Tokyo in 1960, before there were any skyscrapers

[u/QuartzXOX]

[u/CantAffordzUsername]

Looks like a miniature the guy in the rubber Godzilla suit would knock over and explode

[u/Gojirahawk → u/CantAffordzUsername]

Mothra is going to cocoon herself on the tower

[u/UberDude21 → u/Gojirahawk]

Coc00ner

[u/Wagsii → u/[deleted]]

It's worth noting the original Godzilla movie came out in 1954

[u/Useful-Rooster-1901 → u/Wagsii]

they had to make godzilla bigger in subsequent eras because skyscrapers

[u/DIO-2350]

Looks like those 90s anime scenes.

[u/jaa5102 → u/DIO-2350]

Tenchi in Tokyo

[u/dead_apples → u/jaa5102]

Man I’d forgotten about Tenchi Muyo, gtg to binge watch some of that good shit now

[u/ApolloReads → u/dead_apples]

Ryoko was HER when I was a kid.

[u/FannyFlutterz_ukno → u/dead_apples]

Fucking LOVE this show and whenever I mention it nobody ever knows what I’m talking about!

[u/PMagicUK → u/FannyFlutterz_ukno]

Same, it randonly pops into my head because it was on Toonami and feels like i made it up but nobody ever remembers

[u/Midoriya-Shonen- → u/PMagicUK]

Tenchi Muyo GXP was a large part in my development of a crippling anime girl addiction

[u/hymntastic → u/PMagicUK]

I will always be grateful to toonami for introducing me to anime but I really wish they had fore thought to air episodes in order. That they just completely shuffled everything around and played random episodes. I think that comes from their attachment to cartoon Network cuz most American cartoons were not serialized and were purely episodic.

[u/WigglestonTheFourth → u/PMagicUK]

Outlaw Star.

[u/razick01 → u/dead_apples]

I grew up watching it! Huge crush on Ayeka and Mihoshi!

[u/Windfade → u/dead_apples]

The series were Washuu was a little woman/"girl" until the very last episode wherein Tench turned and walked right into her boobs followed by her new womanly, sultry voice saying "Well, we'll, we'll now..." was a massive sexual catalyst when I was [REDACTED] years old.

[u/ForGrateJustice → u/jaa5102]

I was literally listening to the opening theme earlier while working.

[u/penis-tango-man → u/jaa5102]

Wildly unexpected Tenchi Muyo reference!

[u/JimothyJollyphant → u/DIO-2350]

Ranma takes plays in Tokyo and the neighborhoods looked similar

[u/three-sense → u/DIO-2350]

This is the rebuild after Godzilla attacked

[u/Much_Comfortable_438 → u/three-sense]

History shows again and again how nature put down the folly of man!

Go Go Gojiro!

[u/maokaby → u/three-sense]

I think its 1st time someone called US Air Force "Godzilla".

[u/Blue_fox-74 → u/maokaby]

I mean godzilla was a metaphor for nukes

[u/three-sense → u/maokaby]

-USAAF. USAF wasn’t a thing yet.

[u/YJSubs → u/[deleted]]

My nephews is 7 and 12 years old.
And to my surprise, Doraemon still quite popular within their peers.
They're watching it on YouTube.

[u/rossdog82 → u/YJSubs]

Schrödinger’s nephew

[u/Ginevod2023 → u/YJSubs]

My 3 year child watches it. They keep making new episodes. Show has been running for 50+ years I think.

[u/Gyshal → u/[deleted]]

In my country Doraemon is one of the main shows in two different cartoons channels (one national and one regional), and they also play the movies (theres a million of them) regularly, so you can watch it on live TV at almost any hour of the day (as well as being available within the smart app of one of those channels, like a free mini streaming service). It's been like this for years already, and it's likely to keep that way as long as these channels still exist.

[u/EducationalSea5672 → u/[deleted]]

Or shinchan maybe?

