"Shinagawa - September 1st, 2006" - by Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon, Images Through Glass, Tokyo

Shinagawa - September 1st, 2006

"Shinagawa" by Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon, Images Through Glass, Tokyo

Shinagawa was my residence for my second and third weeks in Japan, so when late August and early September roll around every year, I remember and sometimes return to the area to reminisce.

For my first 15 years or so in Tokyo, I was just tuned into new things happening, but then that reached a saturation point and it suddenly struck me that I was seeing less of what was before than I was of new things. Only a very small number of the buildings in these pictures were here in 1984.

Coming to the area show above and below a couple of years ago was the first time in my life that felt very nearly disorienting for the sole reason that everything I had known before in an area was gone! Since then, I find myself not thinking "This is something new", but rather, when seeing something that has survived two decades in Tokyo (no small feat!), I think "Wow! That was here in 1984... and it's still here! Amazing!"

Shinagawa has always been fairly convenient, but it's become more so with the reconstruction of Shinagawa Station, including new platforms for the Shinkansen trains, which people used to have to go to Tokyo Station for.

Shinagawa Station Area

(Left below) - This sort of walkway can work out nicely - getting people over fire-breathing internal combustion machines unmolested, as well as saving them from having to walk up and down stairs - all under a roof to keep them dry when it rains (which is fairly often in water-rich Japan).

(Middle above & left below) - To simplify an idea, I tend to like two types of buildings in Japan - the very old traditional ones and the ultra-modern new ones. The old style Japanese garden, with its green plants and faded wooden structures is timelessly nice; and modern scenes like these new ones in Shinagawa are interesting and exciting.

Modern Shinagawa

(Right above) - That large apartment building on the right side of the photo was here back in 1984 - looking newer to me then than it does now (duh!).

Modern Shinagawa

(Above three and bottom left) - The move from old-style Japan to modern is complete! Now they are actually faking the old style inside squeaky new modern buildings!

(Bottom left and center) - Large, aging apartment building (notice the bus garage on the first level). (Bottom right) - The same building from the other (balcony) side, as seen from the apartment building I stayed at during my second (and part of the third) week in Japan, right after arriving in 1984.

Shinagawa at night.

(Middle below) - The old steel bridge where the Keihin-kyuko (Keikyu) Line crosses several of the JR tracks (the Yamanote Line, Tokaido Line, etc.). The tall building in the background is where I ate in an expensive restaurant on the top floor with Mr. Shacho, the president of the company I first worked at after arriving here in August 1984.

Nighttime Shinagawa

Back to Shinagawa Station. I wish I had pictures from 1984 to compare with these, but I sold my camera equipment in San Francisco before coming over here in order to help finance the trip, and then I didn't get a new camera until a couple of years later.