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blog-L - (2013a)
2013/03/31
"1991 Kyojima, Keisei Trains; 2013
Tonogayato Gardens, Tokyo Hanami
(Chidorigafuchi, Etc.)"
There are a number of locations covered with
this most recent batch of videos, so I'll
just mention a couple of main themes in this
intro and write something after some of the
titles/links below.
This batch opens with a March 1991 visit to
Kyojima. The name may sound familiar,
as I've posted things from there before,
both recent material and from 1991. On
March 24th, 1991, I spent almost an entire
day in the area, so I took a fair amount of
footage (a term I avoid for digital files
stored to a flash memory card, but it fits
for analog tape). This time around
I've focused on one area of Kyojima -
Kyojima 3-Chome.
For videos from this year (2013), the main
theme is views of sakura trees in bloom, and
I went to several places in Tokyo for the
experience of springtime hanami and to
record video and still images.
Contemplating the places I visited over the
past week, I find myself thinking "Why
didn't you go to this place, and that
place", etc., but - as I'm reminding myself
- my intention this time around was just to
visit a few places and capture the spirit of
sakura-hanami - not create a comprehensive
travel guide about it. Rain has been
interfering a little with flower viewing
this year, but it's just been light rain, so
on good-weather (not wet) days, it's been
pretty nice.
In my Sakura Quest for 2013, I first went by
the Tonogayato Gardens, and then realized
(once inside) that that particular
pay-to-enter park is very nice, but doesn't
have the standard type of cherry blossom
trees! There were a couple of
flowering trees though, which I appreciated
seeing, but I don't know what type they were
exactly. After that, all the places I
went had fully flowering sakura trees -
first Yotsuya, then Yushima-Seido, Asukayama
Park (in Oji), a former riverbed in Oji (now
a nice park), Ueno Park, Ginza 1-Chome,
Shibuya, Naka-Meguro, Jiyugaoka, Kudanshita
(Ushigafuchi, Chidorigafuchi, Kudankita, and
Kitanomaru-koen).
1991 - Kyojima 3-Chome Walkabout 京島三丁目散策散歩
(910324)
http://youtu.be/O1rQjNN7RDU
One of the things that occurred to me when
watching this material again after 22 years,
is that this combination of old wooden
houses, shotengai shopping streets, and
small metalworking shops doing piecework for
factories is exactly the combination
featured in the Tora-san movie series
("Otoko-wa Tsurai-yo!"). The area
actually in the movie became a tourist spot
for people who like the atmosphere in the
movie and go to see it, so the movie
transformed that area into something
else. Kyojima, on the other hand,
stayed in the shadows and is actually more
the real thing - with no tourism whatsoever
(not that I'm aware of, although I suppose
my going there and walking around with a
camera qualifies it at least a
little!).
The focus on the 3-Chome section of Kyojima
came about accidentally. I originally
intended to walk through it and continue on
towards another destination, but I ended up
(accidentally) going in circles, and then
the area was just so interesting (since even
then I knew it couldn't possible not change
in the not-so-distant future), that I felt a
need to record it.
1991 Kyojima Supermarket 京島のスーパー (910324)
http://youtu.be/c2bDnuLVOrY
1991 Walk to Keisei-Hikifune Station
京成曳舟駅までの散歩 (910324)
http://youtu.be/DbFAmNngjbk
For me now, the appearance of the old train
station seems most interesting of all, but
for some reason it didn't occur to me at the
time that there would be no trace of the old
station in the future. Returning to
the area... last year I think it was, the
cool old wooden atmospheric station had been
replaced with a clean, perfectly functional
new one that - like too many new things -
lacks soul. I guess it will come with
time?
1991年 昔の地上京成曳舟駅 Pre-Elevated Keisei-Hikifune
Station (910324)
http://youtu.be/SzXL_JRO7LE
1991 Keisei-Hikifune to Keisei-Tateishi
京成曳舟駅-京成立石駅_京成線 (910324)
http://youtu.be/Mgf234lp5_U
1991年 昔の地上京成線の電車 (京成曳舟駅) Old Keisei Line
Trains (910324g)
http://youtu.be/38VDpQfZtd8
Tonogayato Gardens - Bamboo Tunnel
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の竹のトーネール (130322)
http://youtu.be/bE4ogZnQVDQ
A traditional garden like this is best when
it's not crowded - as it wasn't the day I
visited. In walking through the park
and sitting for a while up over the pond, a
wordless contemplation of the sights and
sounds restores some humanity lost to daily
living on/among asphalt, concrete, steel,
glass, plastic, etc. How much of that
comes through in the video and its
soundtrack I don't know.... For me,
when I watch this set of videos, it's a
combination of images and sounds recorded by
my camera and memories I have from the
experience, so I'm not sure how it looks and
sounds to someone who hasn't been to this
garden. Here's an English website for
the park (and others in Tokyo):
http://www.tokyo-park.or.jp/english/park/detail_07.html#tonogayato
Tonogayato Gardens - Southeast Side
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の東南側 (130322)
http://youtu.be/Qo4xg_j6UsI
Tonogayato Gardens - Bamboo Grove
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の竹林と風音 (130322)
http://youtu.be/DRHhMzvCGLI
From the English language guide/brochure for
the park:
"Construction on this garden
began in 1913 and was completed in 1915 by
a landscape gardener called 'Sengoku' (who
lived in Akasaka), as a villa for Sadae
Eguchi who became the vice president of
the South Manchuria Railway later.
After being purchased by Hikoyata Iwasaki
of the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu in 1929, it was
completed as a semi-Western style
strolling garden consisting of trees and
ponds with additional buildings such as a
main building and a tea room (Momiji-Tei)
designed by Saku Tsuda. It had been
used as a villa for the Iwasaki Family
until 1974, when the Tokyo Metropolitan
Government purchased it. The garden
is located on the southern edge of the
Kokubunji rift line. The natural
flora in the Musashi plateau and the
cliff-like rift area are well
protected. Thus, it is possible to
observe many kinds of wild grasses,
insects, etc. that have been living in
this area since former times. In the
Jiro Benten Pond in the garden, there is a
depression that contains a natural spring
that provides large quantities of fresh
water. Water that runs off the cliff
collects in this area and is part of the
source of the Nogawa River. As can
be seen from the above, this garden has
features that differ from other gardens in
the Tokyo area.
"In September 2011, this
landscape garden was designated a a place
of natural scenic beauty. Of all the
similar Musashino landscape gardens which
were created during the same period, this
garden best retains the original
appearance and beauty of its time, and is
considered to have particularly high
artistic value."
Tonogayato Gardens (Pond and Spring)
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の池と泉 (130322)
http://youtu.be/iyeeT_yAnHY
Tonogayato Gardens Stroll 殿ヶ谷戸庭園の散策散歩
(130322hdc)
http://youtu.be/Po_4xcVjsLc
Tonogayato Gardens - Northeast Side
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の東北池側 (130322)
http://youtu.be/31Q4Jjf8S4Y
Tonogayato Gardens - Sozu (Shishiodoshi)
Sound 殿ヶ谷戸庭園添水鹿威し (130322)
http://youtu.be/p7caP2edwB8
Tonogayato Gardens - Sozu Sound and Goldfish
殿ヶ谷戸庭園の添水音 (130322hd)
http://youtu.be/_WnFPntqaqc
The gardens closed at 5:00 p.m., and since
they expect you to be out and on your way
*before* it actually reaches closing time, I
was speed walking towards the exit at about
4:53, when I came upon a foreign couple
sitting on a bench - serenely eating a bento
box lunch together. Figuring they must
not have realized the park was closing, I
had the following exchange:
Me: "The park closes at 5:00..."
Man: "The park closes in five minutes?"
Me: [Looking at watch] "Well, it
closes... *at* five o'clock..."
[pointing at watch for visual effect]
Man: [With sarcastic look and sarcastic
tone] "Well, thank you for that...
[smirk] *information*..."
Me: [Smile - hand up in "Just telling you in
case you didn't know! - Bye!" gesture.]
With that I walked to the exit, and as I
listened to the recorded announcement
(following video) saying that it was very
nearly five o'clock and that anyone still in
the park should head for the exit *now*, I
looked back, saw no sign of the couple and
wondered at the man's sarcasm. Did he
think I was lying? Did he think they
could stay past closing time for some
reason? Did they pay to enter, or just
blunder in without paying and completely
oblivious to the fact that it's a
pay-to-enter park that closes at 5:00 and is
not open 24-hours a day? Those
inscrutable westerners! Who knows what
they're thinking or why they do
things! And so rude! I walked
off wondered how much trouble the park
employees would have kicking them out.
Would they get the sarcasm treatment
too? It probably wouldn't escalate to
the point of having to call the police, but
why were/are those two foreigners so d**n
rude? [Localized Lyle wondering what
planet he belongs on anyway...]
Tonogayato Gardens - Closing Recording
殿ヶ谷戸庭園を出る (130322)
http://youtu.be/1Y0pM7PS27s
Chuo Line Window View - Approaching Yotsuya
中央線 - 新宿と四ツ谷の間 (130326)
http://youtu.be/Aa8CNGMq_3w
One of the nice things about the sakura
trees in the spring, with their mass of
flowers, is that looking out a train window
on the way somewhere, you can see them here
and there, and they say "Spring!" like
nothing else and brighten the viewer's
outlook almost instantaneously. The
long irritating winter is finally coming to
an end!
Yotsuya Station Platform Walk 四ッ谷駅ホームの様子
(130326)
http://youtu.be/7xyFKnr4a2s
Yotsuya Mitsukebashi Bridge and
Sakura-Hanami 四ツ谷見附橋と桜花見 (130326)
http://youtu.be/9l5_12aRvks
The kimono-ish clad women are recent
graduates of (probably) Sophia University,
which is right next to the old rampart I
went to for hanami pictures. Actually,
in more detail - I think those are in fact
regular kimonos, but they often put on that
extra skirt on the bottom (for university
graduation ceremonies) that gives them a
completely different look. As you can
see a little in this set of videos, several
woman dressed that way were posing for
pictures in front of the sakura trees up on
the rampart. Since the trees bloom
right around the time of graduations and
entrance ceremonies (the school year here is
from April through to March), it's pretty
standard to pose people in front of them for
pictures commemorating entering a new school
and then again when graduating.
Yotsuya Rampart Sakura-Hanami (NS) 四ツ谷城壁の桜花見
(130326)
http://youtu.be/KDWQjlL2ruA
Sakura-Hanami at Yotsuya Rampart (SN1)
四ツ谷城壁の桜花見 (130326hdc)
http://youtu.be/Utwtzq_zJN8
Sakura-Hanami Tables and Chairs (Yotsuya
Rampart) 四ツ谷城壁の桜花見 (130326hdc)
http://youtu.be/WBAm2NBGy5s
Rokubancho Sakura-Hanami 六番町桜花見 (Blue
Sheets) 130326
http://youtu.be/-bLjincrc2M
This stretch is longer, has more space on
the sides, and there are more companies here
(compared to the stretch next to Sophia
University), and so this is usually packed
with office workers in the evening at this
time of year, who are quite organized about
it - from putting down the blue tarp to
reserve the space, to (sometimes) sending
out a couple of people to guard it, to
acquisition of food and drink, etc.
Yotsuya Station - Ticket Machines to
Platform 四ッ谷駅 - 改札口-ホーム (130326)
http://youtu.be/ncDhajenB40
Yotsuya to Ochanomizu (Sakura in Bloom)
四ッ谷駅-御茶ノ水駅 (桜木など) 130326
http://youtu.be/IOWd64ayo9o
There's a long stretch of sakura trees along
another section of moat that the Chuo Line
trains run parallel with, which you can see
in this video (above).
The title of this one just states that I
went to Ochanomizu, but I kept the camera
recording at Ochanomizu Station all the way
to the ticket gates. At around the
05:35 mark, I have a look at the curving
steel and wood roof of the station.
This type of structure is becoming
increasingly rare, so I find myself admiring
this curving roof and hoping it will last
for a while and not be torn down and
replaced with a boring new design. The
exit I take at the end is the Hijiribashi
Exit (聖橋口).
Hijiribashi to Yushima-Seido (Spring)
聖橋から湯島聖堂まで (春) 130326
http://youtu.be/MZI2jOq9peg
Yushima-Seido seemed like a really
mysterious place when I first visited it in
2002, but they appear to have cut down a
number of trees since then, so it's seeming
(unfortunately) more ordinary now.
Partly I've probably just gotten used to it
after many visits, but cutting down trees in
places like this always reduces intriguing
mysterious atmospheres. That might
even have been the reason for cutting down
trees - to make it more welcoming to
visitors who fear atmosphere and
mystery. Anyway - it's still nice, but
it was nicer before. Here's a page I
posted about it some years back:
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/PhotoGlryMain/pgb/Yushima01.html
Notice how different the atmosphere seems in
the older photos compared to the video I
took a few days ago? Interestingly,
the video looks better to me now than it
felt at the time I was walking through
taking the video... Hmmm.... Now
there's something to ponder. The seen
and the unseen. It seems to me that in
tidying up the place a little too much, they
have also lost some of the unseen charm of
the place (which the camera isn't good at
recording of course).
Sakura-Hanami at Yushima-Seido 湯島聖堂の桜花見 (春)
130326
http://youtu.be/b3uAk2xFULw
Basically, there's that one large sakura
tree at Yushima-Seido (excluding a smaller
one outside the gate), but while people go
in large numbers to the places where there
are a lot of the trees together, some of the
lonely temples and whatnot in the city with
a single tree, are much more beautiful in a
way. Of course, if the crowds headed
to these spots, it would be a disaster, so
it's a good thing everyone heads to the
famous spots instead!
Yushima-Seido Walkabout 湯島聖堂の散策散歩
(130326hdcg)
http://youtu.be/c3Qfh3_uTqQ
Watching this again to see if I should
comment on something, it occurs to me that
this is actually not too bad of a general
view of the whole grounds of
Yushima-Seido. I recommend seeing this
one. In fact, I probably should
comment on a few details:
At the beginning I take a vertical view of
the vertical flag that says 湯島聖堂 (the
characters are viewed from the back of the
flag, so they are backwards), that's the
kanji character name of the place,
Yushima-Seido. At the 00:06 mark, you
can see the characters in the correct
orientation.
Orange construction cones (00:52, 00:58,
01:46, 02:19, etc.) - I used to find those
looking really out of place and very
unattractive, but I've - over the decades
(not years) - finally trained myself to not
even see them. ..... Actually, a
better description is you learn to see the
things you want to focus on and to divorce
the object of interest from distractions in
the foreground (or background, etc.).
I didn't use to think that this was
possible, but now I often see this sort of
thing for the first time (or *notice* it for
the first time) when reviewing a scene later
via video I took. At the time, most of
those visually harsh objects didn't enter my
conscious thinking. I suppose they
make sense as non-vocabulary "Don't Touch! /
Don't Enter!" signs.
I seem to remember reading somewhere (many
years ago) that the wall at the 02:15 mark
goes all the way back to before the Great
Kanto Earthquake in 1923. Or maybe
only that it escaped the fire-bombing of
Tokyo in 1945? I'm not sure, but I was
thinking the earthquake *and* the
firebombing missed it. [Research time
on the Internet...] Okay, I couldn't
find any information about that wall, but
FYI, here are some links:
English Wikipedia page on Yushima-Seido:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yushima_Seid%C5%8D
Japanese Wikipedia page on Yushima-Seido:
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B9%AF%E5%B3%B6%E8%81%96%E5%A0%82
Yushima-Seido website (in Japanese):
http://www.seido.or.jp/
And here is some (Japanese) text from the
Yushima-Seido site regarding the history of
the place:
徳川五代将軍綱吉は儒学の振興を図るため、元禄3年（1690）湯島の地に聖堂を創建し
て上野忍岡の林家私邸にあった廟殿と林家の家塾をここ
に移しました。これが現在の湯島聖堂の始まりです。その後、およそ100年を経た寛政9年（1797）幕府直轄学校として、世に名高い「昌平
坂学問所（通称『昌平校』）」を開設しました。
明治維新を迎えると聖堂・学問所は新政府の所管するところとなり、当初、学問所
は大学校・大学と改称されながら存置されましたが、明治4年
（1871）これを廃して文部省が置かれることとなり、林羅山以来240年、学問所となってからは75年の儒学の講筵は、ここにその歴史を閉
じた次第です。ついでこの年わが国最初の博物館（現在の東京国立博物館）が置かれ、翌5年
（1872）には東京師範学校、わが国初の図書館で
ある書籍館が置かれ、7年（1874）には東京女子師範学校が設置され、両校はそれぞれ明治19年（1886）、23年（1890）高等師範
学校に昇格したのち、現在の筑波大学、お茶の水女子大学へと発展してまいりました。このよ
うに、湯島聖堂は維新の一大変革に当たっても学問所
としての伝統を受け継ぎ、近代教育発祥の地としての栄誉を担いました。
大正11年（1922）湯島聖堂は国の史跡に指定されましたが、翌12年
（1923）関東大震災が起こり、わずかに入徳門と水屋を残し、すべ
てを焼失いたしました。この復興は斯文会が中心となり、昭和10年（1935）工学博士東京帝国大学伊東忠太教授の設計と㈱大林組の施工によ
り、寛政時代の旧制を模し、鉄筋コンクリート造りで再建を果たしました。この建物が現在の
湯島聖堂で、昭和61年度（1986）から文化庁に
よる保存修理工事が、奇しくも再び(株)大林組の施工で行われ、平成5年（1993）三月竣工いたしました。
Back to the wall... in comparing it now with
a picture I took 7-10 years ago (see link
further up the page), I see that it was just
bare wood before. I guess they painted
it black to better preserve the old wood,
but it looked much nicer with the weathered
wood exposed, as is the case with many old
temples in Japan. I think only the
gate itself was black before? I'm not
sure. I need to dig through old photos
to confirm that.
The mirror-like surface of the black gates
at the 02:40 mark is lacquer I think.
Another detail I either read or was told
many years ago. The trouble with
on-line information about this place is that
it gives a general overview of the entire
topic, but doesn't seem to have many details
about the different elements of the
place. With a history going back
hundreds of years, there should be many
interesting stories to tell!
The stone water basin on the left in the
background at the 02:50 mark is blocked
off. It used to be that these were
always filled with water - even at very
small shrines, but now the smaller shrines
mostly seem to leave them dry, and only the
biggest, busiest places still have them full
of water. I keep wondering what the
reason for that is, but I haven't found any
definitive answer. Is it due to
pigeons using the water? (Having seen
a few places with netting over the water, I
think that could well be the case.)
Camping bipeds? Worry that if someone
gets sick from drinking from one, that there
will be legal trouble? Whatever the
reason, that they are just left dry is
becoming the norm for some reason.
Incidentally, I think "stone water basin" is
a good description, but looking around a
little on-line it appears that no one quite
knows what to call them, I found these from
just one page of search results:
purification fountain
water fountain like thing
ritual fountain
stone wash basin
purification font
hand washing area
hand washing station
Here is an explanation and instructions
about how to do the purification ritual -
from the website for the Kasama Inari Jinja
(shrine) in Ibaraki-ken:
http://www.kasama.or.jp/english/index.html
"Whenever paying a visit to a Shinto
jinja, it is customary to purify yourself
at the Purification Font before advancing
to the Hall of Worship to pray. A shrine's
purification font often is inscribed with
characters meaning "cleanse your mind";
there can be found a basin overflowing
from a constantly flowing stream of pure
water. This water is used to cleanse the
hands, mouth, and mind prior to worship,
allowing the individual to approach the
deity in an unblemished condition.
1. Take the water dipper in your
right hand, and pour water onto your left
hand.
2. Take the water dipper in your left
hand, and pour water onto your right hand.
3. Once more take the water dipper in
your right hand, pour water into your
cupped left hand, and rinse your mouth
with the water from your hand (please do
not drink directly from the dipper).
4. In consideration of the next
visitor, raise the dipper vertically and
rinse off the handle with fresh water,
then replace the dipper in its original
location."
But increasingly you can't do this at small
Tokyo shrines because there is no water, and
at Yushima-Seido, not even physical access
to the vicinity of the stone water basin....
Anyway! On to the next video!
Ochanomizu - Station Details and Platform
Walk 御茶ノ水駅のデテール (130326)
http://youtu.be/6ySsZ8W688Y
Ochanomizu to Kanda (Chuo Line) 御茶ノ水駅-神田駅
(万世橋見) 130326g
http://youtu.be/nKvgdFvqoEs
I watch (again) out the right-side window
for evidence of the old platform stairs
still being there while they continue with
the construction of whatever they're
building at/on the old platform of (former)
Manseibashi Station. First the
platform appears [01:04], and then some
new... something at [01:08], a new concrete
square... elevator shaft? (naw... what *is*
that?!) at [01:10], tile (brick?) from the
old stairs (phew!) at [01:10] and [01:11];
and from [01:12], I suddenly jump over to
the other side of the train to show a
railway siding. Looking at this now,
it's not so difficult to imagine it as the
last stop on the original Chuo Line, which
began life as the Kobu Line, which ran
between Tachikawa and Shinjuku.
According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manseibashi_Station):
"The private Kobu Railway
(甲武鉄道) between Tachikawa and Shinjuku was
opened on April 11, 1889. The line was
gradually extended east towards the center
of Tokyo and was nationalized on October
1, 1906. The line was further extended to
Manseibashi Station, which was opened on
April 1, 1912 and remained the eastern
terminal station of the line for seven
years.
The first station
building was designed by Tatsuno Kingo in
a style inspired by the Amsterdam Centraal
and repeated in his design of Tokyo
Station, opened two years later. A statue
of Takeo Hirose was erected in front of
the station.
After the 1914 opening
of Tokyo Station, Manseibashi still served
as the eastern terminal station of the
Chūō Main Line until March 1, 1919, when
the line was further extended and Kanda
Station opened. The 1923 Great Kantō
earthquake destroyed the original station
building, and a simpler station building
was erected in its place. The statue of
Hirose was left standing.
In 1925, the elevated
railway running through Ueno Station and
Akihabara Station was opened for passenger
traffic. Since both Akihabara and Kanda
stations were within walking distance of
Manseibashi, passenger numbers at
Manseibashi decreased. On April 26, 1936,
the Railway Museum moved into Manseibashi
Station, and the station building itself
was scaled back in November 1936. The
station was officially closed on November
1, 1943 and the station building was
completely torn down. The statue was
removed after World War II."
