Tokyo at night
Typhoon 18 recently ripped through Tokyo. The rain stopped in the morning, followed by some incredible cloud displays. While the sky was mostly blue, a few clouds seemed to be trying to catch up to the typhoon. They zipped across the sky at amazing speed. The blue was bluer than I think I’ve ever seen a sky. I have never experienced such clear Tokyo air before. The hard rain of the night combined with high winds of the morning really cleaned things up.
We ate lunch that day on the 49th floor of the Sumitomo Building in Shinjuku with a window seat to enjoy the view. Unfortunately, my kids had both cameras on their field trips to Cambodia and Hiroshima so that view will have to remain only in my memory. After spending the rest of the afternoon in parks and museums, we headed over to the Ebisu Garden Place Tower to enjoy the sunset from the 39th floor. This place has the best free views in Tokyo. Unlike the buildings in Shinjuku, from Ebisu you have great angles on Shinjuku, Shibuya, and the Tokyo Tower. On top of the superior vantage point on this evening, the sky was freakishly clear. Not only could we see Mt. Fuji (my first time seeing it from the Tokyo city center) clearly, we could see as far as possible in every direction. We could even see stars. It was magical. Too bad I didn’t have a camera. Next time a typhoon hits Tokyo I will be sure to hit the Ebisu Garden Place Tower at sunset with camera in hand.
A few days later, after the kids brought back the cameras, I did get some night shots of Tokyo (featured in this post) although the air wasn’t even remotely as pure. I took all four photos from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. The top picture is of the Shinjuku Park Tower (on the left). It is the building featured in “Lost in Translation.”
Looking out the windows on the opposite side of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office you can see the Shinjuku Station (down and to the left), Tokyo Tower (very small in the distance just to the right of center), and the NTT Docomo Yoyogi Building (featuring the tallest clock tower in the world).
Above is basically the same picture as the one I took in the sunshine more than a month before.
Staring out at this view is something I can do all night long. It looks like I’m not alone.
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October 18th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
These are fabulous night photos. tokyo looks wonderful at night.
October 18th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Awesome night photos! Totemo subarashi desu yo!!
October 18th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I love these photos. There is something special about the lights of a city. I really love a view from a high-rise building. Thanks for sharing these.
October 18th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
The views here are already fantastic — I almost can’t imagine anything better. Awesome night shots!
October 18th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I enjoy following your blog very much. It brings back so many memories of my 2 trips to Japan. I look forward to pictures from Hiroshima! Beautiful photos!
October 19th, 2009 at 1:39 am
I love Tokyo at night
October 29th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I am a big fan of night city photos and I’ve done quite a few night shots myself.
I’m amazed at how well your shots from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office are. If I remember correctly, it is quite bright on the observation floor and the windows mirror a lot of light. I used a handkerchief(?) to shield the lens of my camera while trying to take some shots there, with mixed results. Some pictures were quite blurred because the camera was accidently shaken. Also back then I was not that experienced with my camera and night photography. Since back then I’ve been able to take some really nice shots from other observation plattforms, like Sunshine 60, the Landmark Tower in Yokohama, the Umeda Sky building in Osaka and some tall building in Sendai.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Yes, Haf, you remember correctly. It is very difficult to get a good shot from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. My trick was to set the camera on the ledge, put the self timer on (so I wasn’t pushing the button to cause shake), and cover the glass around the lens completely with my daughter’s sweater. Even then most photos did not come out very good. In hindsight I probably left the lens open too long (usually 5 seconds–I probably should have went for something closer to 2 or 3 seconds).
November 18th, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Tokyo just looks like New York or Las Vegas at night, it’s not appealing when the sun up, but when the sun goes down it became one busy place.