Day 23 : To the Top of Tokyo

Today, I decided to leverage the plan I came up with when I visited the Sunshine 60 observation deck. Well actually I decided last night's because I bought advance tickets to save ¥400 but still. I decided to visit the Skytree and not chicken out before going to the top. I figured if I didn't get vertigo from looking up at the tower before I entered and I had already paid the $20 to go, I would be able to do it. I don't even think I'm super afraid of heights or anything, I think the problem is more that it is a a weird lattice tower. Regular buildings are way less scary to go to the top IMO.

I will say that this plan worked. I did in fact make it to the Skytree and go up during my scheduled time-slot. The view was really good as you might expect. I paid for both the 350 meter and 450 meter observation decks, but I think at some point adding more height is actually marginal improvement to the experience at best or detrimental at worst. I don't know where Skytree is on the curve but here are example photos at 350m and 450m (I hadn't actually intended to make this comparison so the shots don't really line up, sorry)

350 meters (1,150 feet)

450 meters (1,480 feet)

Ok I must admit that looking at these I am not entirely convinced these aren't actually from the same height. They are separated by dozens of photos in my camera roll and the second one I marked as 450m is found after the exhibits that I know for sure are on the 450m floor, so I think they're right? Anyway, as you can see, I think the view on 350m is probably sufficient if you don't want to spend an extra ¥900 to go up another 100m (Advance tickets are currently ¥1,800 for the 350, deck or ¥2,700 for both the 350m and 450m decks. +¥400 if you purchase at the tower)

The 450 meter deck is a gallery and had a "100 years of Disney" type event going on. I'm a man of singular purpose though so I wasn't particularly interested and basically just used the 450m deck to view more sights. I have no idea which floor this photo came from but in it you can see some of the other observation decks I've been to, including Tokyo Tower and the Mori Roppongi Tower (tierlist coming later this week I guess lol)

Another thing I did while I was at the tower was get a commemorative photo taken. As you can imagine since I was terrified of being up there in the first place, I was sweatier than usual. When I got the photo taken, I really feel like they did me dirty by letting me do the pose and then not politely suggesting another pose that didn't specifically show off my armpit sweat. Jerks lol Anyway, here is a poorly edited version I paid for on fiverr since I don't have any photo editing tools on my laptop.

He didn't even try to actually redraw the fabric's folds, it's all just a solid color! Also what's going on the right armpit by the tower??

Okay so I guess I would not recommend paying for the photo? If you do it, they will give you a very small one for free or a large one plus digital download for I think ¥1,500. The digital download's resolution is only 1500x1000 which is basically nothing these days so that's not ideal. Just have a friend take the photo of you I guess. Or if you're alone and not shy like me, just ask a stranger. You won't have a prop then but maybe you could draw one later lol Also make sure to wear dark clothing if you are afraid of heights to avoid embarrassing sweat stains in your pics LOL

Since I wasn't particularly happy with that photo (especially before the editing), I also got a selfie so you'd remember generally what I look like when they aren't catching me in middle of saying "Skytree"

This time I also made sure to stand on the glass floor. However, unlike the previous time at Tokyo Tower, I only had a small part of my foot on the non-glass support. Progress! I will say though that it's suspect to me that they have the other layer of glass a couple feet below. It makes me doubt that one glass is strong. "Oh they need a second layer just in case the first one gives out??"

Seems suspicious to me.

After being tired out of seeing the views and still not getting to see Mt. Fuji, I grabbed lunch in the mall attached to the Skytree, Tokyo Solamachi. I ended up getting a beef bowl that advertised being A5 wagyu.

Now I don't want to get into libel territory so I'm not mentioning the restaurant's name and this is just an opinion, but I refuse to believe it was a good cut of meat at all. Well in the first place the set was ¥2,200 only so although it's expensive it wasn't exactly a luxury meal so I wasn't expecting anything at all but the quality of meat seemingly wasn't super high. Well "wagyu" just literally means "Japanese cow" although technically it should refer to 4 specific breeds of cow, so I guess it doesn't necessarily equate to a specific quality. Although I'm pretty sure "A5" means the highest quality of beef so IDK what happened here.

Anyway, that was quite a rant but the food was actually pretty good. It tasted good but was pretty chewy, which I hadn't really expected.

I decided that I would re-visit Sensō-ji today as well. After getting that "stamp book" at Tokyo Tower last week (how has it been a week already?!?!), I actually did some reading and realized I had no idea what I was talking about. Actually pretty classic for me, but I digress.

Actually way less busy than my last visit!

It turns out that the "stamp collecting" book I got was actually a "goshuincho", a book that is meant for collecting the seals or stamps of shrines or temples in Japan. So yes, technically a stamp, but a very specific type of stamp. Definitely read this guide about goshuincho, it's really interesting. The stamps are really cool and provide a cool memento of your visit, even if you aren't making the pilgrimage for like religious reasons.

Since I was nearby-ish anyway, I had decided I would go to Sensō-ji to collect it's stamp and to get a new goshuincho, since it's apparently not cool to have things in the book other than goshuin (the seals themselves). So I figure I can just use one for shrine seals and ones for other stamps I randomly find out and about. Since I'm nearing the end up my Japan trip already (wtf, how???), I doubt I will get any more goshuin but I can bring it back next time I visit!

My first goshuin, from Sensō-ji

Getting the stamp was actually really straightforward. After I paid my respects at the main hall, I visited the smaller building to the left of the main hall and joined a short line get my book stamped. A couple people in front of me didn't have their book so they just got a piece of paper already ready with the stamp that they could paste into their stamp books later so the line moved quickly. When I got to the front, I purchased a new goshuin and the paid ¥500 for the stamp. Pricey, but I guess they have to upkeep the temple somehow. Like the goshuin guide above mentioned, most of the patrons (?) appeared to be girls and when I was done paying I was given a number to listen for. 1 or 2 minutes later they called my number and I got the book back. Easy peasy.

On the way home, I stopped by the Toei Metro station master's office in Sugamo Station to see if they still happened to have Toaran merch (the cute train mascot I discussed previously). I was in luck! They didn't have the large Toaran plush but I did manage to get one of the small plushes! Very cool limited edition merchandise (JK IDK if it's limited or not).

The only struggle here had been me sweating bullets when they said the only accepted cash payments since I had just run out earlier. Luckily, my crane game emergency fund had just enough to cover it!

The last thing I did today was get dinner since I was pretty hungry again after everything was said and done. I ended up going to Pizza Hut.

Not because I like it (in fact I prefer Domino's), but for the sake of seeing Genshin Impact characters imprinted on the top of my pizza box. Yes, another collaboration event! And although the collaboration announcement clearly shows the images so there is literally no need to purchase anything, I still felt oddly compelled. After I managed to choose a pizza from their really weird pizza selection, I placed my order and got a miniature file (the Yelan one in the promotion announcement).

Where is the pepperoni?

The bulgogi pizza was actually pretty good but I thought it was weird to include 2 chicken nuggets. They were fine though so not gonna bring down the score or anything, just seemed odd. Anyway, the box was exactly as advertised, but in the end literally still just a pizza box.

I unfortunately did not win the lottery to get a free acrylic stand. Maybe I'll try again in a few days.

I ended up taking the long way home to stop at Daiso which is completely out of the way so I actually ended up walking more today than I had meant to. According to Fitbit I put in 15,286 steps and Google basically doesn't seem to have known where I was at all today.