late last december, the gang decided to stroll around yebisu garden place. for beer lovers out there i'm sure you have heard of yebisu beer. yebisu garden place, as you may have guessed, was called so because it was built on the actual site of a former yebisu beer brewery. the beer brand still exists but the brewery around this area has long transferred and renamed to sapporo beer.
what remains of its former glory is the beer museum, which i have yet to enter. i heard they have beer tasting inside. yebisu garden place is now a mini city within a city which houses lots of restaurants, establishments, hotels, residential spaces and a lot more. coincidentally, the place is near ebisu station. and since i am a curious cat, i looked up on which came first. ebisu station was named after the former yebisu brewery of the area (source).
now look at that beer's prominent logo. that is the shinto god of fishery, prosperity and brewery(perfect indeed) among others. and you have guessed it, his name is ebisu. (by the way, the character 'ye' is an old one is no longer used that often in japanese. in modern times, 'ye' is often replaced by 'e'.)
now look at that view! as this was last december (the cause of haste for immediate posting), most establishments in japan or tokyo at least are in full "illumination" mode. like moths attracted to light, people flock to these area (and pockets die after perfectly packaged goods are approached and consumed). but who can blame them? these lights are just lovely indeed.
the centerpiece was a glass or crystal chandelier. rightly so, it is very pretty and oh so delicate. bravo to the ingenious hands of the masters who created this piece. i suppose this is a mainstay in this area. i can recall i few times before where i saw this piece displayed here (or was it a mandela effect). i wouldn't dare to hang this in my home though; i will forever be paranoid of it falling as earthquakes are frequent in japan. besides, it would be best to hang from a high ceiling, a luxury i do not have. but this is indeed lovely. so lovely that we have witnessed some intense lip (and tongue?!?) action from way across while overlooking the piece. must have been enamored and felt romantic ("in the mood") while witnessing this hanging exquisiteness.
at the other end of this aisle, was this christmas tree. again, very pretty (i'm at a loss of adjectives now) and massive. an ideal place for couples to take selfies. families and even friends couldn't help but take a snap, too. christmas is so lavish in japan, i say.
and right behind it all is this structure, the takeshi tsuchiya sculture: "handshake" according to google maps. for the older jdrama fans out there (or even arashi fans), you would probably recognize this structure. domyouji (arashi's matsumoto jun) eagerly waited for makino (inoue mao) to come and meet at this place. yup, "hanayori dango" (花より男子), the very first "boys over flowers" version, filmed at this location. for this christmas season though, it will stand watch to the busy bees of people around the lights.
as we strolled further, we went up the yebisu garden place tower observatory deck. and oh what a sight! an unobstructed view of the tokyo horizon. this looks like a scene from a sci-fi movie. notice how heavily congested it is, buildings in every block, yet managed to stay lovely. two structures i have to point out, the tokyo tower and azabudai hills mori jptower.
i think you are all familiar with the tokyo tower, that glowing rod of neon light.
Built in 1958, and standing 333 meters tall, Tokyo Tower serves as a symbol of Tokyo’s rebirth after World War II. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest tower in the world, surpassing even its inspiration, the Eiffel Tower.(source)
now, i definitely would like to look that up. a few googling would say that eiffel tower in france is 300 meters tall. sorry eiffel tower, you are now bested by 33 meters. not to degrade or any, both are excellent and beautiful towers in my eyes.
azabudai hills mori jptower is something new to most people's ears but this has caused quite a stir recently in tokyo at least. this tower is currently the tallest building in japan standing at 325.5 meters surpassing osaka's abeno harukas. you can see this building right beside tokyo tower in the pictures i took. it is another city within a city, and with its close vicinity, it will surely have a splendid up close view of the tokyo tower nearby.
all i can do was try to be as still as possible while taking these pictures in 3 different pro mode settings (it is definitely a scaled down version of a true dslr camera). can't help but be playful with the settings a bit, with this gorgeous view all pictures will turn out great. with these many lights, tokyo itself glows and radiates energy.
hope you had fun exploring these places with me.
with the christmas season over, the "illumination" were probably taken down but these pictures will serve as proof of their beauty.
as always stay safe, AMPING!
(ps. all pictures were taken by yours truly on a galaxy s23 cellphone unless specified)