Tokyo Sky Tree Revisited

Progress has been made in the construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree, I last visited in April and it is visually quite a bit taller and even more impressive then on my previous visit. They have now completed the observation deck and have moved on to the top antenna section; seen here reflected in a near-by building.

Show Me Japan: Psychedelic

This is a pagoda located within the Kobe Municipal Arboretum. It is fairly non-discript from the outside, located up a small hill in the center of the park. The treasure is when you actually walk into the pagoda and lookup at the intricately decorated celling. During this visit also noticed a few signs that mentioned a wasps nest, the signs also insured it was from "awhile ago." On closer inspection you can see the nest even in this photograph, it is the round object off-center at the top. Wow am I glad that nest was not active, in person is was quite imposing. Photograph was taken by getting all my settings the way I wanted them, and then setting the self-timer on the camera, and then setting it on the center of the floor and walking away.

Photograph is my entry for this weeks Show-me-Japan (Vol.1 Issue 3). Click on the previous link to see the other entries.

Show Me Japan Photo Meme

Security officer overlooking Akashi Kaikyō Bridge.

Anna Ikeda, author of the blog Budget Trouble: Travel and Trouble in Japan, has started a photo meme called Show Me Japan (Vol.1 Issue 1) and has been kind enough to invite me along. So here is my entry, be sure to check out all the other interesting posts and photographs from around Japan.

Umeda Sky Building View

It had been a very long time, almost 12 years, from my last up-close and personal visit to the Sky building - which is one of my favorite buildings in Kansai; I just cannot help but feel like I have entered some 1980's esque science fiction film when I am transported through the tube like suspended bridges that connect the towers. However, this was my first trip inside the building and my first visit at night, you do have to pay to access the uppermost outdoor rooftop observatory called The Floating Garden, but from my point of view it is worth the cost (if it is after nightfall) just for the romantic kitch and the views. So now my inner 1980's child is wondering when the Japanese will complete the flying cars and personal robots to complete the view.

Umeda Sky Building 梅田スカイビル

The seventh-tallest building in Ōsaka and, at least for me, one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. It consists of two 40-story towers that connect at their two uppermost stories, with bridges and an escalator crossing the wide atrium-like space in the center. In the photographs you can see the bridges, from the bottom looking up, the top looking down, and from the inside riding down.

Ōsaka Castle 大坂城

Last week visited Ōsaka castle and was pleasantly surprised to see that it was decorated with a very large landscape-like artificial hill composed entirely of flowers (represented a waterfall complete with bamboo bridge) for the chrysanthemum festival. Every year there are chrysanthemum festivals organized throughout Japan, as this particular flower is a prominent symbol of Japanese nobility. Known as the “sun” flower, the chrysanthemum was formally a symbol of the emperor, who was believed to be a descendant of the sun goddess. The highest order of Japan is even called the Grand Order of the Badge of the Chrysanthemum, which is the highest possible honor a Japanese citizen could be awarded during his or her lifetime.

Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium

Located within the Ocean Expo Commemorative National Government Park in Okinawa, Japan. It is the world's second largest aquarium, behind the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, in the U.S. Photograph is a long exposure of the large tank that houses The main tank, called the Kuroshio Sea, that holds 7,500 cubic metres of water and features an acrylic glass panel measuring 27 by 74 ft with a thickness of 24 in, the largest such panel in the world when the aquarium was opened. Whale sharks and manta rays are kept alongside many other fish species in the main tank.

Roof Tiles

Whereas many homes in Japan are made with wood and allow free-flow of air to combat humidity, typical modern homes in Okinawa are made from concrete with barred windows (protection from flying plant matter) to deal with regular typhoons. Roofs are also designed with strong winds in mind, with each tile cemented on and not merely layered as seen with many homes elsewhere in Japan.

Buddhist Institute

I am not totally sure what purpose this building serves, located in Motomachi near the JR train station. I only know that it is Buddhist, large, and rather grand - especially at night with the seal; including the wheel of dharma alight in a golden halo.

Akashi-Kaikyō Night View

Previously I shared an image of the Pearl Bridge from atop Mount Maya in the evening, well I finally got a chance to visit Maiko after sundown to get a closeup view. Visiting the bridge in the evening was a wonderful experience, quite, peaceful and relatively few people. The Akashi-Kaikyo bridge has a total of 1737 illumination lights and on the main cables three high light discharged tubes are mounted in the colors red, green and blue that can create a variety of combinations that reflect like a rainbow on the oceans surface. The long exposure I used to capture this image created a halo on the almost full moon, and an airplane that was passing overhead was turned into a dotted red line arched across the sky.

Kanazawa Castle 金沢城

Kanazawa has a large, recently -restored castle near the city center. The Hishi Yagura turret, Gojikken Nagaya warehouse, and Hashizume-mon Tsuzuki Yagura turret were faithfully restored in 2001 to their 1809 form, using traditional construction methods. The castle's distinctive, whitish roof tiles are cast lead which is both fire resistant and, as local legend state, also serves as a source of bullets in times of siege; the tiles could be melted down and re-cast into bullets.

Kanazawa Station 金沢駅

On the return trip from Yuzawa made a side trip to the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Kanazawa. Kanazawa is a pleasant city of about a half-million situated on the coast of the Sea of Japan. Known in times past for its exquisite decorative artwork featuring precisely worked gold leaf. This is the JR (Japan Rail) station in Kanazawa and it is the biggest station in Ishikawa Prefecture. A huge glass dome and wooden gate greet people at the main entrance. The dome is made from 3,000 panes of glass and the wooden gate is inspired by a traditional Tsuzumi (Drum).

