Tokyo Tower from Roppongi Hills

Just a quick snap from the pedestrian walkway that passes over the tunnel from Roppongi Dori through Roppongi Hills to Azabu Juban and Akabanebashi. The sky was clear and the sparkling lights from Tokyo Tower caught my eye. Too bad and perhaps a little lucky that I didn't set the “Non-CPU Lens Data” feature of my Nikon correctly. The slightly longer than normal exposure turned darkness practically into daylight. However, my slightly obsessive nature is upset that the EXIF data is incorrect and states that I used my 85-mm f1.4 AIS instead of my 24-mm f2.0 AI.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1.6 sec. UNCROPPED

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1.6 sec. CROPPED

First Shrine Visit 2012 at Zōjō-ji

Although I was at Sensō-ji at midnight for New Years, we did not join the queue to make our first shrine or temple visit of the year there.  For hatsumōde, we drove south to Zōjō-ji Temple at the base of Tokyo Tower.

By the time we got there after 1 a.m.  the crowd was already thinning, and we were able to join the queue and enter the shrine in about 15-minutes.

Roppongi Hills Christmas Lights

Christmas has come and past in Tokyo, and I almost forgot to post photos of the lights at Roppongi Hills.  My editing skills are either weak, or I have a problem sharing.  Anyway, it's your choice to surf through my site.  For this post, I'll keep the text at a minimum.

There's a strange wall of light in the the garden in from of the TV Asahi Building.

This a small but but properly decorated tree in front an Indian restaurant called Diya.  The food there is good, but do they decorate the place for Diwali?

This must be the proper place to stand when taking photos...

This is the rose themed tree in the central plaza.

There's a great view of Tokyo Tower and the illuminated tree lined street from the pedestrian bridge.

I liked how the taxi driver's face was illuminated.

The lights added a festive aura to this shopper.

This unusual CFL lit tree was in the lobby of the Grand Hyatt at Roppongi Hills. I thought it was classy and modern with sense of humor. My co-worker thought that it may be inspired by Dan Flavin.

More Nanoblocks - Tokyo Skytree

I'm not sure why my Nanoblocks post is the third most viewed post on my blog, but I'll post another to see what happens...

I spotted these nanoblocksof the Tokyo Skytree (東京スカイツリータウン) along the shopping street that leads up to Sensō-ji in Asakusa.  The Skytree is set to open in Spring  2012.

Here's one display with the Tokyo Tower and the Kaminari-mon (gate of Sensoji Temple).

Here's the real thing viewed through the clutter of telephone pole wire and cables in Asakusa.

Pirates of Odaiba?

About a week before the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the family went out to Odaiba to check out a Shiokaze Park. This park is located next to the Museum of Maritime Science and quite naturally featured a playground in the shape of a ship.

Perhaps even a pirate ship... Argh... There be pirates in these waters.... (BTW - That's my 5-year old daughter in the corner, caught in a pose that has a little resemblance to that recent fad... planking.

There's a fountain with a shallow stream that looks like it would be fun in the hot and sticky summer months.

We were lucky to have fine weather and a view of Mt. Fuji between all of the buildings and a large crane!

Ont the other side of the park there was a sculpture inspired by Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.  I'm not sure who the artist is, but a little online search and it appears that this work is called... Sunday afternoon of the Sea Breeze Park Island. Anyway, at the time I was more interested in the Tokyo Tower and Rainbow Bridge in the background.

I've got crepes and taiyaki on my mind...

Out shopping yesterday and spotted this handy contraption.  It's a taiyaki maker!  Basically a waffle machine with taiyaki shaped molds.

The family also passed by a Marion Crepe's stand located outside the Tokyo Tower.

If you aren't familiar with the Tokyo Tower... Here are two quick snaps.

More Spring Trees

The variety of beautiful trees in Tokyo's small parks is amazing...

Here are some tall tree's near Tokyo Tower. They could be Japanese Cedar but they are probably some other variety of pine tree.

These are some sort of Cypress trees in Shinjuku Gyoen.  Check out all the cypress knees shooting out of the ground.

 

Nanoblocks

These blocks were on display in a toy store window in Azabu Juban. Although expensive (¥1,554 for the Tokyo Tower), especially considering their small size, a lover of architecture may find them interesting. They are called Nanoblocks.

Seems that they are even more expensive online. The Nanoblock Tokyo Tower is available at Amazon.com for about $40.