Biru - ビル -

Sabishii no Tabi part 5

-  ビル - 

- Biru  -

(Building)

Biru is one of the words japanese used to say building. Japanese love short forms so biru comes from bi-ru-din-gu. Being a developed country, of course you would expect numerous modern architecture and skyscrapers in Japan. In this post, I will share some pictures of the buildings in Japan.

Skyscrapers of Shinjuku

Its quite hard to appreciate the "skyscraper-ness" using my pictures - but Shinjuku is really filled with giant buildings!

Hikarie in Shibuya

Quite recently built - I think this is the tallest building in Shibuya

Umeda Skybuilding in Osaka

Osaka has less tall buildings compared to Tokyo, but some stands out then other. Umeda Skytower is one of them.

 View from far with Osaka station building in front

View from the observation deck

Of course, when talking about buildings in Japan, these two building should be the most iconic!

 Tokyo Tower & Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo Tower

Tokyo tower is the older broadcasting tower which is now replaced with Tokyo Skytree because there's too many tall buildings around Tokyo Tower that they need a taller broadcasting tower. 

 The architecture is very beautiful up close

 Some of the view from above - apparently you could see Mt Fuji from here, but it was foggy that day :(

Night view is awesome - but I went to Skytree for night view instead. 

 View at dusk

 

Tokyo Skytree

I have to apologize first because when I visited Tokyo Skytree, it was already dark and my phone's camera is crappy at night so the picture quality is quite bad. 

Still manage to take a day picture before it gets dark

 This would have been a very beautiful picture with the moon in the backdrop if my camera was good

 Tokyo Solamachi - the shopping complex at the base of Skytree

View from the observatory deck - again my camera at its worst ~ but the view is really beautiful! A must see if you visit Japan. 

Tokyo Tower vs Tokyo Skytree

Among Japanese, some like to have a fun debate on which is better, Tokyo Tower or Skytree? Tokyo Tower is sometimes referred to as a symbol of old/traditional Tokyo while Skytree relates more to modernism. So, its like old vs new, which has more appeal?

For me, I like the design of Tokyo Tower better - Tokyo Tower also has less que, when I went to Skytree that night I had to que for 40 minutes to get to the observation deck! 

The view is also slightly different - from Tokyo Tower you get a closer view of the tall building in Tokyo Downtown, while Skytree is built in the middle of Sumida-ku which is a normal housing district so the direct surrounding view is quite normal but you can still appreciate downtown Tokyo from far. 

But, the special view you can see from Skytree is the beautiful Sumida river which cannot be seen from Tokyo Tower because of the tall buildings surrounding the river from Tokyo Tower viewpoint. Finally, whichever you go to, both offers spectacular view! If you can choose only morning or night, definitely choose the night view!

So, the next post will be about... Yoru!

To end, allow to put my best shot of Tokyo Tower!

My best picture of Tokyo Tower - with remnants of autumn leaves :)