Thursday, July 10, 2008

Tokyo Tower is an envious woman


Tokyo Tower was green with envy** this past Sunday night. She is being replaced with an upgraded version that is almost twice her 330 metres. Her only consolation is that the new younger woman is going to reside in Sumida-ku. I couldn't believe this when I heard it! What would suit the old, quiet and sometimes rundown neighbourhoods in Sumida-ku more than a huge silver gleaming monstrosity of a tower?! Wiki said the new tower is "designed to have graceful curves similar to samurai swords and traditional Japanese buildings so that it does not detract from the surrounding scenery". Riiiight, we won't even know it's there. Give me a break!! The planned site is around Oshiage station AKA where the fuck is that?! The construction website for the silver phallus informs us "Now Oshiage is silent town". You bet your ass it is.

Although the old Tower (how insensitive am I calling it old when the new one doesn't yet exist?!) is somewhat of an eyesore, I do get a cheap and easy thrill when I see it poking through various open spots in the city (but will not admit this to anyone). And yet I climbed up her red iron skirts for the first time on Sunday when the beau and I had some time to kill before dinner. But don't worry, despite the romantic tanabata atmosphere and the twinkling lights we didn't hoochie-coo like some other cheap thrill seekers. I've also decided that the Tower is best appreciated from the outside, because the big pimp view of Tokyo is from Tokyo City View at Roppongi Hills.

Thanks to some net trawling to find out more about the Other Woman, I discovered a building I've wanted to see in person may or may not exist anymore. So I am going on an architectural hunt tonight, and that building better not stand me up!!!

**Despite my jealous woman analogy, it was actually green to promote environmental stuff or some shit for the G8 conference in Hokkaido this week. I hope those mega-power lights are environmentally friendly.

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