Well enough of my boring life in Minnesota cleaning floors and picking up dead leaves, let's talk about my life in Japan! haha! I really enjoyed my last trip to Japan, which really helped me to decide about my future (well near future XD). I didn't go many new places during Japan Trip 9, lots of nice relaxing days, but one new place I got to see was the Sky Tree Town!
A view of the Sky Tree and Solamachi coming out of the subway
It was even more packed than this pic leads to believe T_T
Some cute goods in a random shop
Previously when I went to see the Sky Tree Japan during Japan Trip 8 the tower was under construction, more done than not, but still unfinished and the surrounding area all torn up! So imagine my surprise when I returned just a bit more than a year later to find everything changed!
A fountain outside with kids making good use of it on that hot day
An exterior view
Amazingly adorable window at the Disney Store, looooove it!
The display in front of W*C
Not only had the Tower been finished, the pit that surrounded it had magically transformed into another shopping/amusement area! There's tons of shopping areas in Tokyo, and plenty that also include amusements but what's one more? Ha! Now the base of the Sky Tree is a multi-level maze like shopping mall with an aquarium, and museum underneath. This complex has been named Solamachi, which is an English-fied version of Soramachi meaning Sky Town.
The day I went to see the Sky Tree Solamachi was a public holiday though, so it was monstrously crowded T___T I guess everyone had the same idea "Hey you have the day off, let's go see the finished Sky tree!!" The crowds were seething, thronging, it was difficult to even walk much less browse the shops...
The beginning of the line to go up the Tower was all the way outside and the wait time was a couple hours out
On the roof there were some more shops and entertainment
The basement had this really neat moving picture of Tokyo
Stop here and make sure to bring back a gift for your family or coworkers
Being a proper thing in Japan, the Sky Tree has it's own mascot!
But Solamachi does have ALOT of shops, clothing shops, accessories, books, hobby goods, sweets everything that's appealing for women haha. They even have a modest selection of gyaru shops (including a W*C with some very cute shop staff!) I would have been happy to look around, so maybe I'll go back so I can really see everything.
I also didn't go to the top of the Sky Tree because it's expensive! It works out to over 30$ bucks after the exchange rate if you want to go all the way to the top :/ To me that's food for a couple days or a nice tshirt, so I'll just enjoy looking up at it haha. But there's still an aquarium, shops and some displays in the basement to keep you occupied!
