I've been to Tokyo Station, 東京駅, every trip I've made to Tokyo. Either passing through or changing trains, or for shopping and going through the Yaesu side. But I've never seen the front of it without the scaffold. That was 2008. I can say I finally did see the front side ten years later.
Opened in 1914, the brick western Neo-Baroque architecture is probably one of the best known buildings in Tokyo. The architect was Tatsuno Kingo, noted for a number of other western and Japanese styled buildings at that time.
While Tokyo Station handles more trains than any other station in Japan, it's not the most busiest. That prize goes to Shinjuku Station. Even so, it felt like there were more tourists here than at Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro Stations, which are the top three busiest stations in the world. By the way, I noticed a number of women wearing gauze skirts over leggings. Spring fashion trend for Tokyo.
It was worth walking the long Tokyo Michi Terrace, 東京ミチテラス, to get the full view of this grand building.
Besides being a pedestrian friendly way of walking through Marunouchi, the Terrace is really popular in December for the illumination displays.
It runs from Tokyo Station to the Imperial Palace. One of the towers can be seen in this photo. While it was tempting to head that way, I had other plans.
Instead I headed onto Naka-dori where this white tiger was keeping an eye on things.
The wooden tiger was sculpted by Atsuhiko Misawa.
Next post will be about seeing another animal out in the wilds of Tokyo.
No comments:
Post a Comment