Well, I'm not sure "completely" torn
down is the right term, since there were/are
some remnants of the original station, a few
glimpses of which you can see in some photos
on this page:
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/mawari/sets/72057594133195585/
And... (last comment on Manseibashi
Station!) after looking at a picture of the
station from the side, I realize that the
station building was separate from the
elevated railway, so what's left is the
section under the elevated railway, and not
the station building itself, although they
were connected by passageways. Still,
it's cool that there's *something* left.
Kanda Station and Ride to Akihabara
神田駅と秋葉原駅までの山手線 (130326hdc)
http://youtu.be/SFeOgmga4y8
Akihabara Platform Walk 秋葉原駅ホームの様子 (屋根など)
130326
http://youtu.be/cTOlLFy_rcc
Akihabara to Oji (Keihin-Tohoku Line)
秋葉原駅-王子駅 (京浜東北快速) 130326
http://youtu.be/lu-tOrdoU9k
Oji Station to Asukayama Park (Hanami
Season) 王子駅-飛鳥山公園 (花見) 130326
http://youtu.be/URbBH2jFtlc
Asukayama Park Monorail (Brief Look)
飛鳥山公園モノレール (一見) 130326
http://youtu.be/yyJLbWkNHu8
Asukayama Park - Walking Up Hill Into Park
飛鳥山公園に上って入る (130326)
http://youtu.be/Xln8ds1mRb4
Asukayama Park Sakura-Hanami D-51 SL Etc
飛鳥山公園 - 都電など (130326)
http://youtu.be/0HDf1cr9DQ4
This was my first time (I think) to visit
this park, so looking in the windows of the
streetcar, etc. was as much original
exploration as simple recording of a place
already known. The kids waving to the
camera from the roof of the streetcar made
me feel nostalgic for the late eighties and
early nineties, before just about everyone
had cell phones with cameras in them.
The D-51 steam locomotive was interesting to
see. I was a little surprised at how
the kids were climbing all over it -
completely oblivious to the "Danger!
Do not climb on this!" signs!
That kids want to do that sort of thing is
normal enough, but that the parents just let
them have at it may be a condition of this
generation. The current batch of young
parents were pretty spoiled, and their kids
are more spoiled still it seems.
Back to the D-51. These have four
driven wheels per side (thus the "D") and
were used (as I understand it - I could be
wrong) for fast express trains between
cities, while the "C" trains have only three
driven wheels per side, but the wheels are
larger, so they (presumably) have more
torque and were probably better at getting
overloaded trains in motion when leaving
stations, etc. Most of the functional
steam engines I've seen here are the "C"
type and were manufactured in the post-war
years. People seem to be much more
nostalgic for the D-type though, which is
logical enough. Used for express
trains, speeding from city to city.
And the D-type engines look nicer/cooler
than the C-type ones.
D-51-853 SL in Asukayama Park
飛鳥山公園内のD-51-853 SL (130326)
http://youtu.be/xU14sGzFGgM
It was kind of funny how a kid hit his head
(not overly hard, but it must have hurt) on
one piece or another of steel in the cab,
and he started crying, and so his mother
came up and asked what was wrong, and he -
while half-crying and half-talking - patted
the offending pit of steel with his
hand. Mother informed, issue
explained, he stopped crying and got back to
the more important business of driving the
steam engine. It's hard to explain,
but seeing something like that brings back
very ancient memories and helps to complete
some kind of... unfinished picture? I
don't know what/how/why exactly, but it made
me feel more human to see/hear that for some
reason.
北区飛鳥山博物館 Kita-ku Asukayama Museum (130326)
http://youtu.be/bON5FY1b0ow
A quick look at a rather nice and
interestingly designed museum, with multiple
display spaces, and a coffee shop, etc.
Asukayama Park Hanami Walkthrough
飛鳥山公園桜花見時の散策散歩 (130326)
http://youtu.be/6Yil0V3JlNM
Asukayama Park - Walking Back Down to Street
飛鳥山公園 - 坂を下りて出る (130326)
http://youtu.be/95e2wnlieLo
I didn't know it before going there, but it
turns out this park has quite a long
history, which is interesting, because parks
tend to be newish in Tokyo. This
one... [uh-oh... back to the Internet to
check... Can I get the information
without getting sidetracked this time?
Stay tuned.] Okay - got the info and I
was only slightly sidetracked. Here's
a quote from Wikipedia about the park
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asukayama_Park):
"In the early eighteenth century, shogun
Tokugawa Yoshimune planted many cherry
trees in the area and opened up the land
for the enjoyment of the 'Edokko' or
citizens of Tokyo. The park, along
with Ueno Park, Shiba Park, Asakusa Park,
and Fukagawa Park, were formally
established in 1873 by the Dajo-kan, as
Japan's first public parks. In 1998,
three museums were opened inside the park,
designed by AXS Satow: the Kita City
Asukayama Museum (北区飛鳥山博物館), the Shibusawa
Memorial Museum (渋沢史料館), and the Paper
Museum (紙の博物館)."
Oji - Former Shakuji Riverbed Sakura 元石神井川の桜
- 王子駅の近く (130326)
http://youtu.be/pe9c3DKHneE
In the book "Japan Through American Eyes:
The Journal of Francis Hall, Kanagawa and
Yokohama, 1859-1866", Hall describes going
by horse to this area, which had tea houses
and was a kind of resort area (if that's the
right term) at the time. The publisher
blurb for the book describes the book pretty
well - if you're interested in Japan, I
highly recommend it:
"In this journal, Francis Hall, America's
leading business Pioneer in
nineteenth-century Japan, offers a
remarkable view of the period leading to
the Meiji Restoration. Privately preserved
for more than a hundred years, this
previously unpublished document shows Hall
to have been an astute observer of
Japanese life, as well as an influential
opinion-maker on Japan in the United
States during the crucial decade of the
American Civil War and the end of the
Tokugawa Shogunate. While contemporary
American and British diplomatic accounts
have focused on the official record, Hall
reveals to us the private side of life in
the treaty port. Although his instinctive
reactions were frequently to approve the
strong-arm tactics of the gunboat
diplomats with whom he associated, his
second thoughts were far more nuanced and
sympathetic than the official line. The
publication of Hall's journal, as well as
many articles he wrote for the American
press, therefore furnishes us with an
insightful and sensitive portrayal of
Japan on the eve of modernity. The
biography included in this volume provides
a context for the journal. An upstate New
York book dealer, Hall went to Japan in
1859 to collect material for a book and to
serve as correspondent for Horace
Greeley's New York Tribune. Seeing the
opportunities for commerce in Yokohama, he
helped found Walsh, Hall and Co., which
became the leading American trading house
in Japan. Hall was a shrewd businessman,
but more important for us, he was a
perceptive recorder of life around him.
Ethnographer, demographer, sportswriter,
social observer, economist, diplomat, and
participant in the turbulent affairs of
the treaty port, he left an unmatched
portrait of Japan in a time of rapid
change."
A paperback version has been published under
the slightly modified title: "Japan
Through American Eyes: The Journal Of
Francis Hall, 1859-1866"
Quoting from the book, here are two
paragraphs about his trip to Oji by horse:
"Saturday, November 3, 1860
- ..... We left the Imperial grounds
to ride to Ogi-ya, a noted tea house and
place of recreation in the country.
After leaving the imperial grounds and
passing out of the second wall we ascended
rising ground. Gradually as we
galloped on, the houses grew sparser and
at the end of a brisk two hours' ride we
were riding in pleasant suburban roads
bordered with gardens of fruits and
flowers or vegetables, and groves of
cypress and fir. At the foot of a
hill where there was a small cluster of
cottages we found Ogi-ya.
Ogi-ya is a series of
tea cottages built in a summer dell on a
brookside. A swift stream tumbles
over a fall at the head of a little gorge
and bounds on its serpentine course amidst
trees and rocks. On one side,
overhanging the stream with their long
tasseled arms were the native spruces, on
the other, a cluster of tea cottages
scattered here and there under cool shade
and surrounded by gardens of flowers, one
and two stories in height, and with
spacious verandahs opening towards the
bounding brook and the thick grove
beyond. Groups of Japanese were
enjoying themselves in the open
rooms. ......"
After reading things like the above, I
wonder how much nicer the world would be
without automobiles. The internal
combustion engine - through vast overuse -
is more of a curse than a benefit.
Oji Sakura Hanami and Bridge 王子桜花見と橋
(130326)
http://youtu.be/BMb0WnQxLjw
Oji Shrine 王子神社 (130326)
http://youtu.be/2ai-pwFaXj4
Ancient Ginkgo Tree by Oji Shrine
王子神社隣の古い大きい銀杏の木 (130326)
http://youtu.be/kEoW5OuGp0k
A plaque by the old tree at the beginning of
this video states that - while they don't
know the exact age, they think it's around
600 years old. It even made it through
the fire-bombing of Tokyo, while everything
around it burned. If it could talk, it
would have a lot to say I imagine....
Sakura Hanami by Shakuji River to Oji
Station 石神井川花見-王子駅 (130326)
http://youtu.be/7Bu_62BboUc
Oji Station Afternoon Platform Walk
王子駅改札口と午後駅ホーム散策散歩 (130326hdc)
http://youtu.be/EbPsndtPhs8
Starting by the ticket gates to Oji Station
- I go through the gates, up an escalator to
the platform, and I'm just looking around,
with sakura trees in bloom in the
background. First a train comes in
going the other way, and after it leaves,
I'm waiting for my train, when I hear a
train approaching on a neighboring track, so
I aim the camera in that direction, and it
turns out to be three old and
interesting-looking train cars being pulled
by an electric locomotive. They look
mysterious - going by like that so
unexpectedly... like some kind of ghost
train (at around the 02:44 mark).
Oji to Ueno - Keihin-Tohoku Line - Sakura
Spring 王子駅-上野駅 - 桜春 (130326)
http://youtu.be/lpvXHaLtHTY
Shinobazu Exit to Subway Area via Slope
Entrance 不忍改札から地下鉄口へ (130326)
http://youtu.be/Mj9X0qrcMUA
Shinobazu Exit to Ueno Park
上野駅不忍口から桜花見上野公園まで (130326)
http://youtu.be/WbBUhOg5jKU
Kiyomizu Kannondo Temple - Sakura in Bloom
清水観音堂桜花見様子 (130326)
http://youtu.be/a6Rb6BuhUW0
Kiyomizu Kannondo Temple - Sakura
Look-around 清水観音堂桜花見様子 (130326hd)
http://youtu.be/zuuEvFBYV8g
上野公園花見 - 清水観音堂から中央通路まで Kiyomizu Kannondo
Sakura (130326)
http://youtu.be/BIkPMZfPHIs
Ueno Park Upper Plaza Area by Kiyomizu
Kannondo Temple 上野公園広場桜 (130326)
http://youtu.be/F92g0kUObnk
Walk to Shinobazu Entrance of Ueno Station
上野駅不忍改札口へ (130326)
http://youtu.be/fSnrccT7OLI
Ueno Station Shinobazu Entrance to Platform
上野駅不忍改札からホームへ (130326)
http://youtu.be/Olltz507Tco
Ueno to Shinbashi - Front Cab View -
Yamanote Line 山手線で上野駅-新橋駅 (130326)
http://youtu.be/GDFHLAL5w2g
Tokyo Station Yaesu Side Under Construction
東京駅八重洲口工事の様子 (130326)
http://youtu.be/b8hQBa0opzU
Shinjuku Crosswalk People - Entering
Nishi-Shinjuku (130326)
http://youtu.be/laEt8Nu3ALo
Quiet Former Entrance to Toyoko-Shibuya
Station (130326)
http://youtu.be/2x15IPMzaOM
Shinjuku Yamanote to Chuo Transfer
新宿駅山手線から中央線まで乗り換え (130326)
http://youtu.be/x1VJql-zrfk
Shinbashi SL-Plaza Used Book Market
新橋SL広場の中古本市場 (130326)
http://youtu.be/fr3GaslOlQY
Shinbashi to Yurakucho - Yamanote Line
新橋駅-有楽町駅 - 山手線 (130326)
http://youtu.be/x3czc0VJ7bw
Tokyo Station Afternoon Walkthrough 東京駅午後の様子
- 山手線など (130326)
http://youtu.be/A2Ypj8FiJuo
Sakura in Small Ginza 1-Chome Park
銀座一丁目の小さい公園の桜花見 (130326)
http://youtu.be/0yu3NPBE6Yw
奥野ビル六階元談話室前と五階 Okuno Building Former Lounge
Etc (130326)
http://youtu.be/MeWGiqktxok
Walking by Sakura Trees in Ginza 1-Chome
銀座一丁目の桜の木 (130326)
http://youtu.be/xjW4jfmJv7g
Yurakucho Station Bound - Ginza 1-Chome
有楽町駅向き - 銀座一丁目 (130326)
http://youtu.be/Q6vyItIklLQ
Yurakucho to Ochanomizu - Evening Trains
有楽町駅-御茶ノ水駅 - 夕方電車 (130326)
http://youtu.be/n7hH1S0VtB4
Boarding Shibuya-Bound Yamanote Line at
Shinjuku Station - South Entrance (130326)
http://youtu.be/WIhYwRav1Dg
新宿駅-渋谷駅 - 夜の山手線 Shinjuku to Shibuya -
Nighttime Yamanote Line (130326)
http://youtu.be/O9izoQnC0-o
Nighttime Shibuya - South Exit Area 夜の渋谷駅 -
南改札を出る (130326)
http://youtu.be/9o-WBsoZrd0
Shibuya - East to West Station Walkthrough
渋谷桜 - 東から西へ - 駅あたり (130326hd)
http://youtu.be/qHG_qZB3Rl4
Shibuya Late Night Crowds by Station
渋谷駅あたりの夜人込み (130326hd)
http://youtu.be/FV0iKFPv9e8
銀座一丁目の美しい桜の木 - 花見万歳 Ginza 1-Chome Sakura
Trees (130326g)
http://youtu.be/xzXxtkwCloI
Yurakucho Rail Bridge Echoes 有楽町夜鉄道橋の鉄響き
(130326g)
http://youtu.be/FkR_U5fdnMw
Shibuya Walkabout (East to West) Hachiko
Plaza - JR-Shibuya Station (130326g)
http://youtu.be/_i6dVRh8XM0
Shibuya Hachiko Plaza Nighttime Sakura
夜渋谷ハチ公広場の桜花見 (130326g)
http://youtu.be/zWU8MepP06Q
Shinjuku Platform Walk and Ride to Harajuku
新宿駅の様子と原宿駅まで (130329)
http://youtu.be/kYSP7GboSqM
Harajuku Station - Platform to Exit 原宿駅 -
ホームから表参道改札口まで (130329)
http://youtu.be/JsNVZY534w0
Harajuku Omotesando and Meiji-Dori Stroll
原宿表参道と明治通り散策散歩 (130329)
http://youtu.be/7VEnOBL4UCQ
Harajuku Takeshita-Dori Afternoon Stroll
原宿竹下通り午後散策散歩 (130329g)
http://youtu.be/uP2vibMPbuE
Takeshita-Dori - West Side by Harajuku
Station 竹下通り - 原宿駅隣の西側 (130329hd)
http://youtu.be/ikSruHg4sec
Harajuku Station - Takeshita Entrance 原宿駅竹下口
(130329hdc)
http://youtu.be/HhkdnXGMTMY
Shibuya Station - Yamanote to Toyoko 渋谷駅
山手線-地下鉄の東横線 (130329)
http://youtu.be/B3no0lw1LBg
This starts on a Yamanote Line train
approaching Shibuya Station, and then shows
the transfer from the Yamanote Line to the
new underground Toyoko Line at Shibuya -
stopping briefly to look over a barrier at
the empty lower level of the former
Toyoko-Shibuya Station along the way.
Underground Toyoko-Shibuya Station 地下東横渋谷駅
(130329)
http://youtu.be/caliWtU5D6k
Nakameguro Station to Meguro River Sakura
中目黒駅-目黒川桜花見 (130329)
http://youtu.be/2-qgyBHXz_4
Sakura-Hanami by Megurogawa River
目黒川隣の桜花見-中目黒駅近く (130329hd)
http://youtu.be/bAgw8GJ_w-k
Megurogawa River Sakura-Matsuri Area
目黒川桜まつり地方-春万歳 (130329)
http://youtu.be/JQN5Xw9x12A
Megurogawa Sakura Stroll - Walk Towards
Station 目黒川桜花見散策散歩 (130329)
http://youtu.be/OHSisWdSYqI
Nakameguro to Jiyugaoka - Toyoko Line
中目黒駅-自由が丘駅 - 東横線 (130329)
http://youtu.be/YrN59G1KB3k
Jiyugaoka Station Walkabout 自由が丘駅の様子
(130329)
http://youtu.be/fW50roFnBx0
Jiyugaoka Multi-Store (1F) Walkthrough
自由が丘散策散歩 (130329)
http://youtu.be/5I-aYCXT8LU
Jiyugaoka Multi-Store (2F と 3F) Walkthrough
自由が丘散策散歩 (130329)
http://youtu.be/ZqJfWRpaFqk
Sakura-in-Bloom on Jiyugaoka Green Street
自由が丘グリーンストリート桜 (130329)
http://youtu.be/Xa4EnwQUnek
Around the time I was taking these videos of
Green Street in Jiyugaoka, I wrote the
following in a notebook:
130329-15:53 (Jiyugaoka) - Sitting on an
outside bench in Jiyugaoka - on a
stone-block street, with a brick center
section and sakura trees in the center, and
with benches lining the outside edge of the
brick part of the street - facing
inward. A light breeze carries cherry
blossom petals diagonally - down onto the
people sitting on the benches, watching the
trees. A single petal lands on the
page as I write this.... The overcast
sky is somehow perfect for the moment -
certainly it provides much better lighting
than would be the case with harsh direct
light from a cloudless sky.... Excuse
me, but I will now get back to enjoying it
wordlessly.
Jiyugaoka Green Street - Sakura Stroll
自由が丘グリーンストリート桜 (130329)
http://youtu.be/oTQFOGmYBVo
Sakura Green Street to Jiyugaoka Station
グリーンストリート-自由が丘駅 (130329)
http://youtu.be/cDgJSrZP4nE
Jiyugaoka Station - Boarding Toyoko Line
自由が丘駅 - 東横線を乗る (130329)
http://youtu.be/6D-V16mw3Ms
Yotsuya Station Night Window View 四ッ谷駅夜の窓風景
(130329)
http://youtu.be/OybYANqPnjA
Yotsuya Rampart Night Hanami Stroll
四ツ谷城壁の夜花見散策散歩 (130329)
http://youtu.be/1fGWeo38nYQ
Yotsuya-Mitsukebashi Bridge to Yotsuya
Station 四ツ谷見附橋-四ッ谷駅 (130329)
http://youtu.be/1LtJVH1Cq9Y
Lonely Late Night Street in Nakano
寂しい夜の道イン中野 (130329)
http://youtu.be/lFJpcUqvDTM
This is a new road that runs through the
middle of what was one large block with no
roads before. Looking on-line I see
that three universities will have operations
in this area (often Japanese universities
split themselves among different facilities
located in different parts of town), as
follows:
Three new universities will open doors on
the west side of the redevelopment area:
・Meiji University: School of Global
Japanese studies, etc. (Opening April
2013)
・Teikyo Heisei University:
Pharmaceutical Studies, etc. (Opening
April 2013)
・Waseda University: Nakano Global
Community Plaza, etc. (Planned for
completion in spring 2014)
There's information about the redevelopment
project here:
http://www.nakano-central.jp/english/urbanrenewal.html
Nakano Station - North Side at Night 夜の中野駅北口
(130329)
http://youtu.be/VnfpqF8Ukwc
Asagaya-kita Late Night Side Streets
夜遅くの阿佐谷北一丁目 (130329)
http://youtu.be/Avn5QMa1EkY
Late Night Asagaya-kita 2-Chome 夜遅くの阿佐谷北二丁目
(130329)
http://youtu.be/aqDJE-jkD5A
Asagaya Late Night Back Streets 阿佐ヶ谷夜遅くの裏道
(130329)
http://youtu.be/Xr7II5NFxGI
Late Night Asagaya Station 夜遅く阿佐ヶ谷駅 (130329)
http://youtu.be/3zO5hIY_mpU
Toyoko to JR Transfer at Shibuya Station
渋谷駅の東横線-JR線の乗り換え (130329)
http://youtu.be/XC_rzCAZZis
Shibuya Station West Side Stroll 渋谷駅西側散策散歩
(130329)
http://youtu.be/bVpUDzMQik4
Shibuya Hachiko Plaza と Walk to Hanzomon
Line 渋谷ハチ公広場-半蔵門線 (130329)
http://youtu.be/rduvPPTFZwU
Shibuya to Omotesando - Hanzomon Line
渋谷駅-表参道駅 - 半蔵門線 (130329)
http://youtu.be/MQmcrp7WNsE
Omotesando to Nagatacho - Hanzomon Line
表参道駅-永田町駅 - 半蔵門線 (130329)
http://youtu.be/JvPS_cSwiow
Kudanshita Station - Platform to Earth
Surface - 九段下駅_地下-地上 (130329)
http://youtu.be/UiwIgHFYWS8
Ushigafuchi Sakura Hanami 牛ヶ淵桜花見 (130329hd)
http://youtu.be/bmzfUWjHzXM
Kudankita Shadows 九段北二丁目の影 (130329)
http://youtu.be/nfj_ONMhlr4
Night Flowers at Kudankita - Sakura Hanami
Season (130329)
http://youtu.be/31JVVEvlV0Q
Night Hanami Parties at Kudankita -
Walkabout 九段北夜花見大会 (130329)
http://youtu.be/cpz0NNpw2vE
Quiet Side of Hanami Parties at Kudankita -
Walkabout 九段北夜花見 (130329)
http://youtu.be/Gx4cd7b6xu0
九段北夜花見大会 Kudankita Night Hanami Parties -
Walkabout (130329)
http://youtu.be/WR-t14Msypc
Games at Kudankita Hanami Event 九段北花見大会のゲーム
(130329)
http://youtu.be/KrZ3Y_bhrZ8
牛ヶ淵桜花見 Ushigafuchi Sakura Hanami - Full
Bloom - Falling Petals (130329)
http://youtu.be/PLIyyFZsm3s
Ushigafuchi to Chidorigafuchi - Hanami
牛ヶ淵-千鳥ヶ淵 - 桜花見 (130329)
http://youtu.be/-asjDW937S4
I wrote this (ink on paper) at the time:
17:37 - Kudanshita (Chidorigafuchi) - Bought
a couple of pieces of fried chicken and a
couple of... non-soft drinks, and kind of
randomly sat down on a bench by the cherry
tree-lined moat. While consuming the
fried chicken and non-soft drinks, I
overheard a couple seated next to me say
something about how nice an overhead branch
looked, so I looked up, and noticed - for
the first time - that a rather beautiful
in-full-bloom branch of a sakura tree
reaches out over exactly where we are
sitting.