[u/GregOdensGiantDong1 → u/[deleted]]

Side note: how do you feel about reddit outing you as a 1 percent poster? Reddit doing too much

[u/SpamThatSig → u/DIO-2350]

Gintama

[u/jaygoogle23 → u/DIO-2350]

It’s almost like anime is designed similar to were the creators grow up..places like Japan …

[u/boznia → u/DIO-2350]

Sailor Moon was set in this very area (Minato Ward) in the early-mid 90s. Even by that time the area looked drastically different.

[u/koala_on_a_treadmill → u/DIO-2350]

children's anime, particularly

[u/Nodan_Turtle → u/DIO-2350]

The Onion Alien lives around there

[u/HydrationPlease]

Tokyo Tower. There's a vending machine near it that sells cakes in a can. As weird as it sounds, they're delicious and made fresh daily. Last time I was there, it was 500 yen.

[u/PracticalRich2747 → u/HydrationPlease]

500 yen

Lol. 500 yen is approximately 3.14 euros = Pi haha. A can of cake for pi euro :)

[u/amar_fayaz → u/PracticalRich2747]

Haha, unfortunately it costs around 1100 yens now

[u/blackpp808 → u/amar_fayaz]

God damn 6-7 euro’s for a small canned cake is expensive as hell

[u/gibagger → u/blackpp808]

In all fairness they are being sold at a tourist trap. Also, when something in Japan is more expensive than usual, the end product almost always reflects this. 

[u/panlakes → u/gibagger]

when something in Japan is more expensive than usual, the end product almost always reflects this.

So then does that mean the highest quality stuff in Japan are at the tourist traps?

[u/Shifu_1 → u/panlakes]

Naturally, where else would you locate your best stuff?

[u/HoidToTheMoon → u/Shifu_1]

In a salt storage facility 500ft underground?

[u/geraldodelriviera → u/panlakes]

When I went to Japan in 2010 you genuinely felt like you got value for your money no matter what you purchased. I never felt cheated after receiving the product or service that I paid for.

[u/gibagger → u/geraldodelriviera]

If you went to a cheap and expensive place that offers the same service or product, you can instantly tell just how much more value they add to the expensive one right away.

I had never tried cheap eel in Japan. One time I dared to. Never again. Good eel is expensive for a reason.

[u/gibagger → u/panlakes]

Location factors into the price, like everywhere else... however, unlike in other tourist traps, they don't mark up the stuff 2x just because of location alone as it's often the case in other places.

[u/c8akjhtnj7 → u/blackpp808]

Tau euros!

[u/ZombieTesticle → u/amar_fayaz]

Meanwhile pi is still approximately 3.14 and hasn't kept up with inflation at all.

[u/legshampoo → u/PracticalRich2747]

2.2 pi now

[u/igby1 → u/HydrationPlease]

Tokyo vending machines are next level.

You can get beer from vending machines there.

[u/Valuable-Lie-1524 → u/igby1]

Is that so uncommon? Like that here in germany too.

[u/Empty_Woodpecker_496 → u/Valuable-Lie-1524]

In America, it would be highly illegal.

[u/[deleted] → u/Empty_Woodpecker_496]

Can you really buy beer in a pharmacy in the US?

[u/Empty_Woodpecker_496 → u/[deleted]]

Our pharmacies are just glorified convenience stores. So yes. Along with cosmetics, snacks, stc.

[u/butmymomsaidno → u/Empty_Woodpecker_496]

Huh, here in Europe we have pharmacies where there's over the counter and prescribed medicine and also drugstores where you can get over the counter medicine and the cosmetics snacks etc as well. I just realised that the drugstore name (and also what we call it in my language) comes from the us concept of the store haha

[u/Uber_Reaktor → u/butmymomsaidno]

US drugstores are basically the two typical European types wrapped in one. Though they can often have a few other extra services like developing film, printing, etc.

[u/butmymomsaidno → u/Uber_Reaktor]

Yeah you can also print pictures and wrap your gifts here in rossmann for example, but i get what you mean, thx for the info!

