Now that Tokyo has been awarded the 2020 Summer Olympics the city is abuzz with excitement. Many places are celebrating by lighting up with the colors of the Olympic rings.
The Rainbow Bridge, spanning Tokyo Bay, is no different. Whenever there’s an important event the bridge is set aglow in colored lights. Obviously being chosen to host the Summer Olympics is a huge thing, so the lights came out this week. (Continued after Japanese summary)
祝！開催都市決定後レインボーブリッジ特別ライトアップ
レインボーブリッジ撮影といえばお台場から東京タワーと一緒に撮ることが私にはいつものことですが、今回は新しいアングルを求めゆりかもめ線の芝浦ふ頭のほうから撮影してみました。やはり特別ライトアップだとよりキレイに見えますね。ちょっと変わった視点ですが、橋の直下ということで新鮮でした。久々の夜景撮影でしたが、光を長時間露出で表現したりすることが楽しい^^。
今回のライトアップはゲートブリッジ・東京タワー・スカイツリーも同時に行い、空から見ると面白そう。ヘリを乗った視線は絶対に素晴らしいと思います！ いつか・・・
さてさて、７年後はオリンピックということで、今から節約しなくちゃ！開催セレモニーが生で観られますように（笑）
One of the most popular places to shoot the Rainbow Bridge is at romantic Odaiba. Here the bridge can be seen in concert with Tokyo Tower. This time, however, I decided to look for a place offering a different angle.
Enter Shibaura-futou, or Shibaura Pier. It’s along the Yurikamome line, and a short walk from the station leads to the bridge. Right under the bridge, to be exact.
On the way to see the bridge’s underside.
Blue hour came as I was making my way to the bridge, so I took the shot above despite the ugly wire fence. The sky was brilliantly blue and clear.
Under the bridge it looked really cool, like the underside of a galactic ship 🙂
Rainbow Bridge stretched on to the other side, to the twinkling lights of the city across the water.
And a little bit to the right the top of the bridge could be seen with colored bulbs.
To make the structure look really rainbow-like I added filters and textures to get this psychedelic bridge look.
There was a park-like patch of grass and a few stairs to sit on:
There were a few camera+tripod wielding people, including a guy who took up a corner of the rails and sat there the entire time. Aside from us photo monkeys, there were a couple of guys riding their bicycles, a woman walking her dog, and a man eating his convenience-store purchased boxed dinner while gazing at the lights across the bay.
It was altogether a nice, warm evening. The colored lights will only be up until September 16, 2013 (Monday), but I’m sure there will be another one coming. We’re hosting the Summer Olympics! 🙂
How to Get There
The photos above were taken from the Shibaura-futou 芝浦ふ頭 station side of Tokyo Bay. It’s about a 7-minute train ride from Shimbashi 新橋 on the Yurikamome ゆりかもめ line.
I Would Love to Hear from You!
So, what do you think of this article? Let me know in the comments section below.
ご意見をお聞かせください！
この記事についてどう思われましたか。短いコメントでもいいので是非お聞かせくださいね^^
External Link
Rainbow Bridge Light-up レインボーブリッジのライトアップ – information in Japanese on the light patterns for the bridge.
Olympics 2020 Celebration with Special Lighting 開催都市決定後 特別ライトアップについて – information in Japanese on the special colored lights schedule for Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Gate Bridge, Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Sky Tree.
Books to Consider
関連書籍
Other Articles on BC Discoveries
Welcome! Whenever I plan an itinerary I try to read the first-hand account of others. Why? Because it helps! This site contains not just detailed accounts of my experiences, but also things I learned along the way. Hopefully they'll be a source of information (and inspiration?) to you. Enjoy!
素晴らしいライティングの橋を撮れましたね。
東京湾岸の夜はビルや橋のライトがきれいで未来都市のようです。
wow! that’s some cool night photography! love your postcards. can’t wait to get back to japan for the olympics (fingers crossed)
ps. you really should take more night photography, you make really nice shots.
So the bridge gets one color for one hour? Too bad it’s not changed every 10 minutes or some short interval so you can take photos of all the colors…
Gah. I hate CAPTCHA. I must’ve tried 8 times already. Hope this goes through.