Sakura Stroll N-S - Chidorigafuchi 桜散歩北南千鳥ヶ淵
- 夕暮れ花見 (130329g)
http://youtu.be/jp_pn8kewzs
Sakura Stroll S-N - Chidorigafuchi 桜散歩南北千鳥ヶ淵
- 夕暮れ花見 (130329)
http://youtu.be/MxEpfW-DUdw
Pedestrian Bridge Near Yasukuni Shrine
靖国神社隣の靖国通り (130329)
http://youtu.be/C_wlf0085Cc
Night Sakura - Kita-no-Maru-Koen
(Kitanomaru-koen) 北の丸公園夜桜花見 (130329)
http://youtu.be/ISEMrx9E0ZE
北の丸公園夜桜花見 Night Sakura Hanami -
Kitanomaru-koen (130329)
http://youtu.be/943HMexpRvc
Kitanomaru Hanami Night Stroll 北の丸公園夜桜花見散策散歩
(130329)
http://youtu.be/WSSGfdQzsl4
OK - that's it for this batch! I
probably should have commented on more of
the videos listed above, but I'm seriously
running out of time here, so I need to get
this into the wires.
Lyle
2013/03/21
"Shinjuku, Seijogakuenmae, Shibuya
Pedestrian Tunnel, Shibuya, Etc."
The biggest (as in newsworthy) thing in this
batch are views of the (now former)
Toyoko-Shibuya Station - which is now devoid
of trains and instead has workers stripping
out the railway-related equipment and
whatnot, and they have put planking over the
rails at platform height - making for one
large flat surface (where there used to be
several separate platforms). According
to an article I read about it, there will be
some kind of events held in the space over
the next few months and then the station
will be torn down. It's a little
shocking how quickly a decades-long busy
station has suddenly fallen silent. It
would actually be traumatic, except the
trains are still running - underground - and
so it's not something to think about too
much. Still... the way everything in
Tokyo is constantly torn down and rebuilt is
a little disorienting sometimes.
I also visited Seijogakuenmae Station on the
Odakyu Line, a station that I have either
not been to before, or else went there so
long ago, that I've forgotten about
it. The resulting ride on the Odakyu
Line was also interesting. Whereas
they only had double tracks before, now much
of the route between Seijogakuenmae and
Shinjuku has four tracks - two in each
direction. The character of the line
feels different to me now than I remember
back when I used it all the time.
And... ah! The pedestrian tunnel near
the old Toyoko-Shibuya Station! It's
open for now, but there are notices on the
walls that they'll be closing that next
month! Another element of the Tokyo I
knew in the 1980's is disappearing!
I'm glad I noticed that and took some video
of it - so there will be something to look
at if I should want to see that or tell
someone about it at some point in the
future. As long as there's
*something*. Going back to a place you
feel some nostalgia for and finding
*nothing* remaining of what was there before
really isn't very fun. Given the
choice between an eternally changing city
and a never-changing city, I'm pretty sure
I'd go for the change, but ideally it would
be nice if there were some sort of balance
between the two?
Shinjuku Mosaic Street - West to South
新宿のモザイク通り - 西口-南口 (130317)
http://youtu.be/xpwMreGHv68
Walking along the diagonal
street/alley/pedestrian-passageway that
connects the west exit area of Shinjuku
Station with the south exit area. Once
outside on the south side, notice that the
big "Olympus" sign [03:52] that used to be
at the top of a building over by the
Southern Terrace is covered with
construction netting. I've been
thinking that sign would disappear sooner
rather than later. Bright-light
complicated signs like that are almost
extinct now. Nobody looks up from
their cell phones long enough to notice
anything anyway, so there's no point in
spending money on that kind of advertising
any more. In the following video at
about the 00:58 mark, there's a closer,
clearer view of the building the Olympus
sign used to be on (and maybe even still is
- under the netting - but I'm betting
they're removing it, or else replacing it
with something that doesn't burn power, or
at least not as much power).
Shinjuku South Exit to Southern Terrace
新宿駅南口からサザンテラスまで (130317)
http://youtu.be/kRiIpIPVX9c
Bookstore (Brief View) 本屋一見 (130317)
http://youtu.be/4BSWzFJztFc
Here's something to worry about. I
don't very often go to bookstores, but when
I want to get something, although I'm not
sure what exactly, they're so much nicer
than a computer screen. Looking around
in the English language section, I noticed
that most of the people who walked to the
counter with several books in hand appeared
to be pretty old - in the 50-70 range.
I read a lot of stuff on-line, but for
books, I like to read real books. One
of the things I like about books is that I
like to own my own physical, legal
copy. I don't really like the
rent-an-electronic-book-temporarily-under-a-draconian-license
arrangement very much.
On the Boardwalk in Shinjuku 新宿の日曜日夕方
(130317)
http://youtu.be/gYKtenDU0cI
Shinjuku New South Entrance to Chuo Line
新宿新南口から中央線まで (130317)
http://youtu.be/nHFZtmO7jl0
I don't know what this will eventually end
up looking like, but for now it's still a
white-walled construction tunnel around the
ticket gate area.
Shinjuku to Shimokitazawa (Odakyu Line)
新宿駅-下北沢駅 (小田急線) 130317
http://youtu.be/QsHnSEEU01A
The color of this is quite bluish - due to
the tinted color of the glass I think.
These days I don't use the Odakyu Line very
much, so I'm not used to their newer
trains. In fact, when I got off of
this train and watched it leave the station,
I realized I'd never seen that particular
type before. At the 02:28 mark, is the
English announcement: "Next stop is
Yoyogi-Uehara. Please transfer for
Chiyoda Line." I always find it
irritating to have those badly read
announcements telling me to "please
transfer" when I don't-want-to /
am-not-going-to transfer.
Shimokitazawa to Seijogakuenmae (Odakyu
Line) 下北沢駅-成城学園前 (130317)
http://youtu.be/UI3wqPfjVYw
Incidentally, for anyone listening closely
to the sound in the background - the people
sitting next to me (on one side) were not
speaking Japanese (at the beginning of this
video). That's some other Asian
language - I'm not sure which one.
Listening to the English announcement - I
would have to say it has the virtue of being
shorter than the JR ones - that's to be
appreciated. Less time to endure
irritating sound waves broadcast throughout
the train.... Listen, I understand how
it is not to understand Japanese. When
I came here, I didn't understand Japanese,
but I never had any problem with the train
announcements in spite of their being only
in Japanese (I wish they still were).
The place name is the place name. When
you're listening for it, you don't need
"next stop is" or "the next stop is" - all
you need is the station name. I say
this all the time, and I'll say it
again: I hate the English
announcements on the trains here.
They're unnecessary, they're read
amateurishly, and they're highly irritating.
Seijogakuenmae Station (Odakyu Line) 成城学園前駅
(小田急線) 130317
http://youtu.be/Htnzy8lR__s
Odakyu Bus Interior - Setagaya-ku 小田急バス内 -
世田谷区 (130317)
http://youtu.be/QHToUfsj6bE
Speaking of irritating English announcements
- the buses (or at least the ones I use) are
very thankfully free of them!
Banzai! You can climb on a bus and not
be irritated with unnecessary English
announcements at each and every stop.
Maybe I should rearrange my schedule and
take buses to some places instead of
trains. It would take longer, but I
wouldn't have to listen to those bloody
English announcements on the trains.
Seijo Corty Station Mall Rooftop
成城コルティ駅モール屋上 (130317)
http://youtu.be/r1pzrIgFwlc
Seijo Corty Station Mall (A) 成城コルティ駅モール -
成城学園前駅 (130317)
http://youtu.be/Eke96vLEnzU
As is apparent when I get to the end of the
roof and look out over the tracks, this mall
is built over the railway. This is
increasingly the design philosophy of Tokyo
train stations. This one is more local
area friendly though, in that the mall is on
the outside of the ticket gates, so anyone
in the area can freely access it. Many
station malls are inside the ticket gates,
so you have to be in the system (past the
ticket gates) to access them.
Seijo Corty Station Mall (B) 成城コルティ駅モール -
成城学園前駅 (130317)
http://youtu.be/Cx3Yq3XnE4Q
Seijo Walkabout - Setagaya 成城散策散歩 - 世田谷区
(130317)
http://youtu.be/biIkuMJYQSY
About a five minute walk from the
Seijogakuenmae Station (two or three minutes
further down the street than is shown in
this video) is a rather nice-looking (and
upscale) residential area. At the
time, I thought, "This reminds me a little
of Denenchofu...", and then when I got home,
I looked up the area on a map and discovered
that its location is similar to Denenchofu's
- in that it's a Tokyo address within easy
commuting distance of central Tokyo (via
Shibuya for Denenchofu, and via Shinjuku for
Seijogakuenmae); there are no big truck
roads near to it; and it's far enough from
central Tokyo that people can actually have
a house with a yard, something that is very
nearly impossible in central Tokyo for
obvious reasons.
Walking to Seijogakuenmae Station (Odakyu
Line) 成城学園前駅までの散歩 (130317)
http://youtu.be/1Vsu1fRcrCI
Seijogakuenmae Station - Ticket Gates to
Platform 成城学園前駅 (130317)
http://youtu.be/QAyh2vkuhYg
The stations were different in the early
eighties when I first came to Tokyo - I'm
still getting used to this new style.
I sort of feel like I'm in a foreign country
when I'm in a new station like this....
Waiting for Train at Seijogakuenmae Station
成城学園前駅ホーム-360 (130317)
http://youtu.be/eGWkDO4bypI
Seijogakuenmae to Yoyogi-Uehara (Two Trains)
成城学園前駅-代々木上原駅 (130317)
http://youtu.be/7f0qk2tOziw
I boarded a local train at Seijogakuenmae,
but when the train stopped at Kyodo (経堂駅) in
order to let an express get around it (after
stopping there also), I decided to change
trains and take the express the rest of the
way to Shinjuku. Coming into
Shimokitazawa, the station is under some
kind of reconstruction, but the area by the
stairs at the 10:42 mark seems the way I
remember it from before. Glad to see
*something* that seems familiar, but this is
obviously not going to be this way for long.
Yoyogi-Uehara to Shinjuku (Odakyu Line)
代々木上原駅-新宿駅 (小田急線) 130317
http://youtu.be/PCuRlSn9IBk
Odakyu Shinjuku Station via Express 小田急線の新宿駅
- 急行で到着 (130317)
http://youtu.be/pir5Zo0tfy0
After getting off the train (which is one of
the older white with blue stripe ones with
manual controls), I look around at the
station a little on my way out the ticket
gates.
Toyoko-Shibuya Station - March 15th, 2013
東急東横渋谷線最終日 (130315hdc)
http://youtu.be/YalJcv56KFg
One more view of March 15th - the last day
Tokyu's above-ground Shibuya Station was
used as a station. (I forgot to put
this one in with the previous batch of
videos covering that event.)
Road that Passes Under Nakameguro Station
(Long View) 130319
http://youtu.be/XJ1HsxJ73As
Looking out over a main road that passes
under Nakameguro Station - which is
basically sitting on a bridge over the
road. The train stopped at the other
platform is one of the Tobu-Tojo Line
trains, which now are connected with the
Toyoko Line via the Fukutoshin Line
(副都心線). I knew that was the case even
before seeing that train sitting there, but
it was still weird to see it. Until
the tie in on March 16th, that type of train
had never before been seen on the Toyoko
Line tracks.
Yurakucho Station Platform - One Afternoon
in March 有楽町駅ある日 (130319hd)
http://youtu.be/_ocREiEhsdU
Watching a few trains come and go from one
of the platform seats at Yurakucho Station.
Tokyo to Ochanomizu (Chuo Line) 東京駅-御茶ノ水駅
(中央線) 130319
http://youtu.be/87dCs65RGIw
Typical night view out the (right side)
window of an evening Chuo Line train - much
of it vertically oriented.
Minami-Otsuka Quick Night View 南大塚商店街一見
(130319)
http://youtu.be/RCMSpzhqBjg
Departing Shinjuku - Late Night Chuo Line
新宿駅夜遅くの中央線出発 (130319)
http://youtu.be/-D0tjN1zjGU
Left side window view of the night scenery
leaving Shinjuku Station as seen from an
outbound Chuo Line train.
Shinjuku - Chuo to Yamanote Transfer
新宿駅で中央線-山手線乗り換え (130319)
http://youtu.be/_43Qtt5ewlI
Transferring from the Chuo Line to the
Yamanote Line via the southernmost escalator
at the end of the platform. At the
01:45 mark, I tap my foot... to show the
viewer that I wished the couple wasn't
blocking the escalator (you're supposed to
stand on the left side so people can walk
by), but reviewing the video now, it
suddenly occurs to me that the man saw my
foot tapping! At the time, I though he
just picked up on the radio waves or
something, but now I think he probably saw
the motion of my foot! Oops... it
wasn't actually very important to me at the
time, so if I had known he would see that, I
wouldn't have done it! I meant it as
comic effect for the camera, but I think it
went down as serious irritation. Oh
well....
Shinjuku to Shibuya (Yamanote) 新宿駅-渋谷駅 (山手線)
元東横線渋谷駅 (130319)
http://youtu.be/i7QOJCM4a7g
This is a fairly long clip (over eleven
minutes) - starting with a platform walk at
Shinjuku Station while waiting for the
Yamanote Line, then the ride to Shibuya, and
ending with a look at the ghost station that
the Toyoko-Shibuya Station has become (now
that they've diverted all the Toyoko trains
underground).
Toyoko-Shibuya Station being Decommissioned
as Railway Station (130319)
http://youtu.be/k72z-xkgABA
A look straight across (from an elevated
walkway) at the empty platforms of (now
former) Toyoko-Shibuya Station, with the
sounds of workers decommissioning the
station.
Shibuya - from Former Toyoko-Shibuya Station
to New Toyoko-Shibuya Subway (130319)
http://youtu.be/3uXON8ku9Zk
At the beginning of this clip, I pan across
the billboards spelling out "HELLO".
Looking at those before, on the 15th, I
assumed the idea was "Hello to the new -
don't feel sad about the old" or some such
thing. And on the 19th, when I took
this video, at the 03:47 mark at the top of
that escalator, and also at the 04:00 mark
at the bottom of the escalator, are posters
(with the same rising orange sun theme)
saying 新+渋谷 - ターミナル - はじまる ("New + Shibuya -
Terminal - Begins"), so I guess that's
indeed the case.
At the 00:25 mark, the room I look in the
window of, is the former ticket office (to
handle whatever the automated ticket gates
couldn't). Jumping back to March 12th, at
the 00:04 mark in this video:
Toyoko-Shibuya Station Walkabout 東急東横線渋谷駅見回り
(上と下) 130312
http://youtu.be/fkFERbuUIhQRR
- you can see this ticket office while
it was still in operation. I would
have taken a closer look on the 12th, but
was worried I might be asked not to take
pictures of the office, so I just took that
view from the other side of that
space. Still, you can see what it was,
and if you keep watching that video, at the
00:44 mark, you can see a railway employee
helping a woman with something - which is a
perfect demonstration of that room's use.
Anyway, from the former ticket office, I
turn around and head for the stairs that
lead down to the new underground
Toyoko-Shibuya Station, which is integrated
into the subway system now. In the
middle of the station, it reminded me a
little of Otemachi - which has a large
number of train lines and takes some getting
used to before you can effortlessly navigate
around in it.
New Toyoko-Shibuya Station - Yokohama-Bound
Train 新東横渋谷駅の様子 (130319)
http://youtu.be/vZ55Rmzr_hk
The new underground station is nice enough I
suppose - and will be warmer in the winter
and cooler in the summer than the open
platforms of the old station, but -
personally - I prefer being on elevated
platforms, where I can look off ito the
distance and feel the wind.
Naka-Meguro Station Afternoon Platform Scene
中目黒駅午後ホームの様子 (130319)
http://youtu.be/lmhbWp4xGrk
Naka-Meguro has become a really busy
station, with trains every two or three
minutes for much of the schedule. I'm
wondering if everything will run on
time. The scheduling seems quite
complicated as well, with trains from
various lines passing through.
Nakameguro Station - Boarding Toyoko Line
中目黒駅 - 東横線を乗る (130319hdc)
http://youtu.be/t9M56DtVnQE
Looking around on a platform at Naka-Meguro
Station before getting on an inbound train.
Daikanyama Station - March 19th 2013
代官山駅で東横線から降りる (130319hdc)
http://youtu.be/3X64qe__Iik
Getting off an inbound train at Daikanyama -
at the 00:17 mark, notice the extra steps,
from a new report I saw, they had to lower
the platform and tracks to match the rails
up with the downward slope going into the
new tunnel. At the 00:42 mark... I'm
not even sure what I'm looking at there, but
that's not exactly a standard rail bed at a
station, so I wonder - considering how much
ongoing construction there appears to be at
this station - what other changes are
coming.
Daikanyama Station Area and Station
代官山駅周りと駅と電車を乗る (130319)
http://youtu.be/2IRXY2oQeJE
In addition to walking around near the
station a little, and inside the station,
the camera keeps recording into the tunnel,
including listening to the Japanese and
English announcements prior to arriving at
Shibuya Station. More (much more) on
that further down the page!
After going back through the ticket gates
and while walking down the stairs towards
the platform... from about the 02:52 mark,
the sound the express train makes while
passing through this station (which is not
an express stop) is that of a train going
over a bridge.... Hmm.... Wait,
let me try running a Google search about
that station and see if there is any
information about what the ongoing
construction is about. [Google
search...] Well, so far I've found an
old 2002 report about it - so obviously the
planning goes way back! The title on
the PDF file goes like this: "Transition of
Toyoko Line to go underground from Shibuya
Station to Daikanyama Station - 27 February
2002 - Extraordinary Explanation Meeting for
Investors". Let me try a Japanese
search. Um... I'm not seeing any
evidence of Daikanyama headed underground,
but I do wonder if maybe they're going to
stack the rails there to enable express
trains to pass underneath local trains
stopped at that local station? Or
maybe the current rough form of the station
has something to do with meeting the
completion deadline for the new hookup and
the finer details of the construction for
Daikanyama Station are yet to be
completed? In any case, here's some
Japanese text I found regarding the hookup
with the subway (at http://www.tokyu.co.jp/railway/railway/east/pr/13go.html):
東横線と副都心線の相互直通運転に向けて、 次の工事を行います。
＜渋谷～代官山間の地下化＞
東横線の渋谷～代官山間の約1.4km区間を地下化し、
渋谷駅で東京メトロ副都心線と相互直通運転します。 この計画によって、
東武東上線・西武池袋線から東京メトロ有楽町線・副都心線を経て、
東急東横線と横浜高速鉄道みなとみらい線までがひとつの路線として結ばれ、 東横線は、
首都圏の広域的な鉄道ネットワークの一翼を担うこととなります。 これにより、
都市交通の利便性向上と円滑化が期待されます。
＜渋谷～横浜間の改良＞
特急・通勤特急・急行を１０両編成で運行できるよう、
これらの列車が停車する駅を改良します。 あわせてバリアフリー施設の増備、
ホームの拡幅などを行い、 利便性を向上させます。
But listening to the sound of trains coming
in... making that hollow drum beating noise
- I really do wonder what's under the rails
here!
And now we come to... the English
announcement! It begins from about the
08:46 mark, and goes like this:
"We will soon make a brief stop at
Shibuya. Passengers changing to the
Denentoshi Line, the JR Line, the Keio
Inokashira Line, the Ginza Line, and the
Hanzomon Line, please transfer at this
station. This train will merge and
continue traveling on the Toyoko Line to
Wakoshi. This train will operate as
a local train in Fukutoshin Line.
Thank you for using the Tokyu-Toyoko
Line."
There are a number of problems with the
announcement - some nit-picky, and
some serious:
- "We will soon make a brief stop at..."
- this appears to have been lifted form the
decades-old Shinkansen English
announcements, and while it makes perfect
sense when traveling at 250kph or so for an
hour and stopping at some city before the
one you are zooming off to, it makes no
sense whatsoever to say that for an
intercity train that 100% of time (unless
there's some problem), always, always,
always, always, ALWAYS makes a "brief stop"
at each and every station it stops at.
Because it works for the prestigious
Shinkansen, doesn't mean it automatically
works for an intercity commuter line.
- "The JR Line" sounds like there is
one railway line called "the JR Line" but
actually there are no single lines called
"JR". JR is the company that operates
a huge range of different lines, and several
of them stop at Shibuya, so that should be
"JR lines" not "the JR Line". To be
even more nit-picky - there was one national
railway organization called JNR (Japan
National Railways) that was broken up into
different groups and privatized. The
company that operates trains in this part of
Japan is "JR East", or to be really proper
about it and go by the name the company uses
on their website: "JR-EAST - East Japan
Railway Company" in English and "JR東日本" in
Japanese.
- "Passengers changing to the ...... //
......., please transfer at this station."
Pleading with the passengers to transfer is
just creepy. This could be something
like "Next stop: Shibuya.
Transfers available to the following lines -
Denentoshi, Keio Inokashira, Ginza,
Hanzomon, and JR lines."
- "This train will merge and continue
traveling on the Toyoko Line to Wakoshi."
This part is so bad, I'm going to go back
and listen a few more times. a) Surely
they're not really saying this? The
train will merge? Merge with
what? How about completing the
sentence. "Merge" is not an end in
itself! Admittedly, full comprehension
of what's happening is a little
complicated. The same train continues
down the rails seamlessly without
interruption (and since the Fukutoshin Line
ends in Shibuya, "merge" is the wrong term
anyway), but after Shibuya, it is no longer
the Toyoko Line! It becomes the
Fukutoshin Line. And past Ikebukuro (I
think), it is no longer the Fukutoshin
Line! It becomes the Tobu-Tojo Line
(in this case - or the Seibu-Ikebukuro Line
for some other trains). b) Therefore,
that "and continue traveling on the
Toyoko Line" part is flat-out
wrong. (I wonder how that glaring
error got into the announcement?)
