Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Eitai Bridge across the Sumida River

June 2011 (35.676 Degrees, 139.788 Degrees) Eitai Bridge

Continuing up the Sumida River we arrive at the Eitai Bridge.  Originally a timber structure that was built in 1696, the Eita Obashi was immortalized in woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) but it was destroyed during the 1923 Kanto earthquake. Kawasaki Construction replaced it with the current high-strength steel structure in 1926. It is a 606 ft long by 72 ft wide three span bridge with a steel tied arch for the center span.

Tokyo's Sky Tree Tower can be seen in the distance. This is one of Tokyo's most iconic structures, appearing in almost every photo along this portion of the Sumida River. Tokyo Sky Tree (東京スカイツリー Tōkyō Sukai Tsurī) is 2,080 ft tall, making it the tallest tower in the world and the second tallest structure (after Buri Khalifi at 2,723 ft).

 This location used to be the mouth of the Sumida River before the many artificial islands effectively pushed Tokyo Bay farther downstream.

Tokyo, Japan's Bridges: Eitai Bridge across the Sumida River by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.