As it's just three kilometers away from my home, taking a walk over the newly constructed Tokyo Gate Bridge (opened to traffic in February 2012) had been on my activity list for quite a while, but it somehow never materialized—until last week. I walked across the Rainbow Bridge a couple of weeks ago, that's when I decided to follow up on my previous plan, and I finally went over to Wakasu Park in the Koto ward to walk over the Tokyo Gate Bridge.
Please note that the opening times might be a bit inconvenient, since the walk is allowed only until 5:00 p.m. in the evening, although from July 1 to September 30 it's open until 8:00 p.m. Wakasu Park is the entry point to the Tokyo Gate Bridge where you can take the elevator to the 8th floor. From there you'll start the walk.
The bridge connects Koto ward from Wakasu Park and Ota ward crisscrossing over the Tokyo Bay area. The walkway is on the right hand side of the bridge (coming from the Koto ward side) and it faces the city of Tokyo, offering breathtaking views of the Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower, the Rainbow Bridge in Odaiba and on a particularly clear day even of Mount Fuji in distance. A panoramic shot will cover all these attractions in one frame—a photographers delight. Alas, the day I went I could only see as far as Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree.
Apart from the city view, one can enjoy the large container ships and trawlers passing below the Gate Bridge, which was constructed to 'kill two birds with one stone': allowing ships to cross the Tokyo Port area as usual and allowing over 32,000 vehicles a day to pass over the bridge.
The action is not restricted to the land and the water, but due to the proximity to the Haneda Airport, you can watch flights taking off and landing. The planes fly right over the bridge like in some of the snaps attached to this article.
The bridge has some SOS phone points in case of emergency, but there's no restroom once you start walking over the bridge; use the facilities at Wakasu Park. There are some benches on the bridge at various points, where you can sit down for a while and take a rest. On the way back I made a detour to the 9th floor of the elevator building, where there is an observation point for the walkway itself.
It's a very beautiful bridge. Stay for the darkness to set in at Wakasu Park, which gives beautiful views of the bridge too!
