Roppongi
Moving on to my next picture set, today we will be looking at the area of Roppongi（六本木：ろっぽんぎ）in Tokyo. Roppongi is an upscale area of Tokyo with many bars, nightclubs, lounges, shopping malls and other sorts of expensive things. It has 2 relatively well known landmarks, the first being Tokyo Tower, and the second being the newer area of Roppongi Hills（六本木ヒルズ), which was opened around 2003. There are many foreigners who work in Roppongi as it is also a rather large business district. If you are the type who enjoys blowing off large amounts of cash in exchange for some entertainment, I would highly recommend you check Roppongi out.
Like my Yoyogi post, I’m going to go through a few pictures and explain some of the areas in Roppongi I checked out. Enjoy!
Heading down to Roppongi by use of the Oedo line. I believe the majority (if not all) of the subway systems are privatized in Japan. This makes for cleaner subway stations, more timely (as in always on time) trains, and better service. Unlike the rubbish TTC and YRT/VIVA over here in Toronto.
Exiting the subway station and about 3 or 4 levels of underground shopping centers, you will find yourself at the edge of one of the craziest looking buildings in Tokyo: Roppongi Hills (refer back to first picture). You also see some weird looking spider thing, with eggs in it. I looked into what it was about before, but I really don’t care for it, as it creeps me out.
The majority of dealerships in Roppongi are extremely high end ones. Here we have a nice picture of one of the Aston Martins outside the dealership. As it has been many many years since I’ve had enthusiastic interest in cars (after owning one), I would ask someone else to be nice enough to inform everyone of what model this is. I just snap pics of what I know is hot. Thanks Vas for the correction.
Although probably not amongst the more classy bars I mentioned previously, this is definitely the most hilarious & clever thing I have ever seen. Sorry, didn’t go inside… didn’t wanna be a hangover.
Hit up Tokyo Tower in order to check out the view. This place is a must, as it gives you an amazing view of Tokyo. Mount Fuji is also visible, but only on the clearest of days. I should mention that it was about 30+ degrees C, with Tokyo humidity… and we decided to walk from Roppongi Hills to the Tower. Why? I don’t even know.
Picture taken from: Tokyo Tower 150m observation deck. Picture of: Roppongi Hills. At least we got a good work out.
No idea how I managed to take this picture, but it makes it look as though I’m hanging over the edge. Despite being well over 6 feet tall, looking down from extreme heights terrify me.
It is simply amazing when you look at the urban landscape just stretch on forever. If you were to do this on the CN Tower in Toronto, you would see the downtown core and nothing but open space in every direction as far as the eye could see. Check the gallery for dozens of pictures like this one.
We never got a chance to play with the tourist info screens because the kids on field trips always hogged the cool stuff!
The streets around Roppongi Hills are very clean and well maintained. There is a lot of stuff to do and places to explore, but we just ended up walking around and snapping pictures for the most part.
One of my more favorite shots of Roppongi.
There are about 120 pictures from my visit to Roppongi in the gallery. Have a look!
May 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am
that car looks like an aston martin bro
awesome post, always enjoy the pics!
keep it up
May 27th, 2008 at 3:38 am
Nice portrayal of the pong man, looks nice during the day!
May 27th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Vas: Haha, wow I messed that one up big eh? I totally didn’t even bother looking at the pic before I upped it.
I fail haha.
Neil: Thanks. From the sounds of it you’ve never been during the day! Although that is completely understandable.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
The car is Aston Martin Vantage.
Roppongi Hills looks a nice place to chill, isn’t the spider an art piece?
May 27th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
It’s amazing how they manage to keep it so clean. They gotta put a lot of money into the cleaning, or maybe the Japanese just don’t throw their stuff on the streets like everyone does here (well, except for me of course!).
Roppongi would probably be one of my favorite areas in Tokyo, as I’m interested in modern design and expensive things ^^
May 27th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Ahhhaahh, you didn’t include and pics of the nasty part of Roppongi; You know, the one where nightclub doormen practically drag women in off the street kicking and screaming? The place where you get to see the majority of foreigners treat Japan as if it were nothing more than a playground. Not a far walk from Tokyo Tower or the Mori Building at all.
But, nice pics as usual, my friend.
May 27th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Rayz: thanks for the correction again haha. Yeah it is an art piece, but I forgot who made it and why haha.
Sano: Gum is placed into wrappers and thrown into the garbage, smoking is prohibited on most major streets, and other measures are taken to keep everything clean. I think for the Japanese, they have the mentality that they don’t want to be caught being a bad citizen, because of their collective mentality. In other areas of the world that hold very individualistic views, people don’t care as much about what others think of them and litter, be loud, etc without giving a care about the people around them. And yeah, you’d probably enjoy yourself there haha.
Billy: I actually never got the chance to be in Roppongi at night (I only went there 2 times!). I’m sure the atmosphere at night completely changes from what it is during the day. I did go by some more rutty places on the walk to the Tower from the Hills, but the street were rather quiet, probably due to it being 2 in the afternoon. I suggest you do a post on that aspect of Roppongi!
Thanks for the comments, as always.
May 27th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
“I suggest you do a post on that aspect of Roppongi!”
Hmmm…. That might just happen.
May 29th, 2008 at 12:06 am
hang-o-bar, gonna be hangover HAHAHAHAHA…… u should of went in =P