Tokyo from the 49th floor

Tokyo from the 49th floor, originally uploaded by Jaqaroo.

Nice view from up here on the 49th floor. I'm relaxing with an iced latte and a window seat. Trying to pick out the places I know, but the city looks different from above compared to street level. I've always thought Tokyo's beauty... if it has any... is in it's details; those little surprises and small corners, which do still exist, although they are being hunted down and concreted over. But even from 49 floors up I'm not sure we can actually say the city is beautiful. It's just that we are surprised by the unusual perspective the altitude gives us, and perhaps simply the sheer size of the city and the number of buildings we can see from our vantage point. Usually you can see, how many buildings, about 10 or 20 from a street corner, perhaps more. But up here there are thousands, countless. It's all starting to look a little like the computer generated cities in the latest Star Wars movie. Perhaps Tokyo is a virtual city. Perhaps it only exists in our minds; we are not really here at all. I know a lot people here who are not really here... there is no here, here.