We accidentally celebrated Tokyo Sky Tree's birthday

Series of photographs taken on May 22, 2025 in Tokyo (Japan) as part of a touristic trip.

On the second and first full day, I was surprised to see how many vending machines there are on every street. I came to Japan with the idea of ​​taking pictures of them, but in fact there were so many that I abandoned the mission.

As we walked through different neighborhoods in Tokyo, we noticed several things. First of all, this capital is truly a marriage of tradition and modernity, moving from a new building to a cultural venue side by side.
Secondly, I started noticing and taking pictures of the manhole covers, which are always so precisely and beautifully decorated.
And finally, there are very few smoking areas here. When there are, they are cut off from the rest of the population, like covered courtyards behind bushes.

We started the day in the books mini town. The area is called Kanda-Jinbōchō, (commonly known as Jinbōchō or Jimbōchō,Chiyoda district). Jimbōchō Book Town is actually full of bookstores, publishing houses, antique and second-hand stores.

K and I had a little challenge this day: to take a picture of a fairly well-known train crossing at the Hijiri bridge. It is a place where three metro and train lines intersect at different levels.

I failed the photo because I put my digital camera in front of it >-<

After lunch based on onigiri and crisps in a random Konbini, we went to Akihabara, the manga district, to buy volumes of Nana, my favorite manga that I highly recommend and to take street photographs.

Located a short walk north, we visited the vast Ueno Park with its zoo.
This stop to meet the nature here allowed me to take the time to change my film and try a new and clean public toilets.

In the park -and I was very happy about it-, we came across a baseball training.
A rather little-known random fact is that baseball is the most famous sport in Japan.
As we left the park we came across a fair of Japanese ceramics.

We then headed towards Asakusa district and to see Sensō-ji the oldest temple in Tokyo and to try this emoji 🍡 the botchan dango and matcha ice cream.

- Botchan dango are sweet rice flour balls placed on a skewer.

At 6pm for sunset, we booked a panoramic view from the Tokyo Sky Tree.

Up there, we were surprised by various things: the height of this tower (At the level we were at, we were higher than the Eiffel Tower), the view of Mount Fuji in the distance, the dramatic sunset, the stamps from the Detective Conan manga.

We went there by accident on the day of the tower's anniversary! 13 years old! So we were able to leave with magnificent pins offered after our shopping.

At least 105km away, the head of Mount Fuji rises above the clouds.

It is only when you gain height that you realize the density of this capital, which is home to almost 40 million inhabitants.

After enjoying the sunset at the Tokyo Sky Tree we headed to Itchiran Ramen in Asakusa, a place I wanted to try to taste our first ramen which ended up in the Top 3 ramen places of the trip.

The wooden partitions which separates each individual from the people around is a great invention to helpfocusing on the meal-time and the food. It feels a bit like meditation time and pure/direct connexion to food and to fuel your body.

End of the second (and first full) day on Japanese land.