Ireland day 1336. Monday 26 May 2025- Tokyo 3

Today’s summary	Our last full day in Tokyo today. After breakfast caught the Ueno and Asakusa underground lines to Oshiage station and went up the 450m / 1450ft Tokyo Skytree. Had a good look round then got lunch in the food court at the bottom. Walked over from there to Ueno park to admire the cherry trees which would have been in full bloom a month ago. Then got the Oedo line back to Shinjuku. Rounded off the evening with our third trip to the spa and then dinner in the basement.
Today’s weather	Dry but cloudy all day. No significant wind. Appx 21c

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Skytree to Oedo Park

Commentary

Today was our last full day in Tokyo and although in three days it’s impossible to do anything other than scratch the surface of this immense city, we still wanted to try and do full justice to our day.

So yet again we were down to breakfast as the restaurant opened at 7am, then we were out and about and exploring very soon afterwards. We wanted to go over to a part of the city in the north-west that we hadn’t visited before, and more specifically to have a look at the SkyTree – the tallest man made structure in Japan. It’s 634m (2050 ft) to the very top.

It took us about 45 minutes to get there via the the Oedo and Asakusa lines and even though it was still early, by the time we reached the Skytree plaza, it was already starting to get busy. We had to wait a while to go in as the earliest I could get tickets for was 11:30am. But once we were on the move, the process to get on the 2 consecutive lifts that take you to the higher of the two viewing platforms (450m) was very slick indeed – and especially so considering there were literally thousands of us today.

We eventually made it to the top and had a good – if somewhat vertiginous – look round. We spent about an hour up there then made our way back down in the 600m / minute express lift. Back on terra firma, we got a non-vernacular but tasty cheese fondue for lunch then set off on the next stage of our travels.

From the SkyTree we headed roughly west, over the Sumida river and into the huge Senso-Ji temple complex – the largest in Tokyo. We only gave it a passing look, as we were feeling a bit templed-out by this stage and in any case we wanted to get on to our next destination- which was Ueno Park.

This park is famous for the cherry blossom – which would have peaked a few weeks ago. But today it was more notable for a couple of more prosaic curiosities. Firstly, the pop-up market on the central walkway, which was selling old crockery, and secondly for the man who was walking through the park nonchalantly taking a monkey on a leash for a walk.

After all this excitement we decided that it was time to head for home, so caught another Oedo line train back from Ueno-Okachimachi station to Shinjuku. But following the pattern of the previous two days, we didn’t go straight back to the hotel but diverted via the Thermae-yu spa for a dip in the hot ponds and dinner afterwards in the basement.

Another fabulous day but now I’m feeling quite tired and in danger of writing gibberish. So I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead, but will be back bright and early tomorrow!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


The Skytree. Like Blackpool Tower on steroids	At the 450m viewing gallery. If I look apprehensive that’s because I am. I have an awful head for heights!

Birds eye view of a train. I think I prefer the worm’s eye view	Asahi Beer head office, on the banks of the Sumida River – Tokyo’s main river

Senso-Ji temple	Crockery market in the main broadwalk of Ueno Park. Rice bowls, anyone?

Magnificent (but still narrow-gauge) steam locomotive outside the National Museum of Nature and Science, in Ueno Park. Unfortunately the museum is closed on Mondays – the only day when we could schedule a visit