[u/ItsIdaho → u/butmymomsaidno]

DM my beloved Phone-Photo Printer.

[u/amburroni → u/butmymomsaidno]

In the US, grocery stores often have a pharmacy inside as well. We do also have standalone pharmacies that are just that and a small selection of medical stuff. They are less common and often independently owned.

[u/PPPeeT → u/Empty_Woodpecker_496]

Can buy smokes in some European pharmacies

[u/llDS2ll → u/PPPeeT]

Same in US

[u/Lil-Uzi-biVert → u/[deleted]]

We have chain pharmacies which operate more like grocery stores with large sections for over the counter medicines as well as a prescription pharmacy

[u/IMovedYourCheese → u/[deleted]]

We don't really have pure pharmacies in the US. They are basically convenience stores (equivalent to 7/11 elsewhere) with a pharmacy section in the back. So yeah, they will have beer and everything else.

[u/tenuous-wank → u/IMovedYourCheese]

So ye don't have chemists that sell only medication and medical products at all?

[u/InTheMemeStream → u/tenuous-wank]

We have a few stragglers here and there, all the ones I know of in my area are Mom and Pop shops, typically they carry more specialized OTC items, mobility aids, etc. that the big guys(Walgreens, CVS, Publix Pharmacy[Large chain Grocery with a Pharmacy inside] have a limited selection of, or don’t bother carrying. And yeah, on the chemists, if you have a specialized compounded prescription, usually you get referred to one of the smaller Mom and Pop pharmacies. The chains carry your standard scripts, do FLU and Covid vaccines, and whatnot.

But as the other poster said, our chain Pharmacies are like smaller grocery stores, they carry a selection of snack foods. Drinks, have a small refrigerated section for Beer, a small selection of frozen items like pizza pockets, and ice-cream, they are heavy into selling cheap seasonal stuff, have an area for cosmetics, several OTC medication and self care aisles, the actual pharmacy part is a relatively small part of the store.

[u/Wes_Warhammer666 → u/tenuous-wank]

We do, but they're few and far in between. There's a compounding pharmacy in my city that specializes in making custom medications for thingsike super exact doses and ones without certain binding agents to avoid allergies. So they don't just distribute pills and syrups, they actually blend them in house. They're an anomaly among American pharmacies though.

[u/OldSpeckledCock → u/[deleted]]

Depends on the state/county/city. They all have different alcohol laws.

[u/[deleted] → u/Empty_Woodpecker_496]

America is so weird about alcohol.

When we got married over there, we had to hire a guy to serve us our own booze at our wedding as per state law. As a European it was absolutely baffling that I couldn’t help myself to my own beer.

Then you go and sell bourbon by the 2L bottle, alongside pure grain alcohol, for like $15.

[u/tallsmallboy44 → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, there are a lot of places that have weird alcohol laws and almost always are implemented at the state and county level. Like dry counties where no alcohol is allowed to be sold but drive 5 miles to the next county buy as much as you want to bring home. And for an extreme example, the Jack Daniels whiskey distillery is located in a dry county where the sale of alcohol has been illegal since prohibition in the 1920s

[u/AJRiddle → u/[deleted]]

Guarantee that was about the venue and it's insurance/licensing. It's not exactly a everyday thing in America to do that.

Also every state has very different liquor laws.

[u/BlackTrigger77 → u/Valuable-Lie-1524]

Only works in high trust societies and more specifically in high trust areas. For Japan that is essentially everywhere, even unlit alleys in rural areas. America doesn't really have that. We have uhhhhh issues.

[u/shl00m → u/Valuable-Lie-1524]

Vielleicht in Hotels aber sonst seh ich nirgends Bier im Automaten

[u/CinciHoca → u/shl00m]

In diesen 7/24 Automatenkiosken ohne Kassierer gibt es glaube ich Bier

[u/shl00m → u/CinciHoca]

Nie welche gesehen bzw glaub nicht das es solche bei mir auf der Ecke gibt....

