One of the advantages of the view we enjoy from the 21st floor in Ikebukuro is the fireworks displays that can be seen during July and August. Today there were fireworks in Harumi, on Tokyo Bay. We were able to see them, but were hindered by the disadvantage of the 21st floor: it’s not quite high enough to see over some buildings. As you can see in the image above and in some of the ones below, there was some tall building right along the path of the view for today’s display. About 80% of the show was hidden behind the building, which Sachi and I dubbed “Jama Tower” (“Nuisance Tower”). Often we only saw the glow of the display, other times we could make out its edges. But for the bigger fireworks, they cleared the building altogether and we got a very nice view.

Hopefully, the next show will be better: on Thursday, August 16th, there’s one final show, at Jingu Gyoen, which we believe will be just visible beyond the Prince Hotel to the south. It should be closer, and if it’s visible at all, it should be unblocked by any buildings along the way.