The Mori Tower and Louise Bourgeois’s Spider (Maman)
In front of the Mori Tower, in the Roppongi Hills complex, there is a giant spider called Maman. We saw a smaller version of it in Denmark a couple years ago.
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Posts tagged mori tower
Illuminations in and around Roppongi
Last Friday night we went to Tokyo Midtown in Roppongi to check out the Christmas lights (referred to as illuminations or イルミネーション) and have some dinner. The restaurants with the good views in the Garden Terrace were all booked so we had some inexpensive, Vietnamese food without a view instead. Ironically, even though the place was packed, all the restaurants and shops closed at 9 p.m. We then headed over to Roppongi Hills where I took the above photo of the Tokyo Tower, which was lit differently than usual.
The Mori Garden was illuminated as it basked in the glow of Asahi TV Studio.
The Grass Square behind the Midtown Tower and Garden Terrace were the scene for this ever-changing light display.
Near the top of the Mori Tower
The guidebook in our apartment (copyright pre-2003) said there is no point in going to Roppongi unless you are going at night. Well, we had no plans one Sunday morning so we went anyway. It turns out things have changed since the Mori Tower was built in Roppongi Hills (六本木ヒルズ森タワー) and now there is plenty to do any time of the day or night.
My son went to a movie in Mori Tower with his friends, my wife went shopping in and around Mori Tower, and my daughter and I went up the Mori Tower to the top. It isn’t free to get to the top. On this day it was 2,000 yen for adults and 700 yen for kids, but there are several things to see at the top. The “Tokyo City View” offers a very nice 360 degree view of the city. Unlike the free views in Shinjuku, there are no other skyscrapers in the area to block your view. You’re also close enough to the Tokyo Tower to get a really good angle on it.
Currently there is a Sky Aquarium at the top included in admission. The various fish and their tanks would have seemed quite cheap with the music turned off and the houselights on, but in this environment they were very Japanese–mysterious and somewhat magical.
One of the nice things about the views from the top is that you aren’t just pressed up against glass like you usually are from typical observation points. Instead, you can get a drink, sit, relax, and enjoy the view. Besides the bar setting, there are somewhat private bench sitting/viewing places, rooms with built in seats around the edge, and a variety of other options as well.
I’ll show you some more pictures from the top as well as some of the museum, which is also included in admission, on a later date.