Tokyo Tower is Not Overrated, You Are
August 2nd, 2009
I remember the time when the term ‘overrated’ first got to my nerves, and it was back when the Skip Beat anime was airing. I thought of how elitist this is, as you show the world that something a LOT of people are enjoying doesn’t really deserve the attention it’s getting, or that your opinion deviates from a lot of people, I vs the mainstream fags. News flash: You’re being a wet blanket to those who pour out their love and attention to it when you do that.
At times I find myself using this very term, and to be honest, it saddens me when that happens, because it seems like I’ve outgrown part of my childhood and can’t join in the fun of a certain bandwagon, like, say, Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh, and even, gawd, Vampire Knight. Growing up and being reasonable about your taste isn’t exactly worth rejoicing, especially if you end up hating what you used to like, and that’s how I feel about Vampire Knight now — disenchantment, is what I’d call it.
And once again, I see the term used, this time to describe Tokyo Tower, in a comment by X10A_Freedom in ghostlightning’s Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 post, and it makes me a really sad bunny. When you no longer see Tokyo Tower (or any other thing around you) as something beautiful, I hate to say this, but you become more like the jaded apathetic Mirai. How this person sees Tokyo Tower now is actually the way I see the sights in my country, particularly in my hometown Bicol and in Manila.
Seeing my college classmates have that sense of awe as they marvel at the sight of the Cagsawa ruins or other churches we visited crushes my heart, because it makes me realize how apathetic I have become (Imagine Mirai going, “betsu ni~ (nothing great)” or “futsuu~” (too normal / nothing special)). The sights might not really be wow-worthy, but if you retain that sense of wonder for it, I’m happy for you.
As for Tokyo Tower, well let’s just say I gained much more appreciation for it after watching the AWSUM movie ALWAYS ~Sunset on Third Street~, as I witnessed how this landmark became the pillar of hope back in the 1950s where people are starting out a new life after the war. It was a sign of a new era in Japan — an era of hopes and dreams, an era of a bright future (a bright ‘mirai’). They built Tokyo Tower with the ambition of making it the TALLEST tower in the world, and other towers might have ‘outgrown’ it now, but you can’t take away the fact that it was successful back in its time. Having known its significance made me all the more realize that TOKYO TOWER IS BEAUTIFUL.
Have you, dear sir X10A_Freedom, went to see Tokyo Tower at night and seen how pretty it is? Or even <a href="this isn’t pretty for you? But I digress.
I haven’t watched Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 episode 4, but if Tokyo Tower — THE pillar of Tokyo, pillar of communication and observation, pillar of hope — collapsed in that episode, then indeed, it serves nothing else but a statement that “Tokyo has died”, “Tokyo is broken”. And those who know well the significance this landmark bears will all the more mourn for its loss — unfair as it is that the more you become happy for something, the more you’ll be saddened by its loss, but hey that’s what makes us human! We get zealous over the simplest of things, just the sight of this one ordinary-looking Tokyo Tower is enough of a reason for us to rejoice and marvel at its sight, we mourn and grieve over it — a clear proof that WE ARE ALIVE.
In the end I just want to say that, something, or rather anything, can be beautiful not because IT IS * an irrefutable fact * or BECAUSE I SAID SO, but because I see in it something worth loving, something to be awed about. I want to live my life gaining a sense of wonder and appreciation for what that I see and experience as each days go by, retaining that child-like sense of wonder that Yuuki has, to gain appreciation even for the littlest of things, to be optimistic and live life to the fullest. For a bright ‘mirai’.
Yuuki wo dashite, ippo fumidaseba, Mirai ga kaerareru! (Take _courage_! Changing the _future_ starts with one little step!) 
Just a random little quote that popped into my mind as I thought of the significance of Yuuki and Mirai’s name.
On a totally unrelated note, there’s a very interesting debate (more interesting than my post OBV) going on around the other side of the ’sphere, and while I’m pretty apathetic about it atm, I’d say go check it out, just because ^_^ Or for something even more fun, go check out CCY-senpai wa 17-sai, the brainchild visual novel of lolikit, featuring the infamous faces in the aniblogging community. If you still aren’t into the aniblogging community this might as well be your “gateway” 
Credits to torigoe takumi and reachizu, and danbooru for the images.
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