Escalator エスカレーター

Japan is known for proper etiquette but perhaps one area less noticed by visiting foreigners is escalator etiquette. In Japan, every time you ride an escalator, people who are just standing stay to one side, making way for those who may be in a hurry to pass. The Japanese create maximum pedestrian efficiency, in a densely populated landmass, by using the social pressure, enforced by a homogenous society, to maintain “wa” (harmony). Really, without "wa" I don't think this many people could live in such a small place without tearing each other apart. However, for some reason unbeknownst to me, in the Kanto region (i.e. Tokyo), everyone stands to the left while in the Kansai region (i.e Osaka), everyone stands to the right! Pictured is a very cool open-clockwork escalator in a building in Ōsaka.

Chadōgu 茶道具

Chadōgu, or tea tools used in the formal Japanese tea ceremony, specifically the Furo 風炉. Furo are portable braziers used in the tea room to heat the hot water kettle (kama) to make the tea. They are commonly made of ceramic or metal - this one is ceramic. Photograph was taken in a Kyōto house that has been turned into a kimono retailer.

Marine Hall

Marine Hall is one of two wedding chapels located at the Meriken Park Oriental Hotel in Kōbe, the other is located on the astroturf clad roof of the hotel itself. Marine Hall rests alongside the base of the hotel near the water and rather than offering the more common architectural style of Japanese wedding chapels, which are often clad in over-the-top western kitsch suitable only on the sets of Fred Astaire films, the design is based on the form of a seashell. Built in 1995 and designed by the Takenaka Company, it opened just six months after the Hanshin Awaji earthquake. Nearby is the Kobe Maritime Museum and the Kobe Port Tower, which create a nice cluster of interesting architecture.

Oyamazaki Museum

Oyamazaki Museum is a former Kyōto villa converted into a museum. The architectural style of the main building, which was completed in 1932, is primarily Tudor Gothic. Architect Tadao Ando designed the dramatic corridor seen here that connects the villa with the underground gallery which he named "the underground jewelry box." This new addition is as much a part of the landscape as it is an exhibition space. In order to avoid overwhelming the existing villa, the tranquil concrete geometric lines of the hall and the cylindrical gallery itself are half buried underground and set close to the existing building so that from the exterior they read more as elements strategically placed to complement the landscape rather set against it. Water-lilies by Claude Monet are exhibited in the annex complimented by the Monet style gardens that surround the building. There is also a circular-shaped skylight which further complements the paintings with natural light that continuously changes and reinvents the paintings.

5-3 Zenihara, Oyamazaki-cho,

Otokuni-gun, Kyoto-fu, 618-0071

JR Namba Station 難波駅

A rather interesting glass wall with a moving light show in the underground walkway of the JR Namba Station in Ōsaka. This route also features a moving walkway with a fiber-optics displays on the ceiling opposite this glass wall. The lights trace the curved walls on-pace with the commuting hordes who traverse the station. In an attempt to capture this kinetic aspect I lowered the shutter speed and held the camera against my chest and took the photograph while waking, which blurred the lights further down the corridor.

Kyōto Tower 京都タワー

Designed by Makoto Tanahashi, Kyōto tower is a steel observation tower which is also the tallest structure in Kyōto, with its observation deck at 100 meters (328 ft) and its spire at 131 meters (430 ft). The tower was completed to correspond with the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo and features a unique interior structure that consists of many stacked steel rings covered with lightweight steel sheets, setting it apart from most towers which are lattice frames (such as Tokyo Tower). The tower was designed to resemble a Japanese candle, so the steel sheets were welded together and painted white to create this effect. The Tower has been the subject of controversy since it was in its planning phase, in part because of its hefty price tag but also because many believed the needle-shaped spire was too modern looking for the ancient capital. Some visit Kyōto seeking an elusive sense of old Japan and are surprised by the modern glass and steel station and the neighboring steel tower. Others, including myself, believe they add a touch of modernity to a city otherwise in danger of becoming foreign to the rest of contemporary Japan. View is from an observation deck in Kyōto station overlooking the tower.

Skyways of Kyōto Eki

The enormity of the engineering challenge necessary to erect Kyōto station is entailed within its giant escalator system, which moves passengers up nine-stories from the 60m high atrium over the main concourse and up to the roof - where there is an expansive view of the city. The structure has a fluidity of space, intriguing discontinuities of scale, open roof lines and a dark futuristic quality. The station building is certainly very imposing and definitively modern in style, setting a stark contrast against the classical feeling of this cultural capital.

京都駅 Kyōto-eki

Designed by Hiroshi Hara, this 15-story glass-plated monolith is Kyōto Station. Opened in 1997 to celebrate the anniversary of the foundation of the city as the former capital of Japan it updated and replaced the previous 1950's era concrete station; which was necessary to usher the nearly 50 million tourists Kyōto receives each year - most of them Japanese commuters and visitors on day-trips. It comprises a huge 60 meter tall atrium, measures 470 meters from east to west, with a total floor space of 238,000 square meters. The building includes a department store, the Granvia Hotel, a theater, exhibition space as well as numerous shops and restaurants.