- "This train will operate as a local
train in Fukutoshin Line." *in*
Fukutoshin Line? I must be mishearing
that... but that's what it sounds
like. I have some sympathy for someone
who is trying to do a literal (as opposed to
virtual) translation of each and every word
in the Japanese announcement, but this
should be something like "This train runs as
a Fukutoshin Line train between Shibuya and
Ikebukuro". This is important
actually, because fares jump a little when
you transfer to a different system, and
since the Toyoko Line and the Fukutoshin
Line are different systems, Shibuya is a
kind of fare barrier. It's all
seamless in operation, and the fare is
automatically calculated by the computers at
the ticket gate when you exit, but regarding
what you're paying, that's the way it works.
Phew! What a mess! If you're
going to make a *recording* and then play it
back day after day, week after week, month
after month, year after year, you'd think
someone would try a little harder to do it
right. Don't get me wrong, I have the
utmost respect for the train system and the
people who keep it running smoothly, but
what's with these low-quality horrible
English announcements anyway? I think
there is no need for English announcements
in the first place ("Shibuya" is "Shibuya"
in whatever language), but if they *are*
needed, more effort should be made in doing
them right... don't you think?
New Toyoko-Shibuya Station - Tunnel to
Surface 新東横渋谷駅地下-地上 (130319)
http://youtu.be/fPIgNhaw-kg
From riding through the new tunnel between
Daikanyama and Shibuya, to getting off the
train and making my way back to the surface
of the planet through various passageways
and escalators - several of which I've never
experienced before and even the ones that I
had, only once or twice. It's kind of
weird (or maybe I should say it's *very*
weird) - all these years of visiting Shibuya
and it's like they've built a new
underground city there. Being down
there felt more like visiting another
country, or a new outpost on another planet
or something. Back on the surface of
planet Earth, finally I saw something I've
known for many years - the Ginza railway
bridge and the (soon to be demolished) just
decommissioned Toyoko Shibuya Station (the
surface of planet Earth version that is, not
the underground city version).
Shibuya - East Side of Station - Meiji-dori
渋谷駅東側 - 明治通り (130319)
http://youtu.be/froBFhUxA7E
Heading for the old elevated pedestrian
bridge after recently returning to the
surface of the planet, I walk by a blue
bicycle lane. I'm beginning to see
these now and then in the city, but they're
still fairly rare I think. I'm not too
sure though, since I never ride a bike in
central Tokyo. Towards the end of this
video, I take another look at the (suddenly)
former Toyoko-Shibuya Station. It's
still hard to believe that that station is
now devoid of trains.
Walking Towards East Entrance of Shibuya
Station 渋谷駅東口に向かう (130319)
http://youtu.be/3gipFF8Zge4
Beginning on the elevated pedestrian walkway
next to the old station and then walking
down the stairs towards the remaining
(mainly JR) above-ground part of Shibuya
Station... but then getting sidetracked by
the entrance to the old pedestrian tunnel I
used to use back in the eighties...
Shibuya Pedestrian Underpass - Tunnel and
West Side 渋谷地下通路と西側 (130319)
http://youtu.be/lx6cbX8Nxm4
Funny how something that was purely a
utilitarian detail of daily life suddenly
takes on some kind of special meaning
decades later... heightened by the fact that
it's about to disappear. Walking
through this tunnel again now brings back
rather vivid memories of the mid-eighties.
There's something about places that brings
memories out of deep storage in the brain -
but once the places have been radically
changed, the effect is weakened and even
lost (almost?) altogether (depending on how
radically changed a place is). The
east exit of Shinagawa Station is a place
that no longer brings back any memories for
me, since there's nothing left of what was
there before! All of the old things
have been eradicated and everything is new.
Shibuya Pedestrian Underpass 東急電鉄渋谷歩行者地下通路
(すぐ閉鎖) 130319hdg
http://youtu.be/XJkM6ThdHMk
Beside old Tokyu-Toyoko Line Tracks
元東急東横線路の隣見回り (130319)
http://youtu.be/MhnXGQSyktE
From about the 01:05 mark, the elevated
(former) Toyoko-Shibuya Station is to the
left, with the elevated tracks going off
into the distance. Not obvious in this
video (above), the tracks curve sharply to
the right not long after leaving the
station. The following video (from
2008) shows how it looked on this same side
while looking out an open window on an
inbound train while the train came around
the bend. I really like this view from
2008 - the electric night atmosphere and the
noise of steel on steel... I just wish it
were longer. It ends as soon as the
train finishes going around the bend.
Especially since trains no longer run on
these tracks, I wish I'd spent more time
recording this stretch. I heard about
plans to close the station some months ago,
but for some reason didn't think about the
fact that trains would no longer run on this
section of track. How quickly things
seem to disappear sometimes. You think
things will just be there forever - but they
aren't.
Approaching Shibuya Station at Night (Toyoko
Line) 2008年の東横線 (渋谷駅)
http://youtu.be/U_xz9TK7n3A
In introducing this video to some people
on-line, I wrote the following (earlier
today):
もと撮るべきだったが、この2008年の動画が、東横線の東横渋谷駅手前のカーブの雰囲気が少
し分かる。 開いている窓から、夜の様子、鉄と鉄の音... 東京の電気夜...
I'm really kicking myself now for not
leaving the camera running all the way into
the station, but still - this shows a little
of the atmosphere of the sharp curve leading
into the now decommissioned Toyoko-Shibuya
Station.
「続けて駅まで撮った良かったのに！」、今は思うけど、一応少し撮ったのは、良かったも思う！
窓が閉まってると、色々な事が分からなくなる - 窓が開いてると、色々感じる！
こう言う理由で、あまりエアコンは好きじゃない。
Shibuya 3-Chome - Side Streets and Graffiti
渋谷三丁目 - 横道と落書き (130319)
http://youtu.be/5MbsuKoHIs4
I've been noticing what has seemed like
gradually more and more graffiti in the city
over the years, but I was surprised at how
much there was in this area! It's all
over just about everything on the side
streets! It makes me wonder how many
people are going about the city throwing
paint around.
Graffiti Along Shibuya River 渋谷川の落書き
(130319hd)
http://youtu.be/x7o2m38xRCw
Meiji-dori Stroll - Shibuya Station Bound
明治通り散策散歩 - 渋谷駅向き (130319hd)
http://youtu.be/jv7Hm82CifE
Walking down Meiji-dori. Events and my
schedule have combined in a way that I have
hardly ever (if ever) walked down this
street before. I used to just about
always feel that way in Tokyo - turn
anywhere and a new street awaited - but at
this point, I feel surprised if I discover a
major street near a major station that I
haven't been on yet. Some combination
of being a bit stuck in a rut and not trying
hard enough to seek out new things?
Shibuya East Side Elevated Walkway Stroll
歩行者橋の散策散歩 (130319)
http://youtu.be/5PATNcnWoqc
There are several interconnected pedestrian
bridges in this area, there to safely get
people over the vast areas of black asphalt
desert with its roaring internal combustion
machinery, and (in this video) I walk on
this network of bridges again to get back to
where I was on the east side of Shibuya
Station before I decided to go through the
old pedestrian tunnel... and ended up
exploring the graffiti side streets and
looping back towards the station via
Meiji-dori.
Former Toyoko Shibuya Station Entrances
元東横渋谷駅の両方の改札口 (130319)
http://youtu.be/2Kn4x_hSo34
I wanted to show both of the entrances to
the former Toyoko-Shibuya Station, so I
started by the lower entrance, and then
walked around, up, and over to the upper
entrance, which is where most of the
pandemonium was on March 15th, the last day
the station was open. Once again,
people were at the upper entrance with their
cameras out. I think the crowds all
went there on the last day because you could
see the trains there (the lower entrance is
under the platforms), and they were there on
the 19th both because they wanted "before
and after" pictures [cough], and because the
railway just put up low barriers there, so
the upper area is visually open. For
the lower area, I had to hold my camera up
over a high barrier. Watching this
again as I write this, I'm feeling burned
out on the subject, but I'm glad I recorded
it in any case!
Shibuya to Shinagawa - Afternoon Yamanote
Line 渋谷駅-品川駅 - 山手線 (130319)
http://youtu.be/0dz-A81yfrQ
At about the 01:19 mark, the train
approaches Ebisu Station. For a
time-slip comparison, have a look at the
following video taken in 1991, when Ebisu
Station consisted of a single open platform:
Ebisu Station in July 1991 - 1991年7月の恵比寿駅
http://youtu.be/wanxYIwsdDs
Shinagawa to Yurakucho - Afternoon Yamanote
Line 品川駅-有楽町駅 - 山手線 (130319)
http://youtu.be/ZMvrHK-ua4A
Afternoon Yurakucho Station Platform
午後有楽町駅ホーム (130319)
http://youtu.be/XVC1NfMx9AI
Yurakucho Plaza - Looking Around 夕暮れの有楽町広場
(130319hd)
http://youtu.be/25g9Yqe01F0
Baba Mariko Exhibition at Ai Gallery 馬場まり子展
- 藍ギャラリー (130319hd)
http://youtu.be/XEIB2plcwhk
Walking Along Edge of Ginza 1-Chome
銀座一丁目の横道散策散歩 (130319)
http://youtu.be/xieY0TwAatk
Ginza is a nice to walk through at this time
of the evening - in the twilight with its
magical mix of fading sunlight and electric
city lighting.
Tokyo Station Yaesu Bus Area 東京駅八重洲側バスゾーン
(130319)
http://youtu.be/NhIF-b05PpU
Tokyo Station South Concourse (Evening)
東京駅南通路 (夕方) 130319
http://youtu.be/5vYljGK2lmA
Lyle
2013/03/17
"1991 Kyojima; 1992 Australia; 2013 Chuo
Local Line, Sendagaya, Shibuya, Etc."
This batch of videos begins with a few from
1992 Australia - first in Surfers Paradise,
and then in Cairns, where I rode on the old
Kuranda train in a very historically
interesting old rail car, that apparently
(from what I was told might happen at the
time, and what appears to have indeed
happened from what I see on-line) has since
had the original interior ripped out and
replaced with new hotel lounge style
seating. Then, dropping back another
year to 1991, I try out a pachinko machine
in Kyojima. After that are typical
2013 scenes from Tokyo, including a series
of videos from the local line version of the
Chuo Line - taken between Mitaka and
Sendagaya.
1992 Surfers Paradise, Australia (920417)
http://youtu.be/Bv2fEtlVnAY
1992 Surfers Paradise to Cairns Flight
(Australia - 920418)
http://youtu.be/GMJ6clK93NM
1992 Australia - Cairns - Kuranda Train Ride
- Hotel - Etc.
http://youtu.be/z6NI7lCb1Ss
1992 - Kuranda Railway Original 1st Class
Carriage Ride - Cairns Australia (920418)
http://youtu.be/zrMrY31qyF8
1991 - Kyojima - Trying Out Pachinko
(Shitamachi) 910324
http://youtu.be/5MDHJnT9z_A
Seibu-Kokubunji Line - Front Cab View 西武国分寺線
- 前向き (130311hd)
http://youtu.be/3ZbLRsNjG5Y
Mitaka Station Walkabout 三鷹駅のお昼様子 - そして吉祥寺まで
(130312g)
http://youtu.be/QC_gks8MfAI
Mitaka Station at lunchtime felt rather like
a shopping mall, which is sort of is.
It's very convenient for railway passengers
to be able to go to restaurants and shops
within the stations, but recently I've begun
to wonder what effect this must be having on
local retail businesses in the area outside
the ticket gates....
Kichijoji Station Walkabout 吉祥寺駅のお昼様子
(130312)
http://youtu.be/1p7Omz35BMg
Kichijoji is in the middle of a
transformation - which you can see in
recently remodeled areas by some ticket
gates and the area under construction by
another.
Inbound Local Chuo Line (to Ogikubo) 上り各駅中央線
(荻窪駅まで) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/y-i17I8TCZA
Ogikubo to Asagaya (Chuo Line) 荻窪駅-阿佐ヶ谷駅
(各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/gOsGqkqUaMA
[Above and below] Taking a local
inbound Chuo Line train, it was surprisingly
relaxing, and it felt a little
strange/detached watching a regular
(kaisoku/rapid) Chuo Line train running in
parallel (end of video above and all of
video below). I've spent a lot more
time *inside* those trains than riding along
beside them - looking at them from the
outside. It occurred to me that no
matter how crowded they might be inside,
from the vantage point of looking at them
from another train running beside them, they
look... (not sure how to explain the
sensation of watching them dispassionately
from the side...) they look... normal?
I say this, because I imagined some very
stressful times inside those trains, and I
imagined someone in a less crowded train
running alongside a high-pressure train, and
they would have little or no idea what was
going on inside the high-pressure train
(unless they frequently used it
themselves). There seemed to be
something at least semi-profound about the
concept, but it's just perspective I guess.
Asagaya to Koenji (Chuo Line) 阿佐ヶ谷駅-高円寺駅
(各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/4I8kaUj6DDI
Koenji to Nakano (Chuo Line) 高円寺駅-中野駅
(各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/5ZTzrDO3TQQ
Nakano to Higashi-Nakano (Chuo Line)
中野駅-東中野駅 (各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/oibxO2zJHd8
Higashi-Nakano to Okubo (Chuo Line)
東中野駅-大久保駅 (各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/uai0K6hP_Ig
Okubo to Shinjuku (Chuo Line) 大久保駅-新宿駅
(各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/6Eeo6sAqsM8
Exploring Old Building in Shinjuku (130312)
http://youtu.be/onsq60NK0uU
Walking Down Interesting Old Staircase in
Shinjuku (130312)
http://youtu.be/shN9qhe--ME
Yamanote to Chuo Transfer at Shinjuku
新宿駅で山手線-中央線の乗り換え (130312)
http://youtu.be/YoNkZaywklI
Waiting for Outbound Chuo Line at Shinjuku
(Late Night) 新宿で中央線を待つ (130312)
http://youtu.be/GNGl8ThxJRs
There's something fascinating about looking
down a long, open platform of people waiting
for a train to come alongside the platform
and pick them up.... Oh! By the
way, the male voice doing the announcement
in the middle of this one I recognized from
another day (also in a video) when I thought
it was a recording (and maybe it was), but
this time I walked by the man while he was
making an announcement into a mic, so I know
for a fact that it was live this time (and
maybe also that other time). He has a
good voice and way of speaking for
announcements.
Shinjuku to Sendagaya (Chuo Line) 新宿駅-千駄ヶ谷駅
(各駅中央線) 130312hdc
http://youtu.be/k3Q8Z5idW3A
Sendagaya Station - Train Arriving and
Departing 千駄ヶ谷駅 - 到着と出発 (130312hd)
http://youtu.be/CpkgamA5zIc
Sendagaya Station - Platform to Exit 千駄ヶ谷駅 -
ホームから改札口まで (130312)
http://youtu.be/l4DJDQ5M26c
Sendagaya 1-Chome Walkabout 千駄ヶ谷一丁目散策散歩
(130312)
http://youtu.be/hnl33Iv7eGg
Looking Around in Sendagaya 1-Chome
千駄ヶ谷一丁目散策散歩 (130312)
http://youtu.be/_RdduMvHais
Two-Level Metal Rack Parking in Sendagaya
千駄ヶ谷二段ラック駐車場 (130312)
http://youtu.be/YQSN-8UOczE
Walking Under Rail Bridge, Etc., Near
Sendagaya Station, 千駄ヶ谷
http://youtu.be/F74OzSzvWu8
Black Road Stroll - Near Setagaya Station
(130312)
http://youtu.be/F9K3-SYntv0
Quiet Spring Day - Side Street Stroll
春の横道散策散歩 (130312)
http://youtu.be/v8YGNMNCAp0
I think this experience was the first time
this year that I really felt like spring had
arrived. It's still rather cold, but
it's beginning to warm up a little and
several plants are flowering, so the sakura
flower viewing season is very near I think!
Crossing Main Road Near Shinjuku 1-Chome
新宿一丁目近くの大通り (130312)
http://youtu.be/Z6npDvV6JjU
Fire Truck Drives by in Shinjuku (130312)
http://youtu.be/ao7UHbOW0PU
Entering Shinjuku Station - East Entrance
夕暮れ新宿 - 駅の東口に入る (130312)
http://youtu.be/UkpwYxMX09A
新宿駅東口改札から上り中央線ホームまで Shinjuku Station East
(130312)
http://youtu.be/ikrhmQOzRFU
Nighttime Kanda Station - Under Construction
夜の工事中神田駅 (130312)
http://youtu.be/2RbveGr_a-U
Kanda to Yurakucho (Keihin-Tohoku Line)
神田駅-有楽町駅 (夜の京浜東北線) 130312
http://youtu.be/g9ueQesuWRg
Tokyo Station Night Walkthrough - Yaesu to
Marunouchi Northwest Dome (130312g)
http://youtu.be/CcPXZaLhcMk
In previous videos walking through Tokyo
station from the Yaesu side to the
Marunouchi side, I've usually walked
straight down one of the under-track
concourses, but in this video I crossed over
from one of the two main concourses to the
other and so it's basically a diagonal path
through the station that I took. This
shows a lot of the elements of Tokyo
Station, including ticket windows and
internal transfer gates for the Shinkansen
trains.
Tokyo to Kanda - Nighttime Chuo Line 東京駅-神田駅
- 夜の中央線 (130312)
http://youtu.be/34OsIsb7sv0
Shinjuku - Chuo Line Platform to Upper
Concourse Bookstore 新宿駅本屋 (130312hd)
http://youtu.be/buxXk6uysew
Shinjuku Station Upper Concourse (Number
Ten) 新宿駅上の通路 (130312hd)
http://youtu.be/07_N8xk3Ejs
That announcement... "... Platform...
Number... Ten... - please wait for your
train on... Platform... Number...
Ten..." This is what happens when you
have someone who may be native to a
language, but is an amateur for
acting/reading, do recordings like
this. It's kind of comical, but it
also really sucks to have to listen to the
same bad recordings over and over and
over....
Shinjuku South Entrance to Shibuya-Bound
Yamanote Line Platform (130312)
http://youtu.be/tErrMRx1QKE
Gakugei-Daigaku Station Platform Sounds
学芸大学駅ホームの音々 (130312hd)
http://youtu.be/i99XSebj19I
Boarding Toyoko Line Train at
Gakugei-Daigaku Station (130312hdc)
http://youtu.be/pFvA9H2xsr8
Running at Speed - Express Toyoko Line Train
from Gakugei-Daigaku Station (130312)
http://youtu.be/WQgozHmK3EU
Arriving at Nakameguro on Inbound Tokyu
Toyoko Line (Motor Sounds, Etc) 130312
http://youtu.be/Gnran38rht0
Shibuya Yamanote Line - Ticket Gates to
Platform JR-渋谷駅の山手線ホームまで (130312)
http://youtu.be/TmfvLIvGej8
Yamanote Line Train Arriving at Shibuya 渋谷駅
- 山手線の到着と待つ (130312)
http://youtu.be/uaQbALAS8Rk
Departing Shibuya Station via Yamanote Line
渋谷駅から出発 (山手線) 130312
http://youtu.be/svkc0JxekZQ
Former Path of Tamagawa Josui in Central
Tokyo 元玉川上水吐 (Long Walk) 130312
http://youtu.be/vG126xEziqE
Twilight Walk to Shinjuku 新宿の夕暮れの時に散策散歩 -
新ブラ (130312g)
http://youtu.be/k3g_sO717UE
Koizumi Keiichi - Exhibition at Art Space
Rondo 小泉恵一展示会 (130315)
http://youtu.be/RtRFDzuXYzg
Main Road Separating Original Ginza from
Extended Ginza (130315)
http://youtu.be/ocmnTbj3_0s
This wide expanse of dead black asphalt full
of roaring internal combustion machinery
almost always stops me from going to the
back side of Ginza. There are some
interesting things over there, but there are
enough interesting things in the original
Ginza area that I almost never feel
compelled to climb up and over this desert
of asphalt with its noise, exhaust fumes,
etc. I really think they should stop
building new roads in Tokyo and make it
illegal (or at least very expensive) to own
a car within the city. The more of
Tokyo they bury under wide deserts of black
asphalt, the worse the city becomes for its
inhabitants.
Late Night Ebisu Station - Ticket Gates to
Platform 夜遅くの恵比寿駅 (130315)
http://youtu.be/sGYoGK9QmsM
Shibuya - JR-Ticket Gates to Yamanote Line
渋谷駅JR改札から山手線へ (130315)
http://youtu.be/3_Oyni1BkTY
All-Green Advertisement Yamanote Train at
Ebisu 恵比寿駅の全緑山手線 (130315)
http://youtu.be/a2UuZ89gI4k
Yamanote Line Train Arriving at Ebisu
恵比寿駅で山手線を乗る (130315)
http://youtu.be/z7b4KVBU79Q
Chuo Line - Before and After Nakano 中央線中野駅前後
(130315)
http://youtu.be/V_FPqx9bl-c
Shinjuku to Ochanomizu (Chuo Line) 新宿駅-御茶ノ水駅
(中央線) 130315
http://youtu.be/nVGU1p8dx24
Ochanomizu to Kanda - Kanda Platform Walk
御茶ノ水-神田 - 神田駅見回り (130315)
http://youtu.be/i9tO_UKp36Q
I had intended for this video to continue to
Tokyo Station, but as they began to close
the doors at Kanda in order to continue on
to Tokyo Station, they opened them again and
left them open - and then announced that one
of the emergency stop buttons at Tokyo
Station had been pressed. Later on,
they explained that someone's bag (or
something) had gotten stuck between the
train and the platform due to them rushing
to get on the train. I originally
figured the train would get under way fairly
soon, so I left the camera running and took
the opportunity to walk down the platform at
Kanda Station and record the interesting
metal structure of the underside of the old
platform roof, etc. After going down
the entire length of the platform though, I
ended up stopping the camera before the
train got under way again.