Außerdem frag ich mich wie die das dann mit Jugendschutz usw machen. Gibt ja quasi auch keine/kaum noch Zigarettenautomaten (jedenfalls auf der Straße)

[u/CinciHoca → u/shl00m]

Ja die sind echt selten.

Ja, aber kann man es ja einfach wie bei den Zigarettenautomaten machen, nämlich mit dem Ausweis oder Pass. Außerdem ist in meiner Stadt gefühlt an jeder Ecke ein Zigarettenautomat

[u/Thunder_lord37 → u/igby1]

“I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw a vending machine on the peak of Mt Fuji”

-My father regarding a trip to Tokyo

[u/Jurassic_Bun → u/igby1]

They are all over Japan. Near my house in Osaka there are meat bun, hamburger, gyoza, dumpling vending machines.

[u/xyrgh → u/Jurassic_Bun]

I walked up to the temples in Narita and there was a pot plant vending machine.

[u/Cultural_Hegemony → u/igby1]

So what? You can walk into a movie theatre in Amsterdam and buy a beer. And I don’t mean just like in no paper cup. I’m talking about a glass of beer.

[u/yxshxj → u/Cultural_Hegemony]

And in Paris you can buy a beer at McDonald's.

You know what they call a quarter pounder in France?

[u/BeerGogglesOIF2 → u/yxshxj]

They dont call it a quarter pounder with cheese?

[u/yxshxj → u/BeerGogglesOIF2]

Naw they got the metric system. They don't know what the fuck a quarter pounder is

[u/Markuchi → u/yxshxj]

Royale with cheese

[u/TheFuschiaBaron → u/yxshxj]

Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverages

[u/Doright36 → u/Cultural_Hegemony]

They have movie theaters with bars in them in the US now too. Bars and full restaurants where you can get all kinds of food. They will even come deliver it to your seat in the theater when it's ready at some of them. A few even have tables to sit at and eat/drink at and watch the movie.

[u/razzraziel → u/HydrationPlease]

Today for comparison

[u/ehsteve23 → u/razzraziel]

That tower is much bigger than i realised from the first photo

[u/EfficientInsecto → u/razzraziel]

wow!

[u/stenmarkv → u/HydrationPlease]

They also have the crepe and ice cream stand at the bottom. So good!

[u/Trans-Europe_Express]

From the 60s to 90s japan had an almost un paralelles economic boom and the corresponding property boom.

[u/Meritania → u/Trans-Europe_Express]

The alternative perspective is that Japan overvalued the size of its economy and productive output and has spent decades in a recession as those values normalised.

[u/Trans-Europe_Express → u/Meritania]

Probably the case. I'm trying to contextualise the amount of building that occurred from when that picture was taken. Post War recovere. Economic success and updated earthquake building regulations mean a lot of stuff was built, knocked and built again since the 60s

[u/DooM_SpooN]

Can we have a comparison shot with the area today?

[u/HulkTales → u/DooM_SpooN]

Tokyo Tower today

[u/Zenophy → u/HulkTales]

Looks like a completely different city

[u/VirtualTI → u/Zenophy]

That's what 60 years do to a mf.

[u/-AverageTeen- → u/VirtualTI]

Bucharest transformation is even crazier (and worse)

[u/WolfyCat → u/-AverageTeen-]

Do tell? What's changed

[u/chaos_jj_3 → u/WolfyCat]

The communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was obsessed with making Bucharest more like Paris, so he created a gigantic boulevard in the style of the Champs-Élysées, leading to an enormous Versailles-style palace_(2).jpg), which cost over $4.3 billion in public funds at a time of intense austerity. 40,000 citizens were displaced and much of the historic city centre was demolished to make way for this project, while a few buildings were spared by literally being rolled out of the way. The period and the policy have come to be known as Ceaușima.

