Spanning Tokyo Bay to connect Odaiba Island with the mainland, the Rainbow Bridge serves trains, cars and pedestrians along its 800-meter length. We crossed the bridge frequently with the Yurikamome Monorail, but decided to walk across on one our final days in Tokyo.
Although it's considered Western Tokyo, Shinjuku can legitimately claim to be the new center of the city. Shinjuku Station is busier than Tokyo Station, serving nearly four million passengers a day. The city government has moved here, and Shinjuku boasts not only Tokyo's most infamous entertainment district, but most of its tallest skyscrapers.
Although it's been unseated from its position as Japan's tallest structure (and, at 333 meters, is positively Lilliputian in comparison to the new champion, Oshiage's 634-meter SkyTree), the Tokyo Tower remains a popular tourist attraction. Modeled on the Eiffel Tower and painted bright orange, the tower has been a part of the city's skyline since opening in 1958.
When Tokyo Station opened in 1914, it served four trains. But just like the city itself, the station has grown a little. Today, the sprawling station in the middle of the city serves an almost incomprehensible 3000 trains, every single day.
Built in 1997 by Argentine-American architect Raphael Viñoly, the Tokyo International Forum is found in the center of the city, next to Tokyo Station. The spacious exhibition hall stretches across four buildings connected by a curving glass roof. Steel, glass, sharp angles and plenty of light make the complex ideal for a photographer.
Shiodome, the onetime railway center of Tokyo, has blossomed into one of the city's most modern and important financial districts. We spent a day wandering around its skyscrapers, like ants in the presence of giants.
