Destroy All Onions!

I went out walking on Tuesday morning, along the river.

In that part of Tokyo, the skyline is dominated by the new Tokyo Skytree.

As you can see, it’s an impressive structure – I think it looks like a giant space weapon, and needless to say I love anything that looks like a giant space weapon on the horizon. What you can’t tell from the picture is that it is miles away. As I walked along the river, it gradually got closer, and bigger, and eventually I left the river and headed straight for it.

At the building site we are told that it is 609 metres tall, which is impressive anywhere, but especially so in a place where every building has to be both earthquake and Godzilla proof. Perhaps that’s the reason for the annoying shape of the lower part of the tower – the base is triangular, but it becomes circular as it goes up, which means that if you are not looking straight at a triangular side, it’s asymmetric, which is not graceful to look at. But I guess the earthquake and Godzilla experts know what they’re doing.

The tower is already a major tourist attraction, with tour guides leading groups of people through the surrounding streets with the best views. But what’s more interesting is that they already have their official Disney-licensed souvenirs, complete with the cranes, a year before the tower is due to be finished.

And this is the view from the base. The stupid thing is too big to get into a picture once you’re up close. But it is impressive.

Skytree up close

You’ll also note the blue sky, as always a clear indication that this picture was not taken in Belfast!