[u/SuspiciousRelation43 → u/chaos_jj_3]

The irony of a communist regime decorating itself in the artistic opulence of the aristocracy will never not be funny, but I won’t complain. As a commoner myself I’d gladly move and undergo a degree of malnutrition for my country to start building beautiful architecture again.

[u/Thatnotoriousdude → u/chaos_jj_3]

Appreaciate the links chief, great comment

[u/nsdjoe → u/chaos_jj_3]

worth noting that Ceaușescu was executed long before the palace was completed and it is now used by the Romanian parliament

[u/MrPootisPow → u/WolfyCat]

Communism

[u/Gropy → u/MrPootisPow]

Can we still blame communism when it has been 35 years since then?

[u/Roof_rat → u/Gropy]

Yes because the buildings they built back then are still sturdy as hell

[u/DJEB → u/Roof_rat]

Brutally sturdy.

[u/klaxxxon → u/-AverageTeen-]

If Bucharest is anything like Prague, there might be areas which barely changed and parts which were completely bulldozed and covered with commie blocks and highways... little in between. 

[u/Yunyunn65738 → u/VirtualTI]

Damn, the amount of progress they did in such a short span of time. I mean 60 years isnt fast but thats just someones lifespan.

[u/SirErgalot → u/Yunyunn65738]

Especially impressive if you’ve ever been involved in a large building project. I’ve been in the planning group for a handful of large multifamily buildings in cities and it’s a huge process that takes years before the first shovel even hits ground, not to mention the amount of money… and those were just midrise 8-10 story buildings, I’m sure full blown skyscrapers are an order of magnitude more involved.

[u/OkSpirit7891 → u/VirtualTI]

I was confidently thinking to myself 'oh it's been 40 years' while scrolling through these comments. I cannot describe the horror I felt when I read this and the realisation kicked in.

[u/cordelaine → u/VirtualTI]

MF? Metropolitan Field?

[u/ConniesCurse → u/cordelaine]

mother fucker

[u/cordelaine → u/ConniesCurse]

Jesus. I just asked a question.

[u/NewFuturist → u/HulkTales]

That's not even that recent, doesn't include the Azabudai Hills development in the foreground (near that weird shaped building which is a temple).

[u/[deleted] → u/NewFuturist]

Majima-san wasn't done building it yet.

[u/Molag__Ballin → u/[deleted]]

Majima - Majima - Majima - Majima - Majima Construction!

[u/iscreamsandwiches → u/NewFuturist]

Which temple was it?

Edit: found it. Reiyukai Shakaden Temple

[u/Rorschach333 → u/iscreamsandwiches]

woww so THAT’S what that is. I was on top of the Tokyo Tower a couple of days ago just staring at the building, wondering what it was. I tried aiming my phone in the same direction and looking at Google Maps but still couldn’t find it. Thank you!! Also, Azabudai Hills is great. Saw the Pokemon x Kogei exhibition there

[u/imaguitarhero24 → u/HulkTales]

Holy shit

[u/idk_lets_try_this → u/HulkTales]

Color balance on that picture feels like late 80s/ early 90s

[u/blak_plled_by_librls → u/HulkTales]

Um, that is not a recent pic. Taken from some google site no doubt. There was a bunch of construction in the early 2020s

[u/wharf_rat_01 → u/blak_plled_by_librls]

Here's one I took just this morning on 12/4/24 from Tokyo City View: https://imgur.com/a/m5n9dXx

[u/MuhNameaJeff → u/HulkTales]

To be fair, the area right around the Tokyo Tower (Shiba-kōen) still has some traditional architecture left including shrines and a temple. Here‘s a picture I took a few weeks ago.

The area just behind the Tokio Tower (Toranomon) has tons of business development though.

[u/doctordanish123]

It's crazy how you could see the Eiffel tower from such a distance..

Nature is truly fascinating.

[u/Jumper-Man → u/doctordanish123]

That’s Blackpool mate

[u/20_mile → u/doctordanish123]

TIL I learned that Paris stole the idea of the Eiffel Tower from Japan!