Kanda to Tokyo (Chuo Line) 神田駅から東京駅まで (中央線)
130315
http://youtu.be/lnMXKQb2V-U
Ginza Station - Ticket Gates to Train 銀座駅 -
改札から電車まで (130315)
http://youtu.be/l_b314lpotY
Ginza to Aoyama-Itchome (Ginza Line)
銀座駅-青山一丁目駅 (銀座線) 130315
http://youtu.be/8iDECkmavOI
Lyle
2013/03/16
"Tokyu-Toyoko Shibuya Station's Last Day
- 東急東横線渋谷駅の最終日"
The title focuses on the final operational
day for Tokyu-Toyoko Shibuya Station
(東急東横線渋谷駅) - Friday, March 15th, 2013, but
the first nine videos were taken on Tuesday,
March 12th, before the pandemonium of the
final day. I won't go into the history
of the Toyoko Line here, just I'll say that
I think a lot of people, myself included,
liked the above-ground Toyoko Shibuya
Station and are a little sad to see it go
underground. With the old station, you
could go to the end of the platform and look
around at the surrounding buildings in
Shibuya, feel the wind, see the sky, look
over and see people walking on the elevated
walkways that lead (under the elevated
expressway) to Shibuya Station.
Looking around, you knew - and felt like -
you were a part of mega-city Tokyo.
All of that is missing in a subway
tunnel. Oh well. The station was
taken underground for good logistical
reasons, so I can't complain, but I will
miss the old station.
As mentioned above, the first batch of
videos is from Tuesday, March 12th, and on
that day, they had some of the crowd-control
measures already implemented (unnecessarily
I think, but better safe than sorry), so
there were guards scattered about on the
platforms to stop people from standing
around being tourists and getting in the way
of commuters, but it looked and felt pretty
normal otherwise. In front of the main
ticket gates, there were some people
standing around, taking pictures of the
destination board, etc., but they were left
alone. Let's go to that block of
videos first, and I'll comment again before
the batch of final day videos further down
the page.
Coming into Shibuya via Yamanote Line (Side
Window Night View) 山手線 (130312)
http://youtu.be/TNKa2Vo0LBU
Shibuya - Yamanote to Toyoko Transfer (Old
Toyoko Shibuya Station) 渋谷駅 (130312)
http://youtu.be/CYEBrfbs7XI
Surface Toyoko-Shibuya Station - Ticket
Gates to 9000-Type Local Train (9000型)
130312
http://youtu.be/ij7l3ipcy8k
They are retiring this model of train on the
Toyoko Line, presumably due to it not being
compatible with the subway system that the
Toyoko Line is tied in with now (as of
Saturday, March 16th, 2013), so this (below)
is one of the last rides taken on this model
(on this line at least). The sounds
are almost more important than the visual
element.
Toyoko 9000 Ride - Shibuya to
Gakugei-Daigaku - 渋谷駅-学芸大学駅 (130312)
http://youtu.be/LbwEgR7D6SI
Gakugei-Daigaku Station Platform Extension
学芸大学駅のホーム延長 (130312)
http://youtu.be/CS2egKWaiqk
Nakameguro to Daikanyama (Toyoko Line)
中目黒駅-代官山駅 (東急東横線) 130312
http://youtu.be/u8nOe7WJAVU
I didn't know what sort of construction they
were doing, but it was evident some
large-scale construction work was going
on. I found out later from a TV news
report that they had to lower the platform
and tracks to enable the tracks to match up
with the slope of the tracks going into and
coming out of the new tunnel between
Daikanyama and Shibuya. They finished
the switchover in about four hours - between
the last train on Friday night and the first
train on Saturday morning. It's really
quite impressive how they do construction
projects like this without interrupting rail
service at all.
Daikanyama to Shibuya Station (Toyoko Line)
代官山駅-元渋谷駅 (東横線) 130312g
http://youtu.be/gBiU8ePYcME
Toyoko-Shibuya Station Walkabout 東急東横線渋谷駅見回り
(上と下) 130312
http://youtu.be/fkFERbuUIhQ
Toyoko Shibuya Station (Above Ground
Version) 地上の東急東横線渋谷駅 (130312g)
http://youtu.be/3RlB0RR9Shc
Late night (around 11:00 p.m.) scene in
front of the main ticket gates. This
is a fairly good representation of how the
station looked on a normal day, with the
exception of people here and there stopping
to take pictures of it before it becomes
history (by going underground). Friday
was a completely different picture!
And - speaking of Friday (March 15th) - here
we are! The following videos were
taken on Friday over a couple of hours
during the late part of the evening
rush. The sounds of the event are
pretty amazing. The railway sent in an
army of employees to tell people (very
loudly) not to stop, to keep moving, not to
take flash pictures, not to block the
passageway, not to stop, not to stop, not to
stop, etc. etc. etc. To get the effect
of being there, you owe it to yourself to
plug in a good pair of headphones and listen
with the volume turned up high. The
wide-format videos are in stereo, and those
probably bring home the effect best.
The monaural videos might actually sound
better through speakers, come to think of
it, but for the wide-format ones in stereo,
try out the headphones - it's quite an
experience in places.
Aoyama-Itchome to Shibuya (Ginza Line)
青山一丁目駅-渋谷駅 (銀座線) 130315g
http://youtu.be/PMRqwlbDOMk
Toyoko Shibuya Final Day - by Ticket Gates
東横線最終日改札前 (130315g)
http://youtu.be/sJ1vo5S6I94
Toyoko Shibuya Station Last Day (B)
東急東横線渋谷駅最終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/lwBGT_99XDk
Toyoko Shibuya Station Last Day (C)
東急東横線渋谷駅最終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/NZ6tXzxw4nQ
Platform Scene - Final Day Toyoko Shibuya
ホームの様子 - 東横渋谷駅終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/5QV4MCEL_rw
Platform Walk - Toyoko Shibuya Final
ホーム散策散歩東横渋谷駅終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/pdb88v6sY4E
Toyoko Shibuya Station Walkabout 東横線渋谷駅一階と二階
(130315)
http://youtu.be/xNeAFWBFQSg
Boarding Train at Tokyu Shibuya Station
東急渋谷駅で電車を乗る (130315)
http://youtu.be/frcyWAowDh0
Shibuya to Nakameguro - Toyoko Line 渋谷駅-中目黒駅
- 東横線 (130315)
http://youtu.be/SZg6zxsc89E
To get onto the platforms, naturally I had
to pass through one of the ticket gates, and
having done that, I needed to go somewhere,
so I went to Nakameguro, got off there,
walking around a little (see next video),
and then came back to Shibuya.
Naka-Meguro Station Area Walkabout
中目黒駅あたりの夜散策散歩 (130315)
http://youtu.be/i0LcKQu1Pbo
Nakameguro to Shibuya - Toyoko Line 中目黒駅-渋谷駅
- 東横線 (130315)
http://youtu.be/ZJJWnqZ5PO8
Toyoko Shibuya Station Last Day (D) ITG
東急東横線渋谷駅最終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/ujTazt3o1RQ
Toyoko Shibuya Station - Last Day (E)
東急東横線渋谷駅最終日 (130315-2131g)
http://youtu.be/ZIX8RUHlxbE
Toyoko Shibuya Station Last Day (F)
東急東横線渋谷駅最終日 (130315)
http://youtu.be/E8eH2RdMU3o
Last Day Toyoko Shibuya Station - Inside and
Outside the Ticket Gates (130315)
http://youtu.be/e9ZSDUEJeO8
Tokyu-Toyoko Shibuya Station - Up Escalator
to Ticket Gate Area (Last Day) 130315
http://youtu.be/g5WMU_wKIU4
Shibuya Station - Walking from One Entrance
of Toyoko Line to the Other (130315)
http://youtu.be/xY3yXdta6ig
Shibuya Outside Walkway - People Watching
Final Day Toyoko Trains (130315)
http://youtu.be/kpJDO1zLRcY
Shibuya Outside Elevated Walkway - Night-360
(130315)
http://youtu.be/SGBpUuV5EKE
Tokyu-Toyoko Shibuya Station - Final Day
Walkabout Outside and Inside (130315)
http://youtu.be/ImsPK0SnGu0
I highly recommend seeing this last video,
as I walked from the elevated walkway, down
to street level opposite Shibuya Station,
over to the new multifunction, multi-shape
building, rode/walked up to the second
floor, and then walked past the long line of
people waiting (for hours) to ride The Last
Train to leave Toyoko-Shibuya Station - the
above-ground version that is. Finally,
I pass through the ongoing pandemonium in
front of the ticket gates, and go over
towards the Yamanote Line. This video
has a lot of information in it about that
evening at Shibuya Station.
Lyle
2013/03/07
"Ginza, Shinjuku, Shin-Okubo, Okubo,
Ogikubo, Nishi-Ogikubo, Etc."
Various train scenes, a couple of art
exhibitions, and visits to Shin-Okubo, Okubo
(which are within easy walking distance of
each other), Higashi-Nakano, Nakano,
Ogikubo, Nishi-Ogikubo, etc. It's been
a fairly typical week, with the glaring
exception of having had a very nasty
encounter with a bogus "artist". I'm
still trying to shake the toxicity of the
encounter. Not much to say off the top
of my head right now, other than the
depressing realization that dirty politics
and rotten dishonesty pervade just about
everything in this world - including the art
world - there really do seem to be many evil
bipeds among us, there's one in every group
on the planet apparently.
Kanda to Tokyo (Chuo Line) Shinkansen Track
Construction and Tokyo Station (130305g)
http://youtu.be/PAfS0fmfxaA
In recent videos I've posted showing the
ride from Kanda to Tokyo, I've tended to be
on the Yamanote Line, which is a couple of
tracks over - closer to the ongoing
construction of new Shinkansen tracks on
that side. For this one, I stayed on
the Chuo Line, which is further over to the
other side, and so provides a better view of
the new track construction. You can
see it well from about the 00:09 mark - once
the train I was on gets past the neighboring
platform roof that was blocking the view.
After getting off the train at Tokyo
Station, I left my camera rolling while
going down the long escalator from the Chuo
Line platform and also as I walked through
one of the concourses in Tokyo
Station. The video ends soon after
going through ticket gates on the Yaesu side
of the station.
Evening Tokyo Station Concourse Walkthrough
東京駅夕方散策 (130305ghd)
http://youtu.be/nwfsF79p6hM
Later on that same day, I reenter Tokyo
Station from the Yaesu side and walk all the
way through the station to the Marunouchi
side. The stereo sound on this one
should give you an idea of the ambiance of
the station - especially if you listen to it
with headphones on. The plain white
construction walls of the Yaesu side make
the nicely reconstructed Marunouchi side
seem especially nice.
Tokyo to Ochanomizu - Late Night Chuo Line
東京駅-御茶ノ水駅 - 夜の中央線 (130305g)
http://youtu.be/nrlEKd2Et9w
Watching the double-image light show
provided by a nighttime window of an
outbound Chuo Line train.
Just to give you some BS-nonsense text (I
recently got an earful at a sinister
exhibition that was all about evil deception
and nothing about art), I have recorded part
of it upside-down to prompt the realization
of people living on the other side of the
planet, that while they are riding in trains
facing up, we're simultaneously riding in
trains running upside-down here in
Tokyo. Wonderful thing that gravity
is, we can do this without falling out into
space. (Now wasn't that
profound? Welcome to the nonsensical
world of concept marketing!)
But - to be serious again - I rather like
this video. The electric mix of images
in the window is really beautiful in a
mega-city kind of way.
Nishi-Ogikubo Station Late at Night 夜遅くの西荻窪駅
(130305g)
http://youtu.be/RWi53ZnkuAY
Starting on a late-night platform at
Nishi-Ogikubo Station as an inbound kaisoku
Chuo Line and an outbound local Chuo Line
train go their separate ways. Then I
walk down the stairs, and out the ticket
gates.
Kokubunji to Mitaka (Chuo Line) 国分寺駅-三鷹駅
(中央線) 130305hdc
http://youtu.be/5dbR4O4HjW8
Looking out the right side of a Chuo Line
train speeding towards central Tokyo.
The white wall beside the railway is
primarily to suppress noise I think,
although it may also serve as a wall to keep
trains from falling off of the elevated
platform in the event of a powerful
earthquake. In this video (and the
following ones taken on the way to
Shinjuku), I had to slot the camera lens
in-between two stickers on the door window
glass. Someone at the railway appears
to think it's a great idea to plaster
stickers all over the windows so you can't
see through them. I wish someone would
tell them that the *purpose* of windows is
to let light through - and putting stickers
all over them *damages* that purpose.
Excuse me, but "logic" is not a four-letter
word.
Mitaka to Ogikubo (Chuo Line) 三鷹駅から荻窪駅まで
(中央線) 130305hdc
http://youtu.be/DswB_pzRf3o
Not particularly exciting scenery, but
there's something pleasant about watching it
go by at speed from an elevated
railway. (There are a few places where
the rails are on the ground, but mostly
they're elevated between Tachikawa and
Shinjuku.)
Ogikubo to Nakano (Chuo Line) 荻窪駅から中野駅まで
(中央線) 130305hdc
http://youtu.be/0EAgDYt1tow
Looking at the wall beside the railway here
- it's a nondescript concrete color that
blends in so well, you don't even notice
it. I'm not sure why the new ones are
white. I think the old style is more
harmonious with the surroundings. The
lower height is nice for watching
unobstructed passing scenery too. (I
must be getting old... so many times when I
compare the new way doing things now with
the old, the new way seems wrong and the old
way better.)
Nakano to Shinjuku (Chuo Line) 中野駅から新宿駅まで
(中央線) 130305hdc
http://youtu.be/2PM4Xp1ShL4
Watching these again... I fast-forward past
the horrible English announcements. I
wonder if they'll ever get English
announcements (which I think are unnecessary
in the first place) on the trains that are
actually pleasant to listen to.
Considering it's a recording, you'd think
someone could/would put some real effort
into finding someone with a pleasant voice
and... and... wait... at about the 02:38
mark, the "The doors on the left side will
open" bit doesn't sound too
horrible.... I wonder if it's been
modified? Maybe it's the Yamanote Line
that has the "The doors on the LEFT SIDE
will open" announcement?
In the railway's defense, I must admit they
*have* improved at least some of the
announcements. Very much appreciated
is that the Japanese station names are
mostly normal now. Before they were
said with really weird intonation, so you'd
get YoTSUya and NaKAno, etc. So -
thank you for fixing that JR! There's
still room for improvement with some
(actually, *all* I think) of the
announcements though.
Think I'm being nit-picky? Well... the
thing is - when you have to hear something
dozens of times a day, an irritant is that
much more irritating! As for the terms
used... the "Please change here for..." bit
is kind of irritating. I generally
think "No, I don't want to change
here! I'm going further down the
line!". There must be some other way
of announcing that! Maybe "The
following lines can be transferred to at the
next stop: The Chuo Local, Yamanote, Saikyo,
Shonan-Shinjuku, Odakyu, Keio, Marunouchi,
Toei-Shinjuku, and Oedo lines". It
isn't really necessary to say "The" and
"Line" after each and every one of
those. Some consideration should be
given to the 99.9% of riders who are not
wide-eyed bumbling tourists, and are being
driven to the edge of sanity by the daily
barrage of badly written, badly spoken,
irritating announcements. Okay... let
me say this then:
Dear JR様, これは、長すぎや！:
"The next station is Shinjuku.
The doors on the left side will
open. Please change here for the
Chuo Line local service, the Yamanote
Line, the Saikyo Line, the Shonan-Shinjuku
Line, the Odakyu Line, the Keio Line, the
Marunouchi subway line, the Shinjuku
subway line, and the Oedo subway
line. The stop after Shinjuku will
be Yotsuya."
これはどうです？:
"Next stop, Shinjuku. The
left-side doors will open. At
Shinjuku, the following lines can be
transferred to: The Chuo local, Yamanote,
Saikyo, Shonan-Shinjuku, Odakyu, Keio,
Marunouchi, Toei-Shinjuku, and Oedo
lines".
Shinjuku Station - Upper Concourse to
Yamanote Platform 新宿駅 (130305hdc)
http://youtu.be/3ujOYrjDOi0
I'm curious how people in other countries
view the Yamanote platform at about the
00:57 mark - does that look crowded, empty,
normal... or what? For a long-term
Tokyo resident, this seems about the way it
should be. If there were fewer people,
I'd be worried and think "Where is
everybody?", and if there were more, then
the stressful thing begins to load into the
mind as you get ready to deal with the
various stresses produced by sardine run
trains, etc... but this? Just about
right, I'd say.
Shinjuku - Yamanote Afternoon Platform Walk
新宿駅山手線ホーム散策 (130305hd)
http://youtu.be/eh17Su0zFX8
When you walk through a scene like this, the
motion of other people, trains, etc., throws
the brain into a state of auto-navigation,
and - so long as there are enough collision
avoidance maneuvers required - minor worries
tend to be tossed out of your
consciousness. So? Well... it's
hard to explain exactly, but artificial
thinking is knocked out of the way, and
things become more pure and real in a
way? ...... That's not a good
explanation... let me come back to this one
later! [Later] Ah... I guess
that's good enough. You get the
picture, right?
Shinjuku to Higashi-Nakano (Chuo Local)
新宿駅-東中野 (中央線各駅) 130305
http://youtu.be/xZEHVMPjdOY
Watching the buildings flowing by outside a
left-side window of the train, there are
some good examples of the type of buildings
rapidly headed for extinction in Tokyo -
like the ones at 01:16, 01:18, and 1:33,
etc.
At the 01:59 mark, is a quick view of the
interior of a six-door (per side) train
car. Pure conjecture, but they pulled
all of the six-door cars from the Yamanote
Line (as part of the platform wall
construction project), so presumably they
swapped them for four-door cars from
somewhere - possibly including the Chuo
Local Line trains. They were most
meaningful on the Yamanote Line, so it's too
bad they can't be used there any longer.
From around the 03:59 mark, I walk down the
platform at Higashi-Nakano. I wanted
to have a look at this station again,
because this design - dating back to some
decades ago, is fast disappearing. New
stations are nice, and if there was no
change, and all the stations were old, I
would wish for change, but with old-style
stations becoming rare, it increasingly
seems to me that their design and
construction was/is straightforward,
practical, and honest. New stations
are more modern (obviously), and have
escalators and elevators, etc., but I
sometimes get the feeling that some type of
uncomfortable politics is woven into the
designs? I can't put my finger on it
exactly, but whatever it is, that aspect was
better with the old designs. Cohesive
integrated design versus committee decisions
maybe?
Higashi-Nakano Station 東中野駅 (March 2013)
2013年3月 (130305)
http://youtu.be/0JO3xfRXXUM
This video begins after going up the stairs
from the platform. The platform part
of the station is unchanged, but the upper
section has been rebuilt. In front of
the station, they have a fairly large area
blocked off with the usual white
construction walls (with interesting old
pictures showing the history of
Higashi-Nakano station), so something new is
coming. Probably a department store or
mini-mall, which is what all JR stations
seem to be becoming! (Not a complaint
- just an observation!)
Higashi-Nakano Walkabout 東中野午後散策散歩 (130305)
http://youtu.be/-Oh9_Adkswk
Starting by the walled off future
construction part of Higashi-Nakano Station,
walking towards the entrance, and then going
down a flight of stairs to an area down on
the ground next to the tracks. As I
mentioned further up the page, although most
of the Chuo Line between Tachikawa and
Shinjuku is elevated, there are some places
where it's on the ground - and this is one
of those places. (Which means this
area must be a hill, as they made the
railway mostly level when they elevated it,
with some sections about three stories up in
the air, and other sections running on the
ground.)
At the 04:20 mark, you can see where the
Tozai Line comes out of the ground.
Outbound trains coming out of the tunnel
here either dead-end at Nakano Station, or
continue down the line as local Chuo Line
trains to Mitaka.
Higashi-Nakano to Nakano (Chuo Local)
東中野駅-中野駅 (中央線各駅停車) 130305
http://youtu.be/2-iOfJmcAGU
By the title, this could be purely a train
video showing the run down the line
(outbound) to the next station, Nakano, but
actually it begins on the streets next to
Higashi-Nakano Station. Then I take
the escalator up to the the ticket gates,
enter, and walk through the station and down
to the platform. After watching a
kaisoku Chuo Line train speed by, I jump on
a local Chuo Line and look out a right side
window... up... at the buildings on what is
basically the edge of the culvert the Chuo
Line temporarily runs through before
becoming elevated again.
Nakano Station Concourse and North Exit
中野駅内部通路と北口改札 (130305)
http://youtu.be/7i-7qaL5ihQ
Nakano Station - Ticket Gates to Platform
中野駅 - 改札口からホームまで (130305hdc)
http://youtu.be/hPKMdlq1yOM
Once I get up to the platform, at the 01:27
mark, there's a look at the buildings in
front of the station on the Sun Mall side.
Arriving at Ochanomizu Station (Chuo Line)
御茶ノ水駅に到着 (中央線) 130305
http://youtu.be/BjGHtWNeqgM
A front cab view of approaching and pulling
into Ochanomizu Station.
Ochanomizu to Kanda (Chuo Line) 御茶ノ水駅-神田駅
(中央線) 130305
http://youtu.be/5pQJmsZihEA
Another look at the ongoing construction
project on the former Manseibashi Station
(万世橋駅) platform from a right-side window of
a passing Chuo Line train. I'm really
hoping they will preserve much of the
platform and also the original old stairs.
7th Floor to 5th Floor - Old Stairs (130305)
http://youtu.be/uynbLNHvHgQ
I don't think people in Europe can quite
appreciate how important an old building
like this can be in Tokyo. Simply
explained, it's a nearly missing part of
Tokyo's/Japan's history. After the
Great Kanto Earthquake, the central part of
the city was rebuilt with modern sturdy
concrete buildings - meant to last a long
time. Now there are only a handful of
them, and they broadcast an echo of that
reconstruction period.
Maruyama Norio (丸山則夫) Exhibition 夜明け-雪 at
Art Space Rondo (130305)
http://youtu.be/fYz7X3fyM9s
This was (I should say "is", since it's
still going on) a pretty cool exhibition,
with morning first-light photos exhibited in
one of the cooler atmospheric rooms in the
Okuno Building. Recommended if you're
in Ginza sometime over the next few days.
Kicuchi Megumi and Tsutsumi Yoshihiko
Exhibition at Y's Arts Room-508 (130305)
http://youtu.be/vskcLRYwfZw
This exhibition consists of an interesting
combination of stitched leather and paint -
made by two artists who passed the material
back and forth several times to create this
abstract art. It's spit between the
Y's Art White Room (Room-508) and Black Room
(Room-101) in the Ginza Okuno
Building. This exhibition was also
recently shown in New York.
