Into the West

Today I went to Tokyo Bay with a few friends from the guesthouse. I've actually never been to the southern regions of Tokyo before so I gave it a go! The trip took almost two hours (Yes, Tokyo is bigger than the average rat hole) because we had to switch trains twice, as well as take two different boats to get there. We were going to "Odaiba" which is a fully artificial island built in the early 19th century for domestic defense. It even had a sand beach and a promenáde!

Some of you may know about "Tokyo Tower" already. It's Japan's tallest building and it's also a complete rip-off off the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It's actually taller than the "real" Eiffel Tower. The thinking behind it was some sort of post-WWII "fuck you" to the rest of the western world to symbolise Japan's economic ascendance.

The Tokyo Tower is not the only structure which is inspired by the western world. When we arrived in Odaiba we instantly saw an even more recognizable thing of the west; The Statue of Liberty. Right behind it lies the Rainbow Bridge, influenced by the Golden Gate bridge in San Fransisco. So what we have here is essentially some kind of Salvador Dali painting. No thing matching the other. An eiffel tower, a golden gate bridge, a statue of liberty and... the Fuji TV station? O__o; The Fuji TV-station is one of the strangest buildings I've seen.

Just wrong

Fuji TV headquarters. Eccentric and futuristic!

Yes... we went otaku shopping in Odaiba as well. You didn't think that only Akihabara sold otaku stuff, did you?

Death Note junk, Yay!

Looks like something from a Jules Verne novel or perhaps an underwater Batman vechicle, but no... just a Tokyo boat ;P

VIDEO

Train View + Statue of Liberty