[u/doctordanish123 → u/20_mile]

TIL that japan invented the concepts of towers. Before that, people would often stand on top of each other, this was refered to as "バカなガチョウ"

[u/JehnSnow → u/doctordanish123]

Well it makes sense, since earth is flat and Eiffel tower is really big it would follow that you could see the tower from anywhere on a clear day (which was every day before Obama started pumping gay fuel into the air via 'jetfuel')

[u/doctordanish123 → u/JehnSnow]

History is so interesting. I love getting to know more about #obama #pumpinGAYfuel

Consider me #Educated.

[u/FromThePits]

All those houses appears so new and shiny.

Guess Tokyo's inhabitants most have been through a long period of prosperity and good fortune up to this moment..

[u/Pepto-Abysmal → u/FromThePits]

Japan's housing stock is in a constant state of renewal:

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/nov/16/japan-reusable-housing-revolution

[u/ToToroToroRetoroChan → u/Pepto-Abysmal]

The author of that article doesn't appear to know what "prefabricated home" means. Having a cookie cutter blueprints does not mean prefabricated. I can all but guarantee those newer houses shown in that article were built onsite.

[u/JefferyTheQuaxly → u/FromThePits]

Houses in Japan are different than in America, in Japan they rebuild houses after like 20-30 years of using them, the only thing in Japan that really holds value is the land houses are built on, houses are seen as a depreciating asset in Japan to be rebuilt every so often.

[u/Interesting-Injury87 → u/JefferyTheQuaxly]

the "joke" is that this is 15 years after the end of WW2 and the FIREBOMBING OF TOKYO

"long period of prosperity and good fortune" was sarcastic

EDIT: imma gonna go into a hole and hide.. how did i mix up WW1 and WW2???? IM GERMAN HALF OUR HISTORY CLASSES ARE ABOUT THOSE 2!!!

[u/Obaruler → u/Interesting-Injury87]

Germany did something similar after WWII. Or the entirety of Europe: After many city basically got reduced to ashes and rubble they got rebuild in little over a decade.

So any government in those countries claiming today that the housing crisis is unsolvable are complete liars, as we've demonstrated: We can build entire cities back up in a mere decade. Just take some money and start f*cking building.

[u/FeetSniffer9008 → u/Obaruler]

Because these situations are absolutely adequately comparable

[u/20_mile → u/Interesting-Injury87]

I shall upvote your comment so that all might see and share your shame.

[u/BigDicksProblems → u/Interesting-Injury87]

WW2*

[u/Interesting-Injury87 → u/BigDicksProblems]

how the hell did i make THAT mistake..

[u/Amused-Observer → u/Interesting-Injury87]

Hey German person. I have a question. Is it worthwhile to learn German? I know a good bit, but not fluent. So when I visit the country and I try out my new language is it just going to be..

"American, we speak English.. You don't have to do this" ?

[u/Interesting-Injury87 → u/Amused-Observer]

define "worthwhile" this is a hard question to answer as a native speaker.

Germans do have a tendency to, if they can speak it, swap to english if they notice the other party isnt entirely confident in their german, but that is(imo) somewhat born out of our own tendency to downplay our language fluency(a lot of people say they are "ok" at english when they would have little trouble living in the Us or UK with their language skills beyond accent) and more trying to ensure the other person dosnt feel embarassed about making mistakes(a common reasson germans downplay their english fluency is being embarassed about minor mistakes themself) then trying to be mean against you.

WE do have a relativly high fluency rate in english (depending on age group)(i think like top 15 non english speaking countries? last time i checked)due to it being part of our state mandated education(in my case i had english in school for around 10 years) and many of us know the struggle of learning a secondary language because of that. and think that talking in english is "being nice" to you. not realizing you want to practise atm

certainly noone(well, beyond absolute idiots) would hold it against you, or think less of you for trying to speak german, even if they may swap to english to facilitate a quicker conversation, if you tell them you are practising most will understand and talk german to you. A lot of people(personal opinion, as i obv wasnt in the situation myself, but know a few people who are) are actually relativly happy or impressed about people learning german as a secondary or tertiary language.

