Best Viewpoint in Tokyo

It makes a while I am testing the best view points around Tokyo. It's not always easy as the weather needs to be fair, particularly in order to see Mount Fuji, which occurs most often in the winter.

My favourites are the following :

1) Revolving restaurant at the 17th floor of the New Otani Hotel, Akasaka. Not only does is offer a perfect 360degrees view, but its central location allows to see the whole of Tokyo at equal distance, from Shinjuku to Otemachi or Shimbashi. The only drawback is that you have to pay and just a tea/cofee will cost you at least 700yen.

2) Shinjuku's Tochou 都庁 (Tokyo Metropolitan Government Towers). It's free and at the top of the 45th floor it's probably the highest place you can go in Tokyo. The view on the surrounding skyscrapers is fabulous, especially at night. Mount Fuji is well visible during daytime - beware, however, that even if the sky is blue, it might be hazy in which case, you won't see anything. The main weak point is that the other main areas of Tokyo (Imperial Palace, Otemachi, Akasaka...) are too far away to be appreciated.

3) The Yurikamome (monorail) ride from Shimbashi to Odaiba pass above most building and gives a great view on the bay of Tokyo, Rainbow Bridge (that you actually cross), Shimbashi new scyscrapers and other towers such as the Triton center in Kachidoki or the blue and orange Tsukuda appartment towers.

4) Ebisu Garden Place Tower. You can go for free at the 2 top floors (about 35 floors), which have plenty of restaurants in the midst of a splendid Graeco-Roman mythological decoration. You can see Shinjuku, Shibuya, Akasaka, Mount Fuji and even Yokohama.

We need pics to compare. :)

Tokyo Tower and Sunsine City are my only experiences in this regard (they have this nice acquarium up there at Sunshine). I never managed to visit either of them on a clear day though.

A little off topic, but an equally worthy viewing experience can be located in Yokohama, a fairly large city nearby Tokyo. Landmark tower has a very nice view of the city. And a nifty note as well, it has the world's fastest elevator to the top, something like 69 floors. Very worth while trip.

I just found out it takes only 40 seconds to get up to the 69th floor. Woo, probably comes close to feeling like rising up to the top on the Superman Ride in Six Flags.

Oh my god... "long live Aoyama Motoko"... I love you! ::looks up at bedroom door and reads Kanji from giant sticker on my door... <I love Aoyama Motoko>.:D

I have to add this viewpoint too. I have taken these pictures from the Century Park Tower in Tsukishima (Chuo-ku). It was built 4 years ago, has 54 floors and its height is about 180m. It is also the highest tower in the residential district called River City 21.

If you read Japanese, have a look at the ranking of the highest towers in Tokyo ; the Century Park ranks 20th, but it is also the highest residential tower in the capital (and therefore in Japan ?) and 4th highest in number of floors (2nd and 3rd have just one more).

This other site has another ranking of tower above 150m for each city in Japan (including building in construction) and this one has the complete ranking for all Japan. The Century tower still rank 36th, on the no less than 583 towers higher than 100m in Japan !

The other pics are in the gallery

Nice pics, Maciamo! :cool:

Were they taken recently?

No later than this morning. I am lucky enough to have a friend who lives at the 49th floor of this building. Unfortunately the weather was quite hazy so we couldn't see mount Fuji and the cityscape isn't very clear. I'll try to go back another day when the climatic condition are better.

Wow, you really keep this forum up-to-date! :)

Here is a picture taken last december from the Tokyo Metropolitan government building in Shinjuku. Unfortunately, it was a hazy day too. I have put more pics in the gallery.

This is the view from the revolving restaurant at the top of the New Otani Hotel in Akasaka. We can see the State Guest House in Akasaka Park and Shijuku in the backdrop.

Wonderful pic, Maciamo! Thanks also for the other photos you uploaded today, they stimulated my stomach!

;)

Nice pics indeed! Thnx for posting these :beer:

On a side note, my personal fav is the view of Hakodate at night but Tokyo certainly has some wonderful backdrops. Odori Koen in Sapporo during the Snow Festival especially at night when all the sculptures are illuminated with lights is also quite grand.

Here is a view from the Akasaka Park Tower (from JP Morgan's office :p ).

Got a new job, Maciamo? :)

Hi,
this is a pretty old thread, but I guess I could put my contribution here. I personnally like very much the view from the new Otani new Tower, where there is a very nice "all you can eat" buffet (a good and reasonnably expensive date spot), and a fantastic view of Tokyo, especially of the gardens around Akakasa.

I posted a few picture, and a suggested walk of Akasaka and Hanzomon neighbourhood there: http://uchimizu-en.blogspot.com/2008...-akasaka.html/