Japan Photo Guide

Tokyo Tower is Japan’s answer to the Eiffel Tower, and by answer I mean that the Eiffel Tower was used as a model and Tokyo Tower was built to be 13 meters taller than it’s sibling in France. This 333 meter steel structure is the largest self supporting steel structure in the world and has television and radio broadcast attenas and is a tourist attraction. The main observatory offers great views, but personally I prefer Roppongi Hills Tower.

To get to the Tokyo Tower take JR Yamanote Line or the JR Kehin-Tohoku Line and get off at Hamamatsucho, which is about 9 minutes from Tokyo Station (same direction as Shinjuku). For more information see the official site of the Tokyo Tower.

All photos of the Tokyo Tower are copyright of photopassjapan.com.

The Yamanote Line is one of Tokyo’s busiest and most important train lines that runs a circle around the center of Tokyo (think of it as a train “belt line” that runs around a city). The Yamanote line goes to almost all of Tokyo’s major and urban areas including Shinjuku, Shibuya, Ginza, Akihabara, Ueno and Ikebukuro. Only 6 of the 29 stations on the Yamanote Line do not connect to other railway or subway lines. The blue numbers on the information graphic below show the time it takes between the big oval stations (for example from Ueno to Tokyo it takes about 7 minutes). It takes about an hour to make a full loop and while I have not done it yet, but one day I think it would be interesting to ride around the whole loop because I think some really interesting photos could be made.

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Nikko (日光市), located in Tochigi Prefecture, is a relatively small city population wise, but after recently merging with a few other cities in March of 2006 it covers a vast area. Nikko is very famous for it’s beautiful nature– including waterfalls, lakes and especially fall leaves–and it’s temples and shrines. For the main part, these two famous features of Nikko, nature and temples, are divided into two different areas, so you need at least two days to see Nikko; however I recommend 3 days and 2 nights, staying one night close to Lake Chuzenji and one day in the actually city. The nature area, Nikko National Park, is about an hour drive away from the temple area and the drive is up a curvy mountain road. For more information about Central Nikko please see my other post about Nikko National Park. For more information about Nikko National Park, keep reading here.

If you are going to see the fall leaves know that the two areas of Nikko change colors at different times. The Nikko National park at a much higher elevation and tends to change color about 2 weeks before the central area. I was there just a little late for Nikko National Park area just a little early for Central Nikko

See more photos and read the rest of this entry »

Nikko (日光市), located in Tochigi Prefecture, is a relatively small city population wise, but after recently merging with a few other cities in March of 2006 it covers a vast area. Nikko is very famous for it’s beautiful nature– including waterfalls, lakes and especially fall leaves–and it’s temples and shrines. For the main part, these two famous features of Nikko, nature and temples, are divided into two different areas, so you need at least two days to see Nikko; however I recommend 3 days and 2 nights, staying one night close to Lake Chuzenji and one day in the actually city. The nature area, Nikko National Park, is about an hour drive away from the temple area and the drive is up a curvy mountain road. For more information about Nikko National park, including Lake Chuzenji, please see my post about Nikko National Park. For more information about the city of Nikko (often called Central Nikko), keep reading here.

If you are going to see the fall leaves know that the two areas of Nikko change colors at different times. The Nikko National park at a much higher elevation and tends to change color about 2 weeks before the central area. I was there just a little late for Nikko National Park area just a little early for Central Nikko.

See more photos and read the rest of this entry »