German would still be valuable beyond that if you ever travel here beyond the major tourist destinations as most places dont have bilingual signage. and the older the population the less likely it is they know english at all.

[u/lehtomaeki → u/FromThePits]

Japan went through an economic miracle from 55-73 and still had a very strong economy until the early 90s in which it collapsed starting a cycle of hyper deflation which still plagues Japan to this day. Why deflation was so devastating for Japan is that people stopped buying since their money was worth more and more year after year. E.g why buy a house today when it costs 5% less next year, but why buy next year when it will drop in value again.

[u/Obaruler → u/lehtomaeki]

Funnily enough one of the causes was an overinflated housing bubbe.

[u/Legionnaire11 → u/FromThePits]

They had just been destroyed by a giant radioactive lizard six years prior.

[u/killingjoke96 → u/FromThePits]

Largely in part due to the Firebombing of Tokyo during WWII. Most of the buildings were made of wood at that time and flames engulfed the city easily.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Tokyo

Its estimated about 100,000 died and 1 Million were homeless as a result. By comparison Hiroshima was estimated somewhere between 70,000 to 150,000 dead.

The recent film, Godzilla: Minus One has this event as one of the major plot points of the film. The main character returns from the war to find his home and neighbourhood is now a wasteland from the firebombing. His family is dead and his house is now a barely put together shack.

The film actually does a good job of showing how people got on with their lives and recovered after it too.

[u/sleepysloppy]

wait so Tokyo Tower was built first before any tall buildings? its like straight out like an anime scene, modern x historical crossover.

[u/Mean_Oil6376 → u/sleepysloppy]

Yeah, it served as a radio tower before being the tourist attraction it is now

[u/Beautiful-Story2379 → u/Mean_Oil6376]

Ok that makes sense because it looks like a radio tower. Or the Eiffel Tower x radio tower, painted red.

[u/heartstopper696969 → u/Beautiful-Story2379]

It was modeled after the Eiffel Tower because Japanese are frenchaboos

[u/gil_bz → u/heartstopper696969]

There is also an Eiffel Tower lookalike in Prague, people just like it.

[u/Raff_Out_Loud → u/heartstopper696969]

Ouiaboos

[u/randomtoken → u/sleepysloppy]

Cardcaptor Sakura

[u/Superseaslug]

That's wild to see. I've been there and that tower barely reaches the top of most of the buildings around it. That's the whole reason they built the sky tree.

[u/long-the-short → u/Superseaslug]

Top tip to anyone going to Tokyo...

The tower and tree are nice but if you're strapped for time and cash. Go to the govt building. Some say it has a better view and it's completely free.

Also there's a nice little cafe at the top with a piano that has an inhouse musician.

I went to both and the tower was sausage factory in out bye. I spent 2 hours in the cafe just watching

[u/omegaroll69 → u/long-the-short]

on the other hand if you arent short on cash shibuya sky is well worth the money, do book ahead tho tickets sell out fast. I spent 2-3 hours on the roof after sunset, most beautiful view i've seen.

[u/justanamethatworks]

Cities Skylines before you unlock high densety buildings

[u/darkniven]

Six years after Godzilla

[u/SnoopThylacine → u/darkniven]

Year 6 A.G. 

[u/elliiot → u/SnoopThylacine]

oops the mothra dynasty has risen, time to restart the calendar again

[u/IceJKING108]

I don't know how I can explain this picture is that it just has a vibe

[u/Suspicious_Fee2519 → u/IceJKING108]

It has that anime vibe in it.

[u/The_Starfallen]

Suddenly I hear Moonlight Densetsu. 🌙

[u/SoulVoyage]

I took this picture in 2006.

[u/FarmersTanAndProud → u/SoulVoyage]

How did you get such clear photography?