(Excuse the color of parts of this video - I
had the color balance set for the gallery
rooms and it was shifted fairly radically
towards green for the florescent tube
illuminated hallways of the building.)
Passing Trains in the Night - Southern
Terrace Stairs, Etc (130305)
http://youtu.be/_Z5YByEBRmw
Watching trains passing by Shinjuku Southern
Terrace and then doing a bit of camera
waving on a wide set of steps and the
surrounding scenery.
Crossing into Shinjuku - South Entrance
新宿に入る - 南口 (130305)
http://youtu.be/QGVv1Ei7w9U
This main street is the border between
Shibuya-ku and Shinjuku-ku (the "Shinjuku
Southern Terrace" is actually in
Shibuya-ku). After crossing the
street, I enter Shinjuku Station via the
South Exit ticket gates.
Shinjuku Station Late Night Yamanote
Platform 新宿駅夜の山手線 (130305hd)
http://youtu.be/afqEy-kd6Zg
Walking down the Yamanote Line platform
before boarding a train to go one stop to
Shin-Okubo (see next video).
Shinjuku to Shin-Okubo (Yamanote Line)
新宿駅-新大久保駅 (山手線) 130305
http://youtu.be/LYZszQFSTWA
Left-side nighttime window view of the ride
from Shinjuku to Shin-Okubo.
Shin-Okubo Station Platform Walk 新大久保駅 -
ホーム工事の様子 (130305)
http://youtu.be/mszLiq-bmcY
I hadn't intended to spend time walking
around on the Shin-Okubo Station platform,
but seeing the advanced state of the
platform wall construction there (it looks
like all the places on the platform for
bolting in the platform wall and its
electric doors are in place), I thought it
might be a good idea to record the open air
platform before it disappears.
Actually - there's some history here.
There have been (many years ago) a couple of
cases of people falling off the platform at
this station and getting run over (and
killed) by a train.
Something I've mentioned before:
There's the ongoing carnage of people
getting killed in gruesome automobile
accidents all over the country, and that's
just considered normal. One (or three
in the most famous incident at this station
over a decade ago) people die on the
railways and the media goes berserk with
stories about how dangerous the railways
are!
While walking around on the Shin-Okubo
Station platform, several trains (Saikyo
Line, Seibu-Shinjuku Line, etc.) pass by at
speed.
Exiting Shin-Okubo Station と Main Street
Stroll 新大久保駅を出て - 散策散歩 (130305)
http://youtu.be/Z6924rM1-BQ
Going from the platform down to the ticket
gates as a train unloads/loads people;
through the ticket gates, and (after
watching the train I walked away from up
above pull out), down the main street
towards Okubo Station.
Walking to Okubo Station Late at Night
夜遅く大久保駅までの散歩 (130305)
http://youtu.be/iDZXxmhvFq4
Walking along the road that connects
Shin-Okubo Station and Okubo Station.
Soba and Udon Shop Ticket Machine Printout
(130305)
http://youtu.be/JUjnaaD2sJ8
This type of fast food I find much nicer
than hamburger places. You buy a
ticket for what you want from a vending
machine, give the person behind the counter
the ticket, choose whether you want soba
noodles, or udon noodles, and then they
(usually) get it for you within 60 seconds
or so. This type of place - selling
inexpensive hot noodles - is especially nice
when the weather is cold.
Entering Okubo Station - Platform Views
大久保駅を入る - ホームビュー (130305)
http://youtu.be/l89cPAf5QEw
Simple title, but this one covers a lot of
area actually - from looking around on the
streets near the station, to crossing the
street under the overhead railway, and
*then* entering Okubo Station while looking
around. Up on the platform, I walk
around and take in the old style platform
with it's old steel roof (that I hope will
continue to be used for a long while yet),
watch a train come and go; watch a couple of
kaisoku Chuo Line trains speed by (one
inbound and one outbound) on neighboring
tracks, and then I stopped the camera -
turning it back on a few minutes later to
look around a little more (next video).
Okubo Station Platform Details - Late at
Night Waiting for a Train (130305)
http://youtu.be/KeCE-eg6n9Q
Right at the end of this short video - at
about the 00:51 mark, is a typical view of
the quiet semi-desolation of a late-night
non-major train station atmosphere in the
quiet between trains.
Nighttime Local Chuo Line Interior 夜の各駅中央線内
(130305hd)
http://youtu.be/XH53lp82Whg
Looking down the carriage of a late night
outbound local Chuo Line train.
Generally speaking, things are a bit more
settled on the local trains than they are on
the express trains.
Incidentally, notice (at Higashi-Nakano) the
blue light illuminated end of the platform
at around the 00:50 mark. People's
eyebrows worldwide were raised when they
began installing blue lights at the end of
platforms to cut down on suicides. I
haven't heard or read anything about it
lately, but I notice the lights are all
still there. I wonder if they actually
have an effect on people considering jumping
in front of a train in order to commit
suicide? Blue to cool down(?) fits in
with the color theory of the old all-orange
Chuo Line trains influencing people *to*
commit suicide. For some reason, the
blue lights at the end of the platforms seem
to me like they might even make some sense -
somehow - but I've never believed that the
suicide rate on the Chuo Line was high
because the trains were orange. The
reasons seems straightforward enough: the
line is - overall, throughout the day, on
average - the most crowded line in the
country, and the morning commute isn't very
pleasant. So it stands to reason that
there would be more suicides there, if not
because it's unpleasant (although that
aspect shouldn't be ignored), then due to
the numbers. In fact, the high suicide
rate refers to the number of suicides on the
line, irrespective of the number of people
using the line. If they looked at the
percentage of suicides - based on the number
of people using the line - then maybe the
rate isn't even high?
Local Chuo Line to Ogikubo - Late Night View
中央線夜各駅停車の様子 (130305)
http://youtu.be/jlk1Ku5ET-U
An almost strangely quiet and settled
ride. I guess not being near a holiday
or Friday, everything was just in Normal
Mode.
Between Nakano and Mitaka, the local Chuo
Line trains and kaisoku Chuo Line trains all
stop at the same stations, so - within that
stretch, you're generally better off taking
a local (yellow stripe) train, since the
kaisoku Chuo Line trains often wait for
"tsukin-kaisoku", "tokubetsu-tsukin-kaisoku"
and other express trains to pass, while the
local trains just plod along without
interruption. (If you're going from
Mitaka to Nakano, then a tsukin-kaisoku is
of course fastest.)
Ogikubo Station Late at Night 夜の荻窪駅 (130305)
http://youtu.be/VUUYRqmvFhw
Exiting Ogikubo Station for a quick look
around at night while on my way to
Nishi-Ogikubo.
Ogikubo Nighttime Trackside 夜の荻窪 - 線路隣の散歩
(130305)
http://youtu.be/ga_lxw3Pdzc
Late Night Ogikubo Shotengai Shopping Street
夜中の荻窪商店街 (130305)
http://youtu.be/8MUo56aVn7w
Very short clip, but I wanted to show
something of the atmosphere of a late night
shotengai shopping street as it appears when
you're walking down one on the way home
after a long day at work.
Narrow Staircase Leading into Ogikubo
Station (130305)
http://youtu.be/x4PyH3hF05A
In this video, you can see how - once they
installed an escalator - there wasn't much
room left, so the remaining stairs became
quite narrow.
Ogikubo to Nishi-Ogikubo (Local Chuo Line)
荻窪駅-西荻窪駅 (夜遅く) 130305
http://youtu.be/Oxhx4XZijrc
One stop down the line to Nishi-Ogikubo -
either a kaisoku or local train would have
worked fine, but a local came first, so I
took that. As the train rolled along,
we ended up running in parallel with a
kaisoku and pulled into Nishi-Ogikubo at the
same time. It's a little rare
(although it happens often enough in Tokyo)
to look out the window of a train and see
another train running in the same direction
beside you - so I always enjoy the
experience when it happens and almost feel
like I should wave at the passengers on the
other train or something.
Nishi-Ogikubo Izakaya Late Night Stroll
西荻窪居酒屋夜の様子 (130305)
http://youtu.be/QR6Nq2pgBQQ
Places like this began as just a collection
of small side street shops, but have become
rare enough in Tokyo now, that they've
become kind of like a theme park attraction
- a way to go time-tripping instead of
future seeking.
Yakiimo Truck by Nishi-Ogikubo Station (130305)
http://youtu.be/8LYadMC5ycA [X]
2013/06/28 Note: I got a comment in English words that didn't make sense, but seemed to be expressing displeasure about this video and apparently
from the man leaning against the truck looking at his cell phone in the
video, so I've deleted the video. I'm not sure what the problem
is/was - the man's face wasn't in the video at all. The only
reason I can think of is that since he was leaning against the truck
and looking at something on his cell phone, it didn't look like he was
very serious about working, and maybe that was the source of the
displeasure? In any case, I deleted the video (which is why I put
an "X" after the link above, and de-automated the link (what's the
correct term for that anyway?).
I've been seeing ishi-yakiimo trucks like this for the whole time I've
been in Japan, although there used to be more of them. There was
one guy who parked near the Omoide-yokocho izakaya alley in Shinjuku
for the longest time. He had a generator providing power for a
small television that he watched while waiting for customers. The
guy in this video appears to be using his cell phone. It would be
funny if he was watching TV on it, but who cares about TV any more
anyway?
Yakiimo Truck Walk-by 夜の焼き芋トラック (130305hd)
http://youtu.be/BDci9JO3Ay8
Nishi-Ogikubo Station - Midnight Ticket
Gates to Platform Walk (130305)
http://youtu.be/Zc_zDgRLorM
There comes a point late at night - with the
last train not far distant - that the
evening/night loses its allure, and - often
quite suddenly - you just want to be
home. Watching this video now as I
type this, it's that feeling more than
anything that comes to mind. And with
that, we've come to the last video in this
batch.
Lyle
2013/03/02
"Shinjuku, Nakano, Koenji, Hamamatsucho,
Tokyo Monorail, Yurakucho, Tachikawa,
Etc."
The "Nakano" and "Koenji" in the title this
time refers to a late-night visit I made to
the two neighboring stations. Nakano
I've visited several times over the past few
years, and while I have visited Koenji at
night with the camera running, I'm not sure
I've ever recorded it this late at night
before.
Somewhere I hadn't visited in quite a while
is the Tokyo Monorail, which I've always
thought of as the Haneda Monorail, since it
goes to Haneda Airport, but paying a little
more attention this time, I realized (after
decades!) that the proper name is "Tokyo
Monorail" (東京モノレール). I rode it to the
first stop, Tennozu Isle Station (天王洲アイル駅),
and after looking around a little there
(only a little though) I returned to
Hamamatsucho, recording the view out the
windows as the train moved along its
concrete path (it's a monorail-type train,
but there is no rail, as it actually runs on
a strip of concrete via rubber tires).
Then at Hamamatsucho Station, I show the
transfer from the monorail to the Yamanote
Line.
Shinjuku Station (Platform to Lower
Concourse) 新宿駅下の通路 (130226hdc)
http://youtu.be/rLq8eGzy7qM
A relaxed afternoon view of Shinjuku
Station. The station always has a fair
number of people walking about, changing
trains, etc., but it's more intense during
the morning and evening rush zones.
(I'm not sure "zone" is the best term, but
it sure isn't "hour"!)
Actually, the end of the video shows a
rather crowded part of the station -
probably a Keio Line or Odakyu Line train
had just come in (or both) and those people
were pouring through the direct transfer
gates into the JR area... which brings up
another point. It's not just the time
of day, it's the timing of the ebb and flow
of people throughout the day. When a
ten-car train dead-ends at Shinjuku (and the
Keio Line and Odakyu Line are both heavily
used lines that dead-end in Shinjuku), with
each train that arrives and unloads, you get
a wave of people.
Shinjuku Station (Lower Concourse to Lower
West Exit Passageway (130226hdc)
http://youtu.be/A-1m39kpjOk
Right on the heals of what began as a
relaxed and not crowded Chuo Line
platform. Like I mentioned above, I
think this crowd of people must have poured
off of either a Keio Line or Odakyu Line
train. Anyway, after watching the
flood of people for a little, I exit the JR
area of the station and walk through the
passageway that leads to Nishi-Shinjuku on
the west side of the station.
Shinjuku Station (West Side Temporary
Market) 130226
http://youtu.be/K44r62p3XmQ
They have various temporary things in this
space - generally marketing of things from
one area or another of the country. I
bought some stuff from Okinawa here
before. (I just walked through in a
hurry this time, and didn't notice whether
it was another regional market or not.)
Nishi-Shinjuku - Walking Towards Shinjuku
Station (130226)
http://youtu.be/ACiPLTwYSFA
Shinjuku Evening Rush - South Exit to Chuo
Line 新宿駅夕方ラッシュ (130226g)
http://youtu.be/mVUAstboTmw
The reason the Chuo Line platform in this
video is so sparsely populated, is that it's
the platform for the Inbound Chuo Line
trains. At this time of the evening,
the outbound Chuo Line platform has a lot
more people.
Evening Kanda to Yurakucho Y and KT 夕方神田-有楽町
(山手京浜東北) 130226
http://youtu.be/3HVRqg06zNw
The "Y" of the title stands for the Yamanote
Line and the "KT" for the Keihin-Tohoku
Line. At Kanda, I get on a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train and then walk
across the platform at the next stop, Tokyo
Station, and get on a Yamanote Line
train. Since I was going to Yurakucho
and either train would get me there, I just
changed for the variety of it. Why
ride one train somewhere when you can ride
two - ho-ho! (When you're already
standing on the train, it makes no
difference effort-wise....)
Okuno Building and Y's Art (夜の奥野ビル) 130226
http://youtu.be/klE-SxpXMtE
Standing on the street in front of the
1932/1934 Okuno Building... looking around,
including up at the city-light-illuminated
clouds in the sky, and then into the round
window of the Y's Art antique shop and art
gallery.
Ginza Chuo-Dori Night Stroll 銀座中央通り夜散歩
(130226)
http://youtu.be/2gPMm0MYhdE
Chuo-Dori - I think this is about the widest
long sidewalk in Japan. And to walk
freely when it's crowded, you really do need
about this width. On this street, the
term "Ginbura" (銀ブラ) always comes to
mind. The (rather old) term was made
by putting together the first part of
"Ginza" (銀座) and "bura-bura" (ブラブラ), with
the "bura-bura" part meaning (among other
things) to wander about. Now there are
modern shopping areas just about everywhere
in Tokyo, but Ginza was the first modern
glitzy shopping street and for a long time
(and still now somewhat) it's a place people
like to wander around in. Aside from
the high-end shops, there are galleries,
etc., although the double punch of the bad
economy and ever higher rents has been
driving galleries out of the area - many
over to neighboring Kyobashi.
Walking Towards Yurakucho - No More Toshiba
Bldg (130226)
http://youtu.be/QpcjonNg2sQ
At around the 00:07 mark, there's a white
construction wall across the street where
the Toshiba Building (which was actually
called the "Ginza TS-Building" apparently...
although also referred to as the Ginza
Toshiba Building - 銀座TSビル[銀座東芝ビル]) used to
be. Sigh... another missed
chance! About a year ago, I observed
that the upper floors were dark, and only
the first floor of shops appeared to be
open. Seeing that, I was pretty sure
they would be be tearing the building down
in the not-too-distant future, but before I
got around to walking through the first
floor of retail shops... it's gone.
Tokyo is like that. Again and again,
there are things you get used to seeing and
kind of expect to stay there, but one day
you find them - one by one -
demolished. The building didn't have
any special meaning for me, but still I wish
I'd walked through it at least once!
Looking on-line, I see this:
"モザイク銀座阪急が核テナント。
かつては「銀座東芝ビル」と呼ばれ、東京電気（東芝）が本社を置いていたこともある。
2007年に東急不動産が1610億円でビルを購入。
新たな商業ビルへの建て替えを決定した。" Um... I don't
have time to do a proper translation of
that, but it says (among other things) that
it was called (irrespective of the proper
name) the "Ginza Toshiba Building", and it
was the headquarters for the Toshiba
Corporation at one time. In 2007, it
was bought by Tokyu and they will be putting
up a new building there.
Anther interesting thing is this:
"竣工年：1934年・1966年増築", which appears to mean
there was a 1934 building there, then a 1966
building (the one that's just been torn
down) and so the next one will be the third
building for that spot. There's a
picture of each building at this site - I
think the 1934 building looks nice, but it's
clearly much smaller horizontally (although
about the same height as the 1966 one):
http://trystero.exblog.jp/6214901
Nishi-Shinjuku - Late Night Crowds 西新宿居酒屋人々
(元淀橋) 130226
http://youtu.be/bQsX0amH4Pw
Walking through a crowd of people who had
apparently just come out of an izakaya in
the area - who were standing in the street
talking before heading off for the
trains. Logistically, it generally
works like that. You meet up with
workmates at an izakaya that is somewhere
between the workplace and where the majority
of the people attending live, and then
there's a brief period after leaving the
izakaya where everyone gets together in the
street, and then they head off to trains
headed off in different directions towards
the various suburbs of Tokyo.
Shinjuku Southern Terrace - Trains and
Clouds 新宿サザンテラス電車雲 (130226)
http://youtu.be/YsEvVXYO_0g
Looking around on the edge of Shinjuku
Southern Terrace - near one end of the wide
pedestrian bridge that crosses the railway
tracks - leading towards the department
stores on the other side.
Nakano Late Night Back Streets (from
Station) 中野北側夜横道散策散歩 (130226g)
http://youtu.be/VPndiZSBrJ0
Starting on a platform of Nakano Station,
and then walking downstairs from the
elevated tracks to the station concourse and
out the north exit. Once out of the
station, I walk towards Sun Mall, turn right
before entering it, and then dive down a
dark alley on the left - walking past a
small izakaya and into the maze of back
streets that give Nakano its
character. It was pretty late, so
things were beginning to wind down for the
night.
Late Night Nakano - Side Streets to Station
中野横道から中野駅まで (130226)
http://youtu.be/v9RMoUZTnRQ
Walking back to Nakano Station from the back
street maze area.
Koenji Station to Izakaya Street
高円寺駅から居酒屋街まで (130226)
http://youtu.be/b2gChOc0pe8
The video above shows the walk from the
elevated Chuo Line platform at Koenji
Station to the beginning of the restaurant
and izakaya area. Then the four videos
below show various back street (and alley)
scenes in Koenji, followed by heading back
towards the station.
Koenji Izakaya Alley (Late at Night)
高円寺北の居酒屋路地 (夜遅く) 130226g
http://youtu.be/K85l4bF2rJg
I didn't notice it at the time, but in
playing this one back, there's a lot of
graffiti on the walls of the alley.
I'm not sure exactly when that started, but
there didn't used to be graffiti here - at
least I never saw any.
Koenji-kita Izakaya Late Night Side Street
Stroll 高円寺北横道散策散歩 (130226)
http://youtu.be/UX36sk4_JnU
Getting close to the last trains for the
night, so this is nearing the "lonely
streets" time zone between late night people
and early morning people.
Koenji Izakaya Alley 高円寺居酒屋道 (130226hd)
http://youtu.be/TAHI3_4zgSc
Another walk through the izakaya alley -
this time with a wider view and with stereo
sound.
Koenji Station Bound - Late Night Streets
高円寺駅向き (夜遅く) 130226
http://youtu.be/WpoOswT25qY
Koenji Station - Express Zooms Through
高円寺駅特急を通る (130226g)
http://youtu.be/XOMCnWOJV6E
Anraku Eiko Exhibition (安楽瑛子個展-無無無展) at
Gallery Shorin (130226)
http://youtu.be/REvgicWCjLI
At this exhibition, the artist explains (in
Japanese) each of the paintings of her
exhibition. I had intended to
interpret each of her explanations, but
while I understood (nearly) everything she
was saying while she was talking, as soon as
she stopped, I realized that I didn't
remember all the details (and wasn't sure of
the best way to translate some terms), so my
English translations for the paintings at
the beginning of the video are lacking (a
lot of... most...) details. Towards
the end, I already had the concept firmly in
mind from discussing it with the artist
(before I began taking the video), so I got
that part right at least. It was an
interesting exhibition, and hopefully you
can understand Japanese so you'll get all of
the artist's explanations!
Kawamura Satoru (河村悟展) Exhibition at Gallery
Kazuki (画廊香月) 130228
http://youtu.be/XrRtrX94o5M
A quick look around in at an art exhibition
in Ginza. This one runs from March 1st
through to March 23rd, 2013.
Late Night Chuo Line Train Arrives and
Departs from Kokubunji (130226hd)
http://youtu.be/ImaxjtmZx58
Watching a late-night Chuo Line train come
and go.
Late Night Kokubunji Station 夜遅く国分寺駅
(130226hd)
http://youtu.be/Eyp3O16370k
Walking around a little in Kokubunji Station
late at night - including trying out one of
the elevators that lead form the platform to
the upper in-station concourse area, as well
as a quick look at the large concourse on
the other side of the ticket gates.
Afternoon Tachikawa Station Platform
午後立川駅ホーム (130227hd)
http://youtu.be/gEktEKXQ0Rc
Midnight Inbound Chuo Line Interior 夜中の中央線内
(130301)
http://youtu.be/9F9v6x1CjZU
People Waiting for Late Night Train in
Tachikawa 夜遅く立川駅人々 (130301)
http://youtu.be/dpwGmZKRB8k
Late Night Nearly Empty Tachikawa Station
夜遅く立川駅ホーム (130301)
http://youtu.be/36ivts3wQIw
Midnight Tachikawa Station Walkabout 夜中立川駅散歩
(130301)
http://youtu.be/X__J69016Ds
Last Inbound Chuo Line Train from Tachikawa
最終上り中央線立川から (130301)
http://youtu.be/rPIGMMIKWf4
Express Train Speeds Through Kokubunji
Station 特急が国分寺駅を通る (130228)
http://youtu.be/PSA5u3J5xGQ
Watching this, I think this must be about
the third video I've posted recently of one
of these trains speeding past. I guess
the next time one comes along I shouldn't
bother to record it, or if I do, I shouldn't
bother to post it!
