This is the first post in a long overdue attempt to photoblog my trip to Japan from two years ago. Hopefully, there will be many more to follow; keep an eye open.
The above photo is actually the last picture I shot while in Japan. M and I were in a bus on the way to the Narita airport, when I spotted the famed Tokyo Tower outside the window. I snapped wildly in its general direction as the bus flew past. Somehow, the tower ended up in focus in the center of the frame — with only a distinct lack of headroom to disappoint me. Sometimes you get lucky, I guess.
We’d seen the monument at night during the first week of our visit, when M and I had split briefly from our friends Stephen and Helen to take a quick trip to nearby Roppongi Hills. The tower was all lit up in orange, but neither of us could get a decent shot, and we didn’t have the time to keep trying or get closer. I assumed I’d missed my chance to capture it. I was wrong.
The Tokyo Tower was completed in 1958 and obviously modeled on Paris’ Eiffel Tower. It was built to symbolize Japan’s emergence as a force in the postwar world economy. Today, it mainly functions as an enormous radio and television broadcasting antenna… and, oh yes, a tourist attraction.
In recent years, the tower has been prominently featured in a number of Japanese movies and TV shows — GAMERA: GUARDIAN OF THE UNIVERSE, POKEMON, SAILOR MOON, and TOKYO GODFATHERS (a very loose remake of John Ford’s 3 GODFATHERS).
According to Wikipedia, a character in the Anime TV series YOU’RE UNDER ARREST claims the following: the Tokyo Tower was built from recycled American tanks left over after the Korean War.
I won’t, however, vouch for that “fact.”
UPDATE: How could I forget to mention my beloved Mothra in this post? In addition to being partial inspiration for my web-moniker, she destroyed the hapless Tokyo Tower in her film debut. And she was only a larval kaiju when she did it!
