway from there we went to the Tokyo City council / legislature thing in the same complex:
Then we saw J-FEMA / NERV headquarters - the Japanese city emergency management center. In case of Godzilla attack, volcanic eruption, typoon, or earthquake, this is the control center. Calamity really is in the public conciousness here. How many Japanese movies does the city actually survive? I guess it helps that its been destroyed twice in the past half century. Reasuringly the board was nice and blank, this whole facility really gave the idea that they had procedures in place and these scenarios had been thought through.
So from there we took the scenic route through the "electric street" in this district:
Arriving, logically, at the park:
The colors weren't actually that funky - my Camera's auto-white balance decided that it needed some jazzing up. This is the traditional Japanese garden part of the park. Notice the classic Taiwanese Pagoda:
Of course being Tokyo, when I say park.......
So I arrive in the Penn station sized station - navigate through a maze of painfully long underground tunnels- finally arriving at the Metropolitan government building - basically Tokyo city hall.
As befits this town its a typically understated epic 52 story building evoking a gothic cathedral:
We arived at the 32nd floor (the top of the connection between the two towers) on one of the of the 20 elevators, to enjoy a lunch at the food court with the government of Tokyo. The views were naturally EPIC - but I'll hold off on those pics - because it didn't get REALLY ridiculous until you get to the 47th floor observation deck. There you had the opposite view looking back towards odiba.
Naturally - it was ridiculous. I was totally in awe. Really study these pictures - look how far the city goes - look how many centers it has (not all are represented in these two pictures) - look at how many tiny buildings there are (and that in fact each are about 15 stories high) - and keep in mind if I could pan down how far it would be to the ground. I've never seen so much human development in my life. I've spent some time in both New York and Hong Kong - and they don't touch this - it is the bulk of the population and economy of a G8 country in one 360 panarama, millions people in millions of tiny apartments. THIS is the world's second largest economy - 5 Trillion dollars (the US IN AGGREGATE is the first) all right here. Keep in mind this was looking East - the sprawl still continued West - pretty much all the way to the mountains on the horizon. Capitalists - think of the market there - think of how many microwaves, air conditioners, and light bulbs there are. Keep in mind that they have been building down too - there are countless subway stops and there is an underground mall at practically every station (I'm not talking Marketfair mall, I mean like Cherry Hill mall). Its not nature with some buildings in the middle - its an endless spread of glass and concrete in every direction with the ocassional park. It goes on and on. You are eye level with 50 other buildings that tall in the distance - the Tokyo tower is dwarved and distant. Look at the mori building which in all its hugeness is dwarfed (to the right of the tower in the second picture)
Anyway from there we went to the Tokyo City council / legislature thing in the same complex:
Then we saw J-FEMA / NERV headquarters - the Japanese city emergency management center. In case of Godzilla attack, volcanic eruption, typoon, or earthquake, this is the control center. Calamity really is in the public conciousness here. How many Japanese movies does the city actually survive? I guess it helps that its been destroyed twice in the past half century. Reasuringly the board was nice and blank, this whole facility really gave the idea that they had procedures in place and these scenarios had been thought through.
So from there we took the scenic route through the "electric street" in this district:
Arriving, logically, at the park:
The colors weren't actually that funky - my Camera's auto-white balance decided that it needed some jazzing up. This is the traditional Japanese garden part of the park. Notice the classic Taiwanese Pagoda:
Of course being Tokyo, when I say park.......