Chuo Line Trains Departing Kokubunji Station
国分寺駅中央線 (130228hdc)
http://youtu.be/-_PhdTil88I
Ochanomizu to Hamamatsucho 御茶ノ水駅から浜松町駅
(130228)
http://youtu.be/u9tixRtum2w
Flowering Plum Tree at Zojoji 増上寺の春梅木
(130228)
http://youtu.be/pXyVaOM1hY8
The cherry blossom trees are the most
famous, but the flowering plum trees are the
earliest to put out flowers in the (very
early) spring.
Old Wooden Buildings in Central Tokyo
(130228)
http://youtu.be/VZ56C4hXfwg
Looking Across a Main Road (Hamamatsucho)
浜松町大通り (130228hd)
http://youtu.be/eX1xnO59kpE
When I look at scenes like this, I ponder
how much nicer cities would be if traffic
was restricted and not so much of the city
was buried under dead black asphalt....
Hamamatsucho Station - Lower Level to
Platform to Upper Level (130228)
http://youtu.be/CvAJzJwBC6g
Entering Hamamatsucho Station through the
lower concourse, walking up to the elevated
platform, and then walking down the platform
and going up (again) to the upper level
concourse.
Hamamatsucho Tokyo Monorail - Ticket
Machines to Train 東京モノレール (130228)
http://youtu.be/q40uf-gorMc
Since just about everyone uses the
rechargeable IC cards for traveling around
on the train system, the ticket machines are
primarily used just to put more money into
the card from time-to-time, but I thought it
might be good to show where the ticket
machines for the Tokyo Monorail are
nonetheless.
Hamamatsucho to Tennozu Isle (Tokyo
Monorail) 浜松町駅-天王洲アイル駅 (130228)
http://youtu.be/0Rf-bory_bk
Riding one stop on the Tokyo Monorail - to
Tennozu Isle Station. At about the
00:32 mark, is a view of three outbound
trains running in parallel - a Shinkansen
train, and... I'm not sure, but I think a
Tokaido Line train, and maybe... a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train. From about
the 01:36 mark, is a really large
construction site... I haven't been on the
Tokyo Monorail for a while, so I didn't know
about this. That's how it is in Tokyo;
if you don't go somewhere for a little
while, when you return, brace yourself for
radical change. The city is undergoing
constant (never-ending) reconstruction.
The area shown in this video is all
landfill, by the way. After what
happened up north in the March 11th, 2011
Tohoku earthquake, I don't think I'd like to
live in a landfill area next to the ocean
myself....
Tennozu Isle - Water, Bridge, Sky, Evening
Sun 天王洲の空水橋夕日など (130228hd)
http://youtu.be/QreovnwwiJI
Looking around on a rather lonely steel
bridge near Tennozu Isle Station in the
evening.
Tennozu Isle Station (Tokyo Monorail)
天王洲アイル駅 (東京モノレール) 130228
http://youtu.be/e2YPjL1q93Y
Beginning on escalators leading up to the
smaller of the two entrances to the station,
I go through the ticket gates, down the
platform, up some stairs, and into the main
station area - and then over the trains to
the other platform in order to catch one of
the monorails headed towards Hamamatsucho
Station.
Tennozu Isle to Hamamatsucho (Tokyo
Monorail) 天王洲アイル駅-浜松町駅 (130228)
http://youtu.be/kTgq5grukew
Watching an inbound monorail train come in,
boarding it, and riding through the evening
to Hamamatsucho while looking out the side
windows at the neighboring highway, landfill
islands with their high-rises and industrial
buildings, water, Rainbow Bridge, etc.
Incidentally, the automated announcements on
the train are in Japanese, English and - I
think - two forms of Chinese.
The nice thing about monorail trains is they
tend to be up high, so they're good places
to check out the surrounding scenery
from. (I wanted to show more of the
interior of the train, but there were too
many nearby people facing the camera.)
As the train goes over the many railway
tracks just before arriving at Hamamatsucho
Station, you get an idea of how much rail
traffic there is between Yokohama and
Tokyo. At the 05:33 mark, you can see
the design of that cool old building near
Hamamatsucho (name?) - possibly one of the
few 1930's buildings still remaining in the
city. And - near the end of the video,
at the 05:48 mark, you see people lined up
to catch the (soon-to-be) outgoing train.
Originally, the Tokyo Monorail was primarily
used for Haneda Airport access and also
access to the various industrial buildings
on the landfill islands, but as they've
begun putting up luxury
vertical-gated-community high-rises (I
noticed one with a convenience store up on
the third floor - probably only used by the
residents of the building) in the area, it's
also used by people commuting to and from
work now. From that background, and
judging by the appearance of most of the
people lined up on the platform, I'd say
most of them were heading somewhere other
than the airport.
Hamamatsucho Transfer from (Haneda) Tokyo
Monorail to Yamanote Line (130228)
http://youtu.be/V7lMvKmQuVo
I was asked about the transfer from the
Tokyo Monorail to the Yamanote Line by
someone who will be visiting Japan for the
first time and going to Ikebukuro, so I
added some narration to this one explaining
about the signs primarily. Ikebukuro
is pretty easy to find from Hamamatsucho, as
it's one of the station names listed on the
Yamanote Line signs (which list just a few
of the major stations). When
transferring *from* a JR train to the
monorail, it's pretty direct, but when going
from the monorail to a JR train, you have to
take a roundabout route - down, across, and
back up. After I board a Yamanote Line
train, I go to Shinbashi.
(Incidentally, in the video, I mention two
platforms in a way that I should have said
two tracks. The problem is that in
stations, in Japanese, what should be track
numbers are called platform numbers [using
the English term "platform"], with the edge
of a platform called a platform, so what
should be called "track number three"
becomes "platform number three".)
Shinbashi to Yurakucho (Yamanote Line)
新橋駅から有楽町駅まで (山手線) 130228
http://youtu.be/yZEEOKBJk4I
Looking out a left-side window of a Yamanote
Line train riding through the twilight of a
late February evening.
Yurakucho Plaza (Evening) 夕暮れの有楽町プラザ
(130228hd)
http://youtu.be/rLlIwes12XM
Looking around in Yurakucho Plaza in the
twilight of the day. This is what a
big city should look like. The areas
along the major internal-combustion machine
highways are hellish places of noise,
noxious fumes, and truck vibrations.
The internal combustion engine is the curse
of humanity.
Twilight Shinkansen and Kei-Van 夕暮れ新幹線と軽自動車
(130228hd)
http://youtu.be/Et0DIbV0Gt0
Looking back at a passing Shinkansen and
then walking towards Ginza from Yurakucho.
Lyle
2013/02/23
"1991 Hibarigaoka; 2013 Ueno, Akihabara,
Hamamatsucho, and Various Train Views"
I had intended to post a few things from
1991, but was only able to find time to edit
one - featuring the area around Hibarigaoka
at night - taken on the same day I took the
(previously posted) video of Kiyose.
For reference, here's the link to the Kiyose
video again:
1991 - Kiyose Walkabout 清瀬散歩 (910202)
http://youtu.be/5ZfIraZOJoY
From Kiyose, I took a Seibu-Ikebukuro Line
train to Hibarigaoka and walked around there
for a bit - more on that further down the
page.
Back to 2013. The videos this time are
mainly from Ueno, Hamamatsucho, and
Ginza. I spent a fair amount of time
in Ueno comparing the Ueno Station Building
as it currently is with a postcard photo of
it from 1932 (that I had printed out).
Considering how radically Tokyo has changed,
it's surprisingly intact. Some windows
have been filled in and a small extra
section added to the front, but the whole
building is still there. Compared to
the ornamental nature of the 1914 Tokyo
Station building, the 1932 Ueno Station
building seems to be have had practical use
more in mind than seems to have been the
case with Tokyo Station. There's a
certain beauty in form following function,
and Ueno Station seems to me - after having
had a good hard look at it - to have been
carefully designed.
But despite spending a lot of time there, I
didn't take very much video. I was
busy carefully studying the 1932 photo and
comparing it to the current condition of the
building. While staring intently at
the 1932 photo and looking up to compare it
to the building, I must have looked lost, as
several people (all middle or upper-middle
aged) came up and asked (in English) "May I
help you?". Shades of the early
eighties, when if you saw a foreigner in
Tokyo, chances were heavier towards tourism
than business or residency. Then came
the very strong yen, popular Japanese
culture, and floods of foreigners seeking
culture, fortunes, etc. here. At some
point, it became normal to assume that there
was a better chance of a foreigner knowing
Japanese than otherwise, since Japan was
such an expensive tourist destination,
tourism rapidly declined at the same time
long-term residents increased.
And then... (and I hesitate to write this,
since it's less of a jelled concept than an
attempted picture taken in a whirlwind of
thoughts and impressions... or something),
the double punch of the economy being
sluggish for a long time, and then the March
11th, 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and triple
nuclear meltdowns (plus overheating fuel
pool in the fourth reactor building).
The wind blowing out to sea (mostly - before
it reversed direction at one point...) saved
the loss of Tokyo, but the very real threat
led to a situation where, of the people (of
all nationalities, Japanese included) who
*could* leave, many chose to do so.
However, the media ignored locals fleeing
south to Osaka, Hiroshima, Okinawa, etc.,
and focused on foreigners leaving
Japan. It was presented as an
overreaction to the situation, and there was
a period where one person after another
vocally expressed surprise that I was still
in Japan. About the time I was
beginning to get angry about it, and
pointing out that people who *could* easily
leave, including locals, did so, the
cover-up of the triple-meltdown of the
nuclear power plants began to be
known. (I've since realized that some
people knew early on just how bad it was -
probably due to the Internet. I was
stupidly watching the local media, which was
broadcasting misinformation about slightly
higher temperatures - while the plants were
actually melting down.)
.... I hadn't intended to get into that, but
it's part of the picture. Anyway, at
some point over the past couple of years, I
have begun to experience interactions with
people that seem rather like I remember from
the 1980's. No matter what I say or
do, they appear to be fiercely determined to
believe that I'm a tourist who stepped off
of a plane the day before and don't know
anything about Japan, Japanese people,
Japanese culture, or the Japanese
language. In saying that, I hasten to
say that there are two faces to this - the
people who came to help me yesterday were
genuinely friendly, and when (after
initially answering them in English), I said
"まっ、 日本語でもいいんですけど..." ("... I can speak
Japanese too actually..."), then we began
talking in Japanese. The other face of
the problem though, is a distressing thing
to experience. No matter what you do,
the person you're talking to refuses to
recognize that you're not an FOTA (Fresh Off
The Airplane) biped and it's impossible to
have a normal conversation with them.
(I had one of those conversations with
someone in Ginza the other day - it was
really frustrating.)
Okay, enough of that. On to the
videos!
1991 - Nighttime Hibarigaoka 1991年2月夜のひばりが丘
(910202)
http://youtu.be/5tWCqUmMQus
If you only know the current Hibarigaoka
Station, then you probably won't even
recognize this as being the same station -
they completely rebuilt it, making the older
version shown in this video look like an
entirely different station.
From around 00:27 until around 00:42 you can
see and hear a political van driving around
saying (basically) "Vote for me!".
They still do this, but maybe less than
before?
At 00:42 - looking down the old open-air
staircase that Hibarigaoka Station used to
have - I think I preferred it this
way. It's nicely glassed in now, but
it has the sealed box feel that new
buildings tend to have. Sealed in is
nice if there's a typhoon raging or it's a
cold, rainy day, but when the weather is
nice, the open-air design is nicer.
When I took this, political advertising was
strictly illegal on TV and radio, so speaker
trucks/vans/cars were about the only way to
promote a politician to the public.
Unfortunately, they changed the law, and now
it's possible to run political
advertisements on TV. Apparently only
positive ads are allowed, but it's still
dirty politics (all politics, everywhere, is
dirty, basically). The system of not
allowing any political advertising on radio
or TV was a really good idea. I think
it's a horrible-horrible-horrible mistake to
allow it now. Allowing elections to be
influenced (and/or decided) by PR agencies
is a disaster for democracy.
Ueno Station Sounds, Steel, Wood, Echoes
上野駅の音と鉄と木と響く (130219hdg)
http://youtu.be/ovHKu7jHeoQ
There are some really cool echoes in this
video - but you can't hear them really well
until I go down the escalator, turn left,
and walk into the very high-ceiling
area. Old train stations used to have
high ceilings and all hard surfaces, so the
way the sound echoes around really makes me
feel nostalgic for bygone eras of rail
travel. The wooden parts of the roof
are also quite interesting, since they are
so rare now. There's something
comfortable about wood - that is missing
from other building materials. Stone
is also nice, concrete less so (concrete is
partly stone, so it's not entirely
synthetic), but plastics always feel
slightly toxic. Maybe "toxic" isn't
the best word, but that's how it seems/feels
to me.
At 01:19, you can see part of the old
riveted steel beams and wooden part of the
roof. Finding this sort of thing in an
active train station is vastly more
interesting than seeing it in a museum.
At 01:27, that high ceiling is - on the
other side - a walkway leading (over the
many railway tracks) to Ueno Park.
Over the years, I've always used the
opposite side of the station, so this
original older side is a fairly recent
discovery for me.
At 01:46, you can see how the tracks are
stacked here. As trains depart the
station, they lead into the same set of
surface tracks, but there are a lot of
trains to be accommodated at Ueno Station,
so they had to stack the platforms.
Akihabara Denkigai Entrance (Evening Rush)
夕方秋葉原駅電気街改札 (130219hdg)
http://youtu.be/OA1mzo0I6g8
On one of the streets by Akihabara
Station. Walking towards the station
to the sound of construction (out of camera
to my right)... and then into the station,
over to the other side (walking beneath the
elevated railways), where I take a quick
look around the plaza there, and then go
back into the station, through the ticket
gates, and into the in-station
concourse. (This one is in stereo, so
listening with headphones gives a better
feel for how it was to be there at the
time.)
Ueno Under-Bridge Crosswalk - Lights and
Shadows 上野横断歩道 (130219g)
http://youtu.be/kAAylVmizQY
A quick 360-degree look around on the Ueno
Station side of the under-railway crosswalk,
and then I walk over to the other side when
the light changes.
Ochanomizu to Kanda - Kanda Station
御茶ノ水駅-神田駅 (神田駅内) 130219
http://youtu.be/5zyQTbbdgNc
"Not again!" I seem to hear someone
saying.... I keep recording this
right-side Chuo Line view between Ochanomizu
and Kanda in order to follow the
construction work on the old Manseibashi
Station (万世橋駅) platform. I'm really
hoping they'll preserve the old stairways to
the platform (at least one of them) and at
least part of the old platform, but you
never know in Tokyo - it generally seems
that old things are not allowed, and the
Godzilla construction industry monster
pretty much destroys everything old in its
relentless quest to rebuild everything -
endlessly. So it may be that the only
thing that will remain of the old terminal
station for the Chuo Line, will be photos of
the Manseibashi Station platform before it
was completely destroyed.
From about 03:38, I go through the ticket
gates and have a quick look on both sides of
Kanda Station before re-entering the station
and heading up to a platform. Pretty
much the entire station is under
construction now. Not so much is
happening on the platforms, but down below,
the entire area is one big construction
project. I don't know how it's going
to turn out, but based on recent development
of other JR stations, presumably it's going
to become another JR in-station shopping
mall.
Kanda to Ueno (Yamanote Line) 神田駅-上野駅 (山手線)
130219
http://youtu.be/Fz3AS6C4CtM
As the title says - and at about 04:54, I
have a look at one of the platform kiosks
that used to be *the* place to buy things in
train stations. But as train stations
become mini-shopping malls, they're
converting this type of open-air kiosk into
small enclosed buildings on the
platforms. Just the normal march of
progress I guess, but there's something
quite picturesque about these open
kiosks. Have a good look, because
these will probably disappear in the
future. (Incidentally, I walk away
from it after a close up, but then turn
around for an overall view at about 05:03.)
At 05:06 is a kind of blast from the past -
the old kiosk in the middle, and the old
(unchanged for decades) "Bee!-Bee!-Bee!"
(Hurry!-Hurry!-Hurry!) doors-about-to-close
warning sounds - coming from both sides of
the platform simultaneously. Most
stations use melodies now, but they used to
all (or if not actually all, almost all) use
this "Bee!-Bee!-Bee!" sound. (In
detail, the warning noise on one side
starts, the other joins in for a brief
overlap of sounds, then the first side stops
while the second one continues. Once
the doors of both trains are closed, it
becomes relatively quiet again after both
trains depart the station.)
Ueno Station - Platform to Park Exit
上野駅公園改札から出る (130219hdc)
http://youtu.be/g14-ORz-8sY
After passing through the ticket gates of
the Park Exit, I cross the street and walk a
few paces towards the park.
Izakaya Night Scene 居酒屋 (130219)
http://youtu.be/iYtBTPJXw2U
A brief look inside an old traditional
izakaya (not a chain). The place was
packed and much more interesting about hour
before I took this, but taking pictures
seemed like a bad idea, so I waited until it
was less crowded before taking this short
video.
Late Night Yurakucho to Tokyo 夜遅く有楽町駅-東京駅
(山手線) 130219g
http://youtu.be/jI43_SOPAwI
This includes a view of illuminated trees
and the preserved section of the old Central
Post Office building. At Tokyo
Station, I transfer to the Chuo Line.
Night Train Window Angles and Reflections
(130219)
http://youtu.be/BjRWcMgUTDQ
Nothing special content-wise. I
experimented with different angles while
recording the lights and reflections in a
Chuo Line window. Basically, I guess
you could call this an abstract video.
Personally, I like it, but suspect not so
many other people will....
Ueno Station Park Entrance to Platform
上野駅公園改札からホームまで (130219hdc)
http://youtu.be/HRegcBRv-tM
Ueno Station Central Exit Area 上野駅中央改札口あたり
(130219hdc)
http://youtu.be/VIiG7mnHm_s
After looking around a little on both sides
of the Central Exit ticket gates, I go down
the passageway to the left of the ticket
gates (from the standpoint of someone
exiting) and watch as someone heads down a
staircase to the right into the
subway. This is historical, as it lead
to Japan's first subway - the Ginza Line -
which originally ran between Ueno and
Asakusa. So people have been using
this stairwell for over 80 years now.
The small side exit I walk out of and then
turn back to look at (01:51) can be clearly
seen in a 1932 postcard of Ueno
Station. The larger opening to the
right of this original entrance is new
though - a gaping hole in what was
originally a wall (with a window). The
doorway to the police box (koban) to the
left of the old entrance appears to
basically be an enlarged window. In
1932, this area was an open sidewalk
(outside, in front of the station), but it
now has an elevated plaza above it, and
feels more like part of the subway than a
sidewalk at street level.
Ueno Station Side View (Right Side) 上野駅の右横
(130219g)
http://youtu.be/Uqp52zld_Ts
In this video you get a look at the top side
of the roof that I was having a look at the
under-structure of earlier in the day - the
old wooden roof. Looking back at the
station, what looks like a ground-level
plaza is in fact an elevated plaza - at
about the same level as the second floor of
the station.
Evening Ueno Station Left Side Entrance
夕暮れ時の上野駅 (130219g)
http://youtu.be/otWh98yhMbA
This is the view you get of the left side of
Ueno Station (left as viewed when standing
in front of the station), as seen from
across the street. When the light
changes, I walk over to the side entrance of
the station and enter the plaza-like open
space within - under the huge skylight (that
used to be a standard roof).
Ueno Central Entrance to Platform
上野駅中央改札からホームまで (130219)
http://youtu.be/-cjzaykU2ps
Ueno to Akihabara (Twilight Akiba) 上野-秋葉原
(夕暮れ時の電気街) 130219
http://youtu.be/hGWKWo7mWGM
The ride from Ueno to Akihabara - which is
just two stops, with Okachimachi in-between
Ueno and Akihabara, and then (at 03:03) I
get off at Akihabara Station and head
towards the denkigai side of the
station. At 05:01 I head into the
block of small stalls that sell various
electronic things. Often it seems to
me that this collection of very small shops
has become more of a walk-through tourist
destination than somewhere where people
actually shop. You see more and more
of the stalls closed. It's probably
only a matter of time before this
disappears.
Akihabara Twilight Walk 夕暮れ時の秋葉原の散策散歩
(130219)
http://youtu.be/G7rq415UU18
Walking into an area that used to be purely
electronics shops, but is increasingly a
themed coffee shop area, with young women
standing all over the place passing out
flyers for the shops they work at. You
can see a bunch of them in this video.
Mainly I try to avoid them by walking on the
edge of the street (they stand right in the
middle), but it's nearly impossible to avoid
them - there are so many! And there
seem to be more of them each time I
go! The whole phenomenon is just
really bizarre to me. I keep thinking
it will fade out and disappear, but instead
it grows larger! This must mean
something, but I'm afraid to speculate what
exactly. (The last half of this video
is mainly out of that zone, by the way.)
Akihabara Old Section Under Rail Bridge 秋葉原
(Akiba) 130219
http://youtu.be/zH7S77jxXNQ
Even way over in this part of Akihabara
there was an attractive young woman standing
on the street with flyers in her hand.
I was there strictly to get a video of the
old electronics shops, so I kept her off
camera (which is why my pan to the right is
quick, and doesn't go all the way over - she
was on the sidewalk there, just to the
right, off screen). I suppose this
could be some kind of barometer of the bad
economy - the worse the economy is, the more
desperate people are and the more
exploitable they become. It's hard to
imagine that these young women really *want*
to have that kind of job. In any case,
this video is just to show the area under
the bridge. In the next video I go
inside probably the most atmospheric old
electronics shop in the area.
Old Electronic Parts Shop (Akihabara)
古い秋葉原電機パーツ店 (130219)
http://youtu.be/-tn5CX4n5Fg
This place has a lot of atmosphere. If
I were buying discrete electronic parts I
would probably do some shopping here, but -
once out of school - I stopped doing
anything with individual components (other
than memory boards, etc., for
computers). I'd love to know the
history of the shop, but it seems like it
would be rude to ask if I'm not buying
something.
Evening Akihabara Construction Noises
夕方秋葉原工事音 (130219hd)
http://youtu.be/SjNtSAXtA7E
Construction noises - in stereo. No
big deal, but it's all part of the total
ambiance of Tokyo - the way construction
noises (and there is *always* construction
somewhere in Tokyo) echo about between the
sea of buildings and mix with the noise of
the crowds on the streets.
