A Walk around the Sky Tree and Sumida Park (Part 1) / スカイツリーと墨田公園の散歩 （パート１）

It's already the middle of Golden Week and I'm still writing about cherry blossoms!! Oh well, I shall have to stand by that old cliche of "better late than never". Today's neighborhood walk was to check out the Sky Tree (which is still under construction, although it just surpassed the height of the Tokyo Tower) and the cherry blossoms along the Sumida River at Sumida Park.

もうゴルデンウィークなのにまだ桜のネタを書き続いてます！！ま、書かないよりましでしょう。今日の近所散歩の目的は工事中のスカイツリー（今日で東京タワーより高くなった）と墨田公園の隅田川沿いの桜を見ること。


This is the view of the Sky Tree from Asakusa. It will be twice as tall as the buildings next to it when it's completed.

浅草からの眺め。スカイツリーが完成したら隣のビルより倍位の高さになる。

To get a closer look, I started walking towards the Sky Tree.

もと近くに見ようと思って、スカイツリー方面に向かった。


The funky looking building with the gold sperm is the Asahi Beer main office. Okay, so it's not really a spermatocyte. Its been said that it's supposed to represent the foam on top of a glass of beer. Others say its supposed to a flame but the object was to heavy so it was tilted sideways. It still stands out no matter how you look at it.

屋根に変わったオブジェがあるのはアサヒビールの本社。あのオブジェはなにか、いろんな説があるらしい。生ビールの泡とか、蝋燭の炎とか。とにかく目立つね。

Sea bus port at Sumida Park / 墨田公園の水上バス乗り場


Cherry Blossoms in full bloom / 桜が満開

Getting closer / 段々近づいた


And closer / またちょっと

It may be under construction, but its still a mighty site to see

まだ工事中なのに、高さに圧倒されますよ。

On my way to the Sky Tree, I came across this park that was shaped like a ship with a long slide for kids to play on. I wish I were a kid so I could slide down it myself.

スカイツリーを近付いたら、船の形をしてる公園を発見。左側に二階からのすべり台がある。あ～、僕がまだ子供だったら絶対すべるなっと考えてました。


Azuma Bridge / 吾妻橋

Another view of the cherry blossoms taken from the Azuma Bridge.

吾妻橋から墨田公園の桜の眺め。

As I walked around some more, I found that there was more to this area than just the Sky Tree and the cherry blossoms such as this statue of Kaishu Katsu, a Japanese naval officer and statesman in the late Tokugawa period and at the beginning of the Meiji Restoration (I looked it up on Wikipedia).

この周辺の見所はスカイツリーと墨田公園の桜だけじゃない。歩きながら、いろんな発見がある。たとうえば、勝海舟の銅像（上記の写真）。

To be continued...

つづく。。。