Tokyo Skytree

Tokyo Skytree is the city's scale made visible: at 634 metres the tallest tower on earth (the number is a pun — mu-sa-shi, the old name for the Tokyo province), a lattice of steel that took the broadcast duties from Tokyo Tower in 2012 and took the skyline with it. From its decks the city does the thing no street level can show you: it simply doesn't end. Thirty-seven million people in a single carpet of buildings running to every horizon, Fuji floating over the western edge on clear days, and at night a circuit board the size of a small country lighting up beneath your feet.

Two decks, two decisions. The Tembo Deck at 350 metres is the main event — three floors of floor-to-ceiling glass, the famous glass-floor panels for testing your own nerve, and the best value of the ticket. The Tembo Galleria at 450 metres adds the "highest walk": a glass spiral ramp climbing the tower's waist to the summit platform. It's a genuine upgrade on a crystal-clear day and a skippable one in haze — check the visibility before paying the difference. The craft of timing: mornings (especially in winter) own the Fuji odds, the hour before sunset owns everything else — day city, burning sky, then the lights coming on in waves — and the last entries are quietest.

The tower grew its own town: Solamachi at the base is 300-plus shops and a legitimately good food floor (the Sumida Aquarium and planetarium hide in here too), which makes the Skytree half-day weatherproof. The location craft is the real insider move: Asakusa and Senso-ji temple are one stop or a 20-minute riverside walk away, so the classic day runs old Tokyo in the morning — temple, Nakamise arcade, street snacks — then crosses the Sumida to the future in the afternoon. Pre-booked international tickets are cheaper than the door and skip the ticket-counter queue; the combo products with TeamLab Planets or the subway pass stack the savings if you're hitting both.