Tokyo

Tokyo's Bridges at Night

The bay side of the city is twenty years newer than the rest of it and built to be looked at after dark. Four bridges, where to stand for each, and the settings that work without a tripod.

A long suspension bridge lit in colour across dark water with a city skyline behind — Tokyo Bay · May 2020

Old Tokyo is low, dense and badly lit. The bay is the opposite: reclaimed land, wide water, and a set of bridges built between the 1990s and the 2010s with lighting designed in from the start.

That makes the waterfront the most reliable night photography in the city — no permission needed, no closing time, and a skyline behind every subject.

At a glance

Rainbow Bridge: 798m suspension span. Lit white in summer, warm in winter, colours on events
Tokyo Gate Bridge: A 2012 truss nicknamed the dinosaur bridge, out by the container port
Where to stand: Odaiba seafront for the first, the Wakasu park side for the second
Best hour: The twenty minutes after sunset, then again from full dark
Kit: Anything with a two-second timer and a wall to rest it on

Rainbow Bridge, from the Odaiba side

A suspension bridge lit at night above dark water with towers behind it — From the Odaiba seafront, the bridge sits in front of the city rather than beside it.Tokyo Bay · May 2020

The bridge lit in changing colours with the skyline beyond — The lighting changes through the year and for events; the standard winter scheme is the warm one.Tokyo Bay · May 2020

The classic view is from the beach and boardwalk on the Odaiba side, with the bridge on the left and the office towers of the mainland behind it. It is a five-minute walk from the station, it is free, and there is a wall at exactly the right height to rest a camera on.

The full span of the illuminated bridge reflected in the bay — Low tide, no wind: the reflection runs almost the whole span.Tokyo Bay · May 2020

Tokyo Gate Bridge, which almost nobody visits

A steel truss bridge with two angular spans crossing the bay — The shape comes from two constraints: the airport's flight path above, and the shipping channel below.Tokyo Bay · September 2022

The truss bridge seen in silhouette against a pale evening sky — Dusk from the park on the landward side. The walkway onto the bridge itself closes in the evening.Tokyo Bay

It is a long way out — the container terminals, a bus ride past the last station — and it is worth it for the shape. The bridge could not be a suspension span because of Haneda's approach path, and could not be a low crossing because of the shipping lane, so it became two cantilevered trusses meeting in the middle.

The inner harbour

Residential towers and a cable-stayed bridge reflected in still water at night — The inner canals around Toyosu are sheltered, so the water is usually mirror-flat.Tokyo · December 2022

A lit cable-stayed bridge over calm water with towers behind — Shot from the footpath on the canal side — no barrier, no crowd, and a handrail to brace against.Tokyo · December 2022

The canals between Toyosu and the river are the quiet version of all this: the same skyline, smaller bridges, and nobody about after eight.

Settings that work

Three numbers and one habit. ISO 200, f/8, and whatever shutter speed that gives you — usually two to eight seconds. The habit: use the self-timer, so your finger is off the camera when the shutter opens.

If you are shooting on a phone, its night mode will do a creditable job of all of these as long as you can keep it still for three seconds. Rest it on the wall and use the volume button.

A bridge strung with lights reflected in black water — Illuminations run from late November to mid-February in most of the bay area.Tokyo · December 2022