After a nice little nap and thunder storm, the boys and I ventured out for some driving practice. After a few random turns off of Roppongi Dori, we ran smack into the Tokyo Tower. What better way to run off some extra energy than to take a trip up to one of Tokyo's most popular attractions? Did you know there was even a Tokyo Tower? This is as close to the Eiffel Tower as I will get for awhile, I imagine. According to the Tokyo Tower brochure - I might as well forego even wanting to see the Eiffel Tower - it would just pale in comparison, apparently. Read this excerpt from my brochure and you'll see why: "333m - Height of the Tokyo Tower. Since its opening in 1958, the Tokyo Tower has been the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower. The Eiffel Tower in Paris is 320 m high." Actually according to the official website, the Eiffel Tower is 312m high. "The Tokyo Tower weighs about 4,000 tons. It is much lighter than the Eiffel Tower, which weighs 7,000 tons, a result of remarkable advances in steel manufacturing and construction technology." It also functions as a support for an antenna that broadcasts both digital radio and digital TV signals. So clearly there's no reason to visit the Eiffel Tower now - well maybe to see the view. Do you think if Tom Cruise had proposed to Katie Holmes here, it would have garnered the same amount of attention? Actually, it was a pretty neat adventure and I'm glad we stumbled upon it.
Japan's love affair with anime and mascots is very real, and sometimes a bit disturbing. Tokyo Tower adopted twin bother mascots called the Noppon Brothers. The older one wears blue overalls, and the younger one pictured here, wears red. They have published hobbies such as "meeting people" and "sunbathing". I'm not quite sure what the creators were going for, but the obvious image kind of smacks you in the face (not literally). However, mature adults that we all are, we continue to pretend that we don't notice that the brothers look like pepto bismol private parts, and let our children have their picture taken with the strange creatures. It could just be me, though. What do you guys think? Pencils? Coneheads? Oh yes, and the older one (in blue) also always has a bandaid on his "forehead" - WHAT??!! I just gotta shake my head sometimes.
Ja Mata!
1 comments:
I literally started LMBO while almost falling out of my chair at lunch! You wrote some things that Mandy didn't say about Tokyo tower mascots and their appearance... hmmm one has to wonder. Other than that...glad to hear about the car and Harajuku looks like it was a great time. Have a great week!
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