So, you are planning that trip to Japan, but you have no clue what to do short of gawking at school girls or skimpily dressed women. Fear not, I have a suggestion for you. If you’re in the Tokyo vicinity, then I suggest visiting the Mori Tower at Roppongi Hills. There you get to see the giant spider, make the poor Japanese teens working at Cold Stone Creamery sing in Engrish (without tipping!) and meet people who aren’t Japanese!
Sounds very exciting, huh? But wait… there is more!
At the Mori building there is a service offered called the Tokyo City View. For a mere ~2000 yen (or 1000 yen if you are a student) the nice Mori staff people will toss you in a elevator and send you up to the 52nd floor. On the 52nd floor is the observation deck, where you get a very nice view of the city landscape. Of course, if you are afraid of heights there are nice chairs where you can position yourself in the fetal position, like a certain someone I know. The Japanese sure are thoughtful!
I highly recommend doing the city viewing during the late evening. All the nice colors from the surrounding buildings, cars and street lights really makes it an awesome sight to see. That and I didn’t get to see it during the daytime, so I can’t comment on it. :p If you want proof of the awesomeness Tokyo City landscape during the evening check out the QTVR site linked on the image above. [Note: You might need Apple Quicktime installed to view the media]. The site also lists 360 degree views of other landmarks around the world, but who cares about them, right? This is a Japanese oriented site.
* OK I lied by linking you to a evening cityscape view of Yokohama from the Landmark Tower. Total intentional badness on my part. However, beggars can’t be choosers, although the view is just as equally awesome.
Update: I found a neat site that has some VR of various places in Tokyo. Check out Tokyo VR.