Akihabara Station - Concourse to Platform
秋葉原駅通路からホームまで (130219hdc)
http://youtu.be/yNAlLAZOQNA
Another stereo recording. I go up to
the platform to catch a train towards
Yurakucho, look around a little while
waiting (including a look at some older
components of the station) and then watch a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train pull into the
station.
Akihabara to Yurakucho (Keihin-Tohoku Line)
秋葉原-有楽町 (京浜東北線) 130219
http://youtu.be/mgh9BojVboc
I board the Keihin-Tohoku Line train that I
watched arrive in the previous video, and
then ride to Yurakucho, while looking out
the windows at nighttime Tokyo passing
by. As often happens, a Yamanote Line
train ends up running side by side with the
Keihin-Tohoku Line train I'm on.
Running in parallel, the trains stop on
opposite sides of the same platforms.
(Between stations they run close together,
and then drift apart to pull to either side
of the wide platforms.)
Somehow - as I watch this - I feel surprised
at how soon Yurakucho arrives, but it's only
three stops from Akihabara (for some reason
it seems like it should be more than
that...), Akihabara - Kanda - Tokyo -
Yurakucho. In Yurakucho, I look around
the platform for a little after getting off
of the train.
Yurakucho SB-Area Abstract Stroll
有楽町象的な夜散策散歩 (130219g)
http://youtu.be/0u8yjmy7eFg
I was in an experimental mood while taking
this one, so I tried a number of different
angles - including upside-down. I like
it, but it might disturb someone if they
expect the camera to remain horizontal at
all times....
Exhibition Under Stairs (130221)
http://youtu.be/POUBz9PLiTk
Looking at light and shadows in a small
under-stairs space while exploring verbally
induced echoes.
Chuo Line - Running at Speed Motor Sounds
中央線早く走るモーター音 (130220)
http://youtu.be/yVDNTr8XbxI
When electric trains are running at speed,
the motor noise is a large part of the
sensation of the speed (especially if you're
not looking out the windows). It
depends on which car you're riding in
though, as not all of them have
motors. From looking at the control
panel in the front cab (from the window
behind it), it appears that the ten-car Chuo
Line trains have six motors, with four of
the motor-cars in one group on one end of
the train, and with another two paired at
the other end of the train. When
you're in a non-motor car (the cab cars on
the ends don't have motors, plus two more
cars between the groups of cars with motors)
then you don't notice it much, but when one
of those huge motors is pretty much right
under you feet, you can really hear it at
speed - like in this video.
Kokubunji Station - Express Train Speeds by
- Platform Wall Construction Soon Maybe
(130221)
http://youtu.be/0MxefwJVkx4
Looking at this pile of construction
equipment at the end of the platform, I
assumed they must be about to begin work on
walling in the platforms, as they are doing
at so many other stations in central Tokyo,
but the sign (00:41) says 床改修工事, which on
the face of it would just be reconstruction
or maintenance work on the platform, but
that might include platform walls too... or
maybe not. The time frame listed is
only until the end of March of this year
(平成24年12月17日 - 平成25年3月末日), and it's already
late February, so maybe it really is just
work on the platforms only.
I started taking this video just to show the
construction equipment and how there are
altered spots on the platform, and then the
reserved seat express train came zooming by,
so naturally I took that too - beginning at
00:17.
Ochanomizu-Hamamatsucho - Chuo and Yamanote
Lines 御茶ノ水駅-浜松町駅 (130221)
http://youtu.be/VMmj6d-SX-I
And another pass of the construction work on
the remains of Manseibashi Station (万世橋駅) -
as I mentioned further up the page
(regarding a video taken a couple of days
before this one). This time around, I
left the camera running longer and recorded
going from Kanda down to Hamamatsucho on the
Yamanote Line after changing trains at
Kanda. (A technical note about the
views of the inside of Kanda Station - it's
a bit dark due to a camera setting... sorry
about that. Otherwise the video is
exposed correctly though.)
Daimon Station Entrance (Subway) 大門駅の入り口
(地下鉄) 130221hdc
http://youtu.be/ykgX-Emvskc
As this small structure housing an entrance
to the subway will likely be subsequently
buried beneath some form of new
construction, I thought I'd record how it
looks when light can come through its...
skylights? Wait... can you call glass
installed in a wall a skylight, or does a
skylight have to be in the ceiling?
Hamamatsucho Station - Ticket Gates to Train
浜松町駅改札-山手線 (130221hdc)
http://youtu.be/syEuYTEcB9o
Yamanote Front Cab View - Hamamatsucho to
Yurakucho 山手線の前ビュー (130221hdc)
http://youtu.be/lQD9VYZMDFs
Yurakucho Platform Sights and Sounds
有楽町駅の音と様子 (130221hd)
http://youtu.be/aJkS5ZDT3dQ
Looking around on a platform at Yurakucho
Station for a little (recorded with stereo
sound).
Yurakucho Under-Bridge Look-Around 有楽町橋の下見回り
(130221hd)
http://youtu.be/WM64AUq7dTQ
Since this was in stereo, I was hoping for
some interesting sounds from the steel
bridge, but there wasn't much of anything to
listen to, so anything interesting about the
sound is only in a subtle way.
Visually, I think it's kind of interesting
though.
Walking Towards Ginza 銀座向き (130221)
http://youtu.be/yoXvEjotPmc
A short clip - walking by a row of taxis
under a bridge and beginning to cross a main
street to enter Ginza.
Kyobashi Parking Lot (Winter Night) 京橋駐車場
(冬の夜) 130221
http://youtu.be/pU8ho6wZ5e0
The subject matter isn't exciting for sure,
but this records an aspect of Tokyo that is
an integral part of the whole. Part of
the warm coziness of meeting friends at an
izakaya or restaurant is the contrast with
the cold desolation of the streets - partly
shown in this video. Naturally
different areas and different streets have a
variety of atmospheres, but in general, when
you're outside in Tokyo in the winter, you
want to be inside somewhere, and when you
reach an oasis of warmth somewhere, it is an
oasis at least in part thanks to the
bone-chilling coldness (in the total sense,
not just temperature) of the cold windy
streets of asphalt and concrete between
buildings of steel and concrete. I'm
not sure how this looks to someone outside
Japan, but just watching this video in my
apartment makes me feel cold. Am I
getting that feeling of desolation from
memory association, or is it something you
can feel too, out there wherever you are?
Yaesu Night Bus Stop 八重洲夜バス停 (130221)
http://youtu.be/mNtlIxNjV-A
Yet another long-distance bus. It
really depresses me seeing people taking
buses to places they could get to by
train. And there seem to be ever more
buses, and associated construction projects
of bus terminals, etc. Booooo!
Boooooo!! Booooooo!!!
Tokyo Station Yaesu Side Construction (Night
View) 東京駅八重洲側 (130221)
http://youtu.be/nkyzIeRKwd0
After lengthy work on the foundation,
whatever building they're working on is fast
going skyward now.
Tokyo Station Night Walkthrough 東京駅夜散策散歩
(130221)
http://youtu.be/Q45Mikc264Q
Starting on the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station,
walking past some of the many buses there,
and then walking through Tokyo Station - all
the way to the other side, where I exit and
look around at the inside of one of the
reconstructed domes in the 1914 building
(which was recently largely
reconstructed/renovated). After that,
I go back through the ticket gates again and
head for my train.
Lyle
2013/02/17
"Hamamatsucho, Shinbashi Twilight,
Nakano, Yoyogi-Uehara, Ginza, etc."
February - when thoughts begin turning to
spring, and there have even been a couple of
warm days, but today the temperatures
dropped, and with a strong wind, it was the
coldest I've felt this winter. I was
thinking of going out to take pictures, but
ended up staying home... it would have been
really unpleasant walking around outside
taking pictures on a day like this!
This batch of videos is primarily of
Hamamatsucho, Shinbashi, Ginza, and with
train scenes from the Chuo Line, the Odakyu
Line, and the Yamanote Line.
Hamamatsucho to Shinbashi (Twilight View)
浜松町駅-新橋駅 (黄昏風景) 130214g
http://youtu.be/UePZwsAh9iY
Looking west out the left side of the train
into the twilight, you can see Tokyo Tower
off in the distance between the buildings
(00:08, 00:15, 00:19, etc.). I didn't
used to think about Tokyo Tower much, but
after finding myself right beside it this
year while in the Hamamatsucho area, I
suddenly realized just how large it
is. Of course, I've always known it
was a large tower, but I've mainly seen it
from a distance, so when I looked up and saw
it - right there - when I was in the area
for other reasons, it suddenly impressed me.
The video ends with a platform view of the
Yamanote Line train I had been on, and then
a Keihin-Tohoku Line train leaving Shinbashi
Station.
Yurakucho Evening 夕方の有楽町 (130214)
http://youtu.be/jkFbf4Kh_eI
The old steel bridges are much appreciated
(by me, and others too I hope) for their
style, history, and wonderful noises as
trains pass by overhead. In this
video, it's pretty quiet, but even without
the industrial music of the train-generated
sounds, somehow it's comforting to have
*something* from the past close at hand
while walking through
everything-old-must-be-destroyed
Tokyo. (Slight exaggeration? I'm
not so sure... that's pretty much how it
is.)
At the 01:00 mark - something I didn't
notice at the time but stands out to me in
the video, is the sign that says "1F Loft",
meaning that the Loft store is on the first
floor. "Hmm... on the 1st floor?
That doesn't sound like a 'loft'..." you
might think.
Shinbashi to Yurakucho (Night Ride) 新橋駅-有楽町駅
(夜山手線) 130214
http://youtu.be/eCUMM0OQA8U
Starting in SL-Plaza in front of Shinbashi
Station, after walking around on the plaza a
little, I enter the station and take a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train to Yurakucho.
At the 02:13 point in the video, you can see
a man in all-yellow clothing. A few
weeks back, I asked either that very man, or
someone doing that same job, what they were
doing, and they explained they were there to
make sure no one fell into the gap between
the platform and the train. Safety is
always a good thing, but it's a little
depressing sometimes how paranoid people are
about not-very-likely-to-occur problems.
In the case of trains, there are very few
accidents, but as soon as one, single,
solitary person dies in some mishap on the
railways, it's pumped into all the news
outlets - generating this ridiculous image
of the railways being dangerous.
Meanwhile, the daily carnage on the bloody
dead-black asphalt roads continues with
almost no comment at all. It's
insane. Looking on-line, I see the
figure 4,914 dead for the year 2009:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_traffic-related_death_rate
So you have this ratio of thousands of road
dead for every single death on the railways,
and the media generates this image of the
railways as being dangerous if any one
individual has an accident on them.
It's crazy. Ongoing carnage on the
roads? No problem! An isolated
incident on the railways?
"Terrible! Something must be
done! Put guards on the
platforms! Put up platform
walls! Lower the speed! There
must be zero accidents!"
Looking on-line, I see this:
"Transport Ministry says
2011 worst on record for passengers
falling onto train tracks
NATIONAL DEC. 10, 2011 - 04:15PM JST
( 48 )TOKYO ―
"The Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport this week
released figures indicating that 2011 has
seen the highest ever number of deaths and
injuries due to passengers falling onto
train tracks in Japan.
"The ministry said that
between April and September of 2011, 119
people were injured or killed after being
hit by trains in such incidents, TBS
reported. ................."
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/transport-ministry-says-2011-worst-on-record-for-passengers-falling-onto-train-tracks
Hmm... I wasn't aware of that. But
still, it's an unfair comparison with road
carnage - since they only list deaths on the
road, but also list injuries on the train
system. What about all the people
injured (but not killed) in traffic
accidents on the roads? For the
railways, instead of lumping dead and
injured together, they should list the
number of dead versus injured - there's a
big difference between falling down and
breaking an arm, and being dead. One
could get the impression they're cheating by
lumping injured in with the dead to inflate
the figure and make it seem more
serious. But still, even with the
figure 119 for one year, that still means
over 30-times as many deaths on the
roads. I wouldn't bother to comment on
this, except it's really depressing to see
ever more people traveling about Japan via
buses instead of trains; and depressing to
see ever more dead-black asphalt burying the
city. They talk of aiming for "zero
accidents" on the railways, but much greater
carnage on the roads isn't worth commenting
on? If people are serious about
wanting to reduce the number of
accident-related deaths each year, they
should be pushing to get people out of cars
and buses and onto trains.
Hamamatsucho Side Streets to Station 浜松町黄昏道
(駅まで) 130214
http://youtu.be/xlapn_w5tEQ
Walking down a nondescript side street
towards Hamamatsucho Station, and then
crossing a main street.... Speaking of
main streets, have a look at the one at
00:55. It looks neat enough.
Orderly buildings lined up next to the
asphalt, and with a sidewalk on each side
for pedestrians. The thing is though,
roads are good for internal combustion
machinery, but horrible for the quality of
life for pedestrians. They're ugly,
noisy, polluted with exhaust fumes, and
inconvenient. I hope oil runs out
quickly so frivolous burning of it in
personal automobiles is outlawed.
Basing everything around personal
automobiles is a huge mistake I think.
The old bicycle at 01:55 is of a very sturdy
design, with rod linkage for the brakes
(instead of more fragile cable). The
penalty is extra weight, but these old
bicycles last forever.
Further along the walk, on a side street
with very little traffic, the city seems
more people-friendly again. The big
main roads are considered "modern" and
"progress", but they ruin the quality of
life in the city for anyone not inside a
fire-breathing machine (which is the
majority of people in Tokyo).
Looking down the road at 03:21, you can see
one of the Hanada monorail trains
approaching Hamamatsucho Station. The
proper name for it is "Tokyo Monorail"
(東京モノレール), but since it's not the only
monorail in Tokyo, the name isn't really
accurate any more. Typically I've
heard people calling it "Hanada Monorail"
which makes a lot more sense, as its main
purpose is to provide access to Hanada
Airport. The English version of the
line's website is here:
http://www.tokyo-monorail.co.jp/english/
Getting closer to the station, I was happy
to see that an old building I remember from
1990 is still there (from about
04:18). Generally old buildings become
victims of the Godzilla construction
industry, so finding an old one that has
somehow managed to survive is always nice to
see.
Hamamatsucho Station - Ticket Gates to
Platform 黄昏の浜松町駅 (130214)
http://youtu.be/pcqW2etAOuE
This was during the early part of the
evening rush zone (it's not "rush *hour*" -
trust me), so the station was pretty busy.
Shinbashi Twilight Stroll 新橋黄昏散策散歩 (130214)
http://youtu.be/lfReGh58HBg
Exiting Shinbashi Station and walking
through the area in front of the station on
the Shiodome side.
Rush Hour Shinbashi Station 新橋駅の夕方ラッシュー
(130214hd)
http://youtu.be/7Hn2KJhcDII
Starting by ticket machines, then going
through the ticket gates, up to a platform,
down the platform, and out the Hibiya Exit
(which leads into SL-Plaza).
Shinbashi Evening SL-Plaza 新橋夕方SL広場
(130214hd)
http://youtu.be/df8aPRZml9c
Walking around in SL-Plaza in front of
Shinbashi Station. Lights, noise,
reflections, action, people walking
everywhere....
Shinjuku Station Chuo Line Platform Walk
新宿駅中央線ホームの様子 (130212)
http://youtu.be/XErUy8IzFa4
Departing Shinjuku Station via Chuo Line
(130212)
http://youtu.be/Zrle6K4OKHk
Nighttime window view on an outbound train.
Rattling Door Glass (130212)
http://youtu.be/PWxmctyQV9g
Just to record something that was common
before, but is becoming very rare. The
old way of installing glass in window panes
was to have it sit within a wooden frame,
without using any kind of putty. This
facilitated easy replacement of broken glass
panes, but led to rattling noises, since the
glass was just sitting in the frame.
Pushing on an old door as I do in this video
illustrates what I'm talking about, but the
noise I'd really like to capture is how it
sounds when the window panes are being
rattled by wind. It was a sound I
heard for the first time after moving to
Japan, and it has become a nostalgic sound
for me, since I stayed in places with those
types of windows; so hearing that sound now
reminds me of a very specific time in my
life. There is also a feeling of the
sound being an echo from the past.
Chuo Line Side Window View (to Mitaka)
中央線三鷹まで (130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/dv3SllIL988
Looking out a side window at the winter
landscape flowing by. I took a video
of this same stretch a couple of days after
the big snowstorm we had, but this is the
more typical view. Tokyo is generally
dry, cold, and windy in the winter.
Mitaka to Koenji (Chuo Line) 三鷹から高円寺まで (中央線)
130212hdc
http://youtu.be/ci4rhokZFls
Watching the unbroken flow of houses and
apartment buildings, I think you can
probably imagine why the Chuo Line is so
crowded! A *lot* of people live along
this line!
Nakano Station Walkabout 中野駅散歩 (130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/3JnJEYi0420
The left side view as the train comes into
Nakano Station, and then platform scenes at
(elevated) Nakano Station, including a walk
through a platform transfer tunnel that
isn't connected to an exit. The brick
(tile-brick?, tile?) of the lower part of
the tunnel is a nice design touch from the
past. Seeing this design element in a
lot of older buildings (what's left of them
that is!), I suppose the idea was to have
something durable (and easy to wash) that
didn't need to be painted on the lower half
of the wall.
At 04:43 - the old buildings just beyond the
old railway sidings are the Nakano Ekimae
Jutaku Apartments 中野駅前住宅that I have a look
at after exiting Nakano Station (see next
video below).
Nakano Ekimae Jutaku 中野駅前住宅 (130212)
http://youtu.be/vVGlrvabOAE
I'm still trying to find a good history of
this set of seven apartment buildings, but
one site I found says they were built in
1951 and 1952, which seems about
right. That the buildings have had
maintenance upgrades over the years is clear
- from new steel edges on some of the stair
steps, to new mailboxes, and probably (not
visible) new plumbing. The concrete
buildings are very clearly old, but they
appear to be in sound condition and would
probably be safe to continue using for
decades to come, but apparently a decision
has been made to tear them down, and they
are not letting in any new tenants. On
the other hand, they aren't (to the best of
my knowledge) evicting tenants either, so
they're waiting as the number of tenants
dwindles year by year. It appears that
they stopped letting in new tenants about...
five years ago or so? I imagine the
current tenants are happy to stay and in no
hurry to leave (living within a three-minute
walk of Nakano Station is one of the choicer
places to live in Tokyo), so it may be some
time before the Godzilla construction
monster can destroy yet more of Tokyo's
historical buildings.
One more detail - and I hope this one is not
true. I was told by a someone who
lived in Nakano as a child that they heard
the plan is to tear down the apartments and
make the area into a bus terminal.
Bloody buses again! It seems that the
primary form of what the Godzilla
construction industry considers progress for
Tokyo now is bus terminals! They're
building huge new ones beside Shinjuku and
Tokyo Stations, and there seem to be ever
more buses. Great idea! Let's
increase the number of internal combustion
engined vehicles so we can destroy the
planet that much faster!
Don't get me wrong, I understand that buses
are great in many applications, but not when
there are good existing train lines that
could be used instead. I'm so sick of
the attitude in the world of "Who cares if
we burn down the future! Nothing is
more important than Short-Term
Profits!". It's crazy.
Back to these seven apartments - it appears
to me that the main thing they need is a new
coat of paint. I can't believe they
want to tear down solidly built apartment
buildings so they can make a bloody bus
terminal... in Nakano! With the
traffic around there being how it is, I'm
sure that's just what everyone wants to do -
sit in traffic jams inside buses.
Meanwhile, they shut down the convenient bus
stops on the other side of the station for
no apparent reason. Political decision
to *generate* a problem in order to create
increased pressure to tear down the
apartment buildings? I hope not.
Nakano Shotengai on Hill Near South Exit
中野丘上商店街 (130212hd)
http://youtu.be/AdiG6nlatVo
A brief look at a shop-lined street a short
walk from the South Exit of Nakano Station.
Nakano Station (South Side View) 南側から中野駅の姿
(130212hd)
http://youtu.be/XUv3aojTc5s
Looking over Nakano Station from the south
side.
Nakano - from Station to Sun Mall
(130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/_jF-HSEl5sc
Nakano Sun Mall Stroll 中野サンモール散策散歩
(130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/XlmW9mhbO2Q
Walking the full length of Sun Mall in
Nakano.
Nakano Side Street Stroll 中野横道散策散歩
(130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/Nzzpnaurxus
Walking down a narrow pedestrian back street
with restaurants and izakaya places... and
coming upon a gap where they've torn down
whatever was there and bare dirt awaits the
next construction project. The number
of old small buildings on Nakano's back
streets decreases continually. Tokyo -
always renewing itself.
Nakano Backstreet Stroll 中野裏道散策散歩
(130212hdg)
http://youtu.be/5o2Zwndb0n0
More mysterious old buildings, restaurants,
and izakaya places on Nakano's back streets.
Entering Nakano Station 中野駅に入る (130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/facOsdZkjuM
Nakano to Shinjuku (Chuo Line) 中野駅から新宿駅まで
(中央線) 130212hdc
http://youtu.be/Hwb-yz_c6H4
Rushing up a flight of stairs to catch an
inbound Chuo Line train and then riding to
Shinjuku - looking out a right side window
while some high school students talk up a
storm behind me. As the train speeds
along, the high-rise office towers of
Shinjuku get closer and closer.
Shinjuku to Kanda (Chuo Line) 新宿から神田まで (中央線)
130212g
http://youtu.be/zXmzZr4Jgzs
Looking out a right side window on an
inbound Chuo Line train as it runs from
Shinjuku to Kanda.
Kanda to Ochanomizu (Chuo Line) 神田から御茶ノ水まで
(中央線) 130212
http://youtu.be/f9DVW1EMdSA
Ochanomizu to Kanda (Chuo Line) 御茶ノ水から神田まで
(中央線) 130212
http://youtu.be/W6xdtORJZKY
Some of the new construction for overhead
Shinkansen tracks can be seen from 01:48,
and around 02:00 the temporarily all-green
Yamanote Line train goes by. (Is it
just one, or are there a few?) Having
ridden in the old ones myself, the new type
Yamanote Line is quite different in details,
but seeing the old solid color going by at
speed really does bring back memories of the
old type (to see a Saikyo Line version of
that from 1990, see the next video).
Transferring at Kanda Station, I walk
through the construction zone that the
station is now and over to one of the
Yamanote Line platforms.
1990 - Old Saikyo Line Train
(Non-Air-Conditioned Car) 900300
http://youtu.be/r4pcq8C1Wrs
Kanda to Tokyo (Yamanote Line) 神田駅から