Tokyo Tower

Tokyo has a little bit of an infatuation with all things Parisian, and it is most prominently manifest in the Tokyo Tower, opened in 1958. Yes, they copied the Eiffel Tower. But imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, is it not?

Fittingly, the tower is located in Roppongi, the expat center of Tokyo, filled with American military men, Nigerian bouncers, and Chinese hookers. It is loud, active, and a "bit dodgy." Here, you would be hard-pressed to find any self-respecting Japanese over the age of 30. The area is well known for its boisterous bars and night clubs. If you are out after the trains stop running at midnight, you can opt to cab it home...or party all night in Roppongi until train service begins again at 5 am.

Back to Tokyo Tower. The Eiffel is an elegant black, but here in Japan, that would not be nearly enough to hold people's attention spans. So, Tokyo Tower is painted orange and white, and is lit by 176 flood lights. The tower serves as the Tokyo metro area's primary radio and TV broadcasting wave transmitter. Oh and, the tower is 13 m taller than the Eiffel, making it the world's largest self-supporting steel structure. Snap!

To further Japanify the tower, it does not merely have an observation deck. No no, there is an aquarium inside. And a wax museum and Nipponland amusement park and a slew of restaurants and shops. My eyes were glazing over at this shameless tourist trap, but then, I saw that on the fourth floor there is an exhibit on statistics! Zomg.

Unfortunately, the statistics exhibit was closed for the day, so I was denied the chance to learn whether the Japanese use "rogarithms."

The observation deck at 150m is closed, and while this protects you from the elements, it makes taking photos much more difficult since you are photographing through glass. In that respect, the Eiffel definitely wins.