Yet another morning came, and I didn't know what to do with my last full day in Japan. I knew for sure that I would go to the butoh class tonight, but that wasn't until 8 o'clock. What was I supposed to do until then?
The sky outside was beautiful, and as usual from my Asakusa hotel, I had a great view of the Tokyo Sky Tree. This reminded me that about a week ago, or so, my friend had taken me here, and I had thought about coming back. The reason that I wanted to come back to the Sky Tree was because I enjoy taking photographs and creating panoramic collage images by stitching the photos together. When I was in Tokyo six years ago, I went high in the Mori Hills Tower in Roppongi to create a similar collage. Since this place was so close, and I have made other such collages (Vatican City comes to mind), I felt like I should take advantage of the opportunity and try to create another such collage of Tokyo, from a far different perspective. (Also, I didn't want to bother my friend with me taking several hundred photos all around the observation deck, so I couldn't do it before, but this time would be perfect because I was alone.)
When I got to the observation deck, it did not seem like the day was as clear as it had seemed from almost 400 meters below. There was a lot of haze in the atmosphere, and the far away buildings could not be seen as clearly as I had hoped. Eh, well these are the ways that things happen sometimes, but the project would have to get done.
So I started snapping away photos from each of the windows all around the Sky Tree observation deck. Because there were so many people, this did make it a bit challenging simply because I would have to wait for a people to leave a window that I needed to shoot from.
At one point, in the rush to sneak into a space where I could get the shot I wanted, I accidentally brushed against someone's leg. I quickly apologized, and he seemed to have no problem with the matter. In fact, he and his wife began to talk to me, and ask me questions. We ended up having a conversation for about 30 minutes about travelling, America, Japan, family, and cameras. This conversation happened in a some sort of pidgin language that incorporated my own broken Japanese, their broken English, and a lot of hand gestures. I really enjoyed the conversation that I had with these folks, and almost didn't want it to end. However, I had pictures to take, and they had to go get lunch, so that was that. Before leaving, the lady insisted on giving me her business card, and appreciated it. I hope to email all of the people I've met here in Japan after I return home.
In any case, I finished snapping all the pictures, but before I left I had to take a shot of the uniform that the Sky Tree staff were wearing. I loved the little designs on the shirt, and only later realized they are stylized trees. But the best part of the outfit was the scarf that the men had to wear around their necks. Men don't wear kerchiefs like this anymore.
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