Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building

Monday saw us traveling to Shinjuku to visit the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building. It was finished 25 years ago at the cost of around one billion US Dollars so a popular nickname is: "Tax Tower" but it is one of the best places in Tokyo to see the city from on high.

The building splits into two towers at the 33rd floor. We visited the south tower and enjoyed a great view because the usually smoggy Tokyo air was a little more clear than usual.

All of Japan's buildings are designed to withstand earthquakes. The TMG Building has a system of four columns, a column inside each corner of each tower is cross braced internally then at each tenth floor there is  matrix of horizontal cross bracing.They seem to be able to withstand the level 9 earthquake that is forecast to hit within the next 30 years.

The view from 202 meters above the city

The green area is the grounds of Meiji Jingu where we visited yesterday

The north and south towers rising from the 33rd floor

A beautiful city administrative building

While walking on the street I saw this sign. Wish we had these rules in Seattle, especially the one about no flicking cigarette butts. I pick up trash along the sidewalk outside the VFW building in Ballard (Seattle) and on a recent day I picked up 49 cigarette butts that people casually flick onto the sidewalk. I guess they think those butts will magically disappear. I like this idea of not throwing them down in the first place.

After visiting the TMG Building we walked a few blocks to visit the Ten-Thousand-Year Store. It reminded me of an old Army-Navy surplus store with lots of bargains from the low-labor-cost countries.

Back across town on the subways to our hotel where we called it another good day of sightseeing in the great city of Tokyo.

A correction is in order here. A couple posts ago I mentioned the Pasmo system where riders could use their smartphones to pay fares on the train system. Smartphones can be used to buy tickets (and many other things) but the Pasmo system is different. The system uses a card, prepaid and readable by RFID, that is good on most of the public transportation systems here. Smartphone readers are also available but this Pasmo system is more convenient for mass transit.