The Curious Case of the Golden Turnip (3/2/17)

As I said...famous last words.

As we all know, I'm not the fittest. I could probably run fast enough to escape a bear but if the bear chases me for more than a few meters then I'd become McNuggets. Walking to the skytree we learnt a valuable lesson:

Just because you can see your destination does not mean you should walk there. The Skytree itself is 634 meters tall and to begin with the 1.7km walk seemed like it was going to be a doddle. The sun was shining, we were fresh from springtime bean throwing and we wanted to save some money. We merrily made our way towards the river, taking in the sights. The old lady on her bike with a basket full of groceries, the business men enjoying their lunch break, the giant golden turnip. 

Wait what?

huh?

Yeah I'm not kidding. On top of a sleek black building there stands a gigantic golden turnip. What is it for? Does it channel lightning? Can you get inside the turnip? Does the boss live in there? What if it's actually a parsnip? 

Full of questions we got closer, as the Parsturnip as on the way to the Skytree.

It was beyond comprehension.

It made even less sense close up. Is it like a bat signal? Does it signal heroes or monsters? Is it Godzilla's toenail? The questions kept coming, and we amused ourselves trying to work out the Parsturnail's purpose. We never reached a conclusion.

Once the distraction of the golden wonder had passed us, I began to realise the extent of my lack of aforementioned fitness. It wasn't my legs that gave out, it was my back. Carrying a bag the size of my body had not been kind to my back, and now it began to protest being made to carry me such a distance. Like the 'before' lady in the Voltarol back pain gel adverts I struggled to take more than a few steps before needing to stop and rest. We ended up sitting in a park for half an hour counting the amount of Shiba Inu's we could see. Typically we didn't have any pain killers on us but by this point the tower seemed so close I decided to push on. 

You know in films when the protagonist is going down a tunnel or corridor, and no matter how far they go the door at the end seems to get further away? Well that's exactly how it felt chasing the Skytree. Eventually however we walked through the doors, got our tickets and boarded the elevator.

In total there are four elevators, and each one is decorated based on the four seasons. I wasn't quick enough to take a photo but on the way up we got the Autumn elevator, which was bathed in a cool orange light and had bronze maple leaves on the ceiling. After 30 seconds we reached the top and looked out over Tokyo for the first time. 

The city has no end!

I'd never seen such a sprawl of civilisation. No matter how far away you looked all you can see is high rises, skyscrapers and city life. It was mind boggling.

Tokyo city; Mammoth for scale.

There are windows on the entire circumference of the tower, and we whiled away an hour playing eye spy and eating ice cream mixed with Frosties, which was unexpectedly delicious. 

We attempted to spot Fuji, but by this point it had been covered by cloud :( 

We got our fill of the view and then boarded the elevator back down again, this time getting a spring theme with glowing pink Sakura blossoms covering the walls. I half want to go back just to see the other elevators! Leaving the tower we passed an art exhibition, whee the tower had been recreated in loads of different styles by local artists. Some of them were beautifully intricate, and it was interesting to see so many incarnations of the tower.

We soon learnt that when in Tokyo you're never more than a short hop away from a giant shopping mall. The Skytree was no exception, and we had a great time wandering all the crazy nerd shops, discovering that Japan has a version of Tiger called Flying Tiger (Petition to change the UK name to this) and witnessing firsthand just how much the Japanese love PPAP (pen pineapple apple pen) Just in case you've forgotten how it goes, here's the song in all its glory.

Pen Pineapple Apple Pen  🍎🍍

Have fun with that stuck in your head for the rest of the day!

I wasn't joking.

Coming out of the mall we also came across a Studio Ghibli shop, and I've gotta tell you it's the closest I've ever come to emptying my bank account. However I know we're going to the Ghibli museum when we return to Tokyo in April so I'll have to wait! They had some super cute displays though. 

It was getting dark, so we bid farewell to the Skytree and went in search of dinner, making the sensible decision to take the train. We ended up at the same place we ate last night in Kabukicho because even though we've got our big girl pants on, it's still pure madness in this city. But I'm loving it. 

Much arty vibe.

Very wow moon.