Conquering The Fear

Before I went to Japan I told myself I wanted to get over my Acrophobia (fear of heights, to put it bluntly). My Acrophobia is a strange one; I am totally fine with living in the third and top floor of an apartment building; I am totally fine with going in aeroplanes, and in fact flying is one of my favourite things. However, I am not fine with elevators or being at the top of tall buildings (landmarks can count in this). So, back to before I went to Japan I had told myself that one thing I had to do before I left the most wonderful country in the world was to get over my fear of heights and ascend the Tokyo Tower. Okay, it’s not that tall but to me it was. I also told myself I would go up the second tallest structure in the world, the Tokyo Skytree, however I got to the actual structure ready to make my ascent but the queue was ridiculously long, so I left it. But for me, my bravery to finally go up to the top of the Tokyo Tower was a huge move for me, and it’s something I will never forget. It changed my life.



I bought my ticket for the Tower, but I bought the special ticket which meant I could visit the main viewing deck as well as visiting the highest point of the Tower. At first I was sceptical of going to the highest point because if I remember correctly it was something like 150m from the ground, maybe more and to me that was daunting as I get tight of breathing and panic a lot if I go up tall buildings, and to make it worse I had to go up an elevator. But I decided that I would brave it. It was worth it.

The views from the first deck were just absolutely insane, there are no words to even describe it. The first deck wasn’t even the best part, obviously. But I’ll get onto that after. I went up the Tokyo Tower just as the sun was setting, which was the most perfect thing I have ever witnessed in my life. Look at this:

That mountainous peak in the distance in the orange sunset light? That is Mount Fuji. It is the most liberating sight I have ever seen in my life; it made all my fears of the height disappear. I knew I made the right decision going up the Tower because if I had missed these views it wouldn’t have been worth it. Going up the Tokyo Tower, for me, was the most life changing moment in my 19 years of living.

After spending way beyond my time slot allowance on the first deck, I hurried to the elevator to go up to the highest point which I had sort of built up the adrenaline for and managed to do with ease. Until I saw the elevator was glass and jolted a lot in the wind. I had a slight panic but managed to compose myself inside the elevator after a voice over a loud speaker said it was normal to jolt and move in the wind. Think the first deck views are beautiful? My jaw dropped to the floor when I seen this…

I spent so long on the highest deck, I didn’t want to leave the Tower once that night. Leaving was such a horrible experience because I remember looking out the top deck observatory and seeing the Tokyo Skytree in the distance which made me break down in tears. I was frantically texting my mum and updating my FaceBook to just how lucky a person I was and how grateful I was to be in my position. It made me truly see just how much I loved the world and everything it had to offer.

Thank you Japan, for everything you showed me. I can’t wait to share the rest of my experience with you all, I have way too many photos to sort through.

Would any of you like to visit Japan? Also, out of curiosity, do any of you suffer a fear of heights? Let me know!