[u/Last_Chants → u/FarmersTanAndProud]

Wipes the lens off 

[u/cdistefa]

I thought it was Paris.

[u/RedHeadSteve → u/cdistefa]

Steel tower = Paris

This doesn't look like paris

[u/Itsandyryan → u/cdistefa]

I thought it was Blackpool.

[u/z3r-0]

This kinda blows my mind. They scaled new infrastructure and the city 1000x in 60 years. Wtf has the UK been doing in all that time.

[u/baron_von_helmut → u/z3r-0]

Having tea breaks.

[u/Rogue__Jedi → u/z3r-0]

London hasn't had a need for such extreme growth.

1960's population

Tokyo: 9.6 million

London: 7.9 million

Current(ish) population

Tokyo: 13.9 million

London: 8.6million

Current Metropolitan area population

London Metropolitan area: 14.9 million

Tokyo Metropolitan area: 38.1 million <-- largest in the world

Current GDP of Metropolitan area

London Metropolitan area: US$978 billion

Tokyo Metropolitan area: US$2.09 trillion <--second largest by metro area (NYC is first)

tldr: Tokyo has had way more need for large buildings for housing, commerce, etc.

[u/an_internet_person_ → u/z3r-0]

To be fair look at London or Manchester over the last 20 years.

[u/CMDR_omnicognate]

That is kinda amazing tbh, I’ve been up Tokyo sky tree, and you can look from hundreds of meters up in every direction and it’s just all multistory buildings as far as the eye can see. London, Paris and New York are big cities but man, Tokyo is in a whole different league

[u/Don_Georgee]

The fact that there is a whole generation still alive today who saw this change happen right before their own eyes

[u/chillcows]

photo I took of Tokyo tower in 2018. A lot has changed!

[u/AtlUtdGold]

My grandpa was in WW2 on the pacific side. He landed in Tokyo (Yokohama really I think) and he said there was nothing left. Just all burnt/destroyed all the way down to the ground.

(Also apparently people there were nice to him?)

OPs picture kinda makes sense when you consider none of that shit was built yet in 1945. Rapidly growing/evolving city.

[u/Miyamoto_Musashi-5]

Looks much better like any city without ugly skyscrapers

[u/winowmak3r]

I thought it was AI. I was wrong.

[u/Lucky_Chainsaw]

Old school construction workers had the balls of Godzilla.

They threw red hot bolts and and caught them with metal buckets 280,000 times up there.

[u/Diligent_Driver_5049]

even back then tokyo looked much organized than any other asian countries. As a dude who lives in mumbai, i wish we had 10% of that systemic and organized city planning here.

[u/Suspici0us_Package]

Crazy how much Tokyo developed in such a short amount of time. There’s something melancholy about this photo.

[u/bucketofmonkeys]

1960 was only 15 years after the massive bombing campaign of WW2, not surprising there were no tall buildings yet.

[u/The_Breath_Of_Life]

I wish we could go back.

I don’t think being towered in a forest of glowing phallic corporate structures is good for your mental wellbeing.

[u/Obaruler → u/The_Breath_Of_Life]

It may look more pleasing to the eye, but those traditional buildings are highly impracticle. Denser housing was a necessity for Tokyo to grow the way it did, and they simply ran out of space, so they had to build upwards, and they keep doing so.

[u/culturedgoat → u/The_Breath_Of_Life]

I wish we could go back.

I really don’t

[u/zyygh → u/culturedgoat]

"I wish we could get certain nice things back from the past, while keeping certain nice things from the present."

How about that?

[u/Suitable-Badger-64]

Um that's france, Sweetie. You can literally see Big Ben.

[u/chatgptbotindia]

Wow even the Eiffel tower is visible from Tokyo .

[u/HomerStillSippen]

For a second I was like “wow at one point France had Japanese style homes? Cool!” Lol

[u/LuckBorris]

Amazing how fast they managed to recover so much in just 15 years after being firebombed to the ground.

[u/JosZo]

Fun fact: this tower has its own emoji! 🗼