Mori Tower is the reason I bought a camera that cost as much as my car.

Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but here's the story:

In 2009 we discovered a place called Mori Tower in Roppongi, a very fashionable, trendy area, full of upscale shopping and amazing scenery.  I vowed to return to Mori Tower, which gives you a full 360 degree panoramic view of Tokyo, and I vowed to do it with a camera that would do the scene justice.  Unfortunately the photos and videos I took capture about 10% of the breath-taking-ness of standing on the 53rd story overlooking the biggest city in the world; how could I have thought I could capture it in a snapshot?

Before the new year, I met up with friends Victor and Jessica and we spent two days touring a bit of Tokyo.  Here are just a few of the incredible scenes we witnessed.

In chronological order of the weekend, some highlights:

The following shots are from Mori Tower's 53rd story.

This floor of the tower actually has several gift shops, smoothie place, and a full-service bar with lounge music.  As it's panoramic, you have a full view of the entire city of tokyo, and at night, the lights blow you away.  

This time, there was, of course a Christmas/holday-esque cheer in the air, with plenty of decorations.

The sun is beginning to set.  If you've already been to Mori Tower and are visiting for a second or third time, this is the part where the butterflies in your stomach start going crazy in anticipation of the night.

Stickers up on the wall in support of those affected by the Earthquake in March. People wrote personal messages of encourage to the people of Tohoku.

Obligatory self-photograph, but this scenery beats a bathroom mirror any day.

Here comes the night!!

Goosebumps and chills... pure beauty.

The bar was featuring this new whiskey that night, we got a glass (it was eh).

For the first time ever, we were able to actually go on TOP of the tower, a few more stories up!  This is the first time that this deck hasn't been closed due to strong wind or weather, so we seized the chance to check it out.  It was SO COLD up there!

Next, here's a video that shows the progression of the sunset from the tower:

After the magnificence of Mori Tower, we had delicious ramen! This ramen place, called Ichiran, has a little mini-cubicle for each customer, so we ended up eating our delicious ramen with a fantastic view of a screen. So here's the soup:

The next day, we met up with a few other friends, and somehow navigated through insane Harajuku foot traffic:

And, this was my first time in a capsule hotel!  It was a little different than I expected: the place we stayed at was more for foreigners, so the capsules seemed really big for that reason.  It was nice and cozy in there and there was even a shelf and a reading light.  Nice for claustrophiles like myself...

And, to finish off December, I was able to actually spend Christmas with my family through the miracle of video chat technology.  Snapped a quick shot of everyone gathered near the tree as we opened presents, and I couldn't have been happier.

Being able to once again see the sights from Mori Tower and also to capture them a little more clearly with a decent camera was an experience I'll never forget.  Mori Tower itself is worth the price of an airplane ticket to Tokyo. It's humbling, inspiring, encouraging, and terrifying all at once, and it feels like you're on top of the world.

That does it for this edition.  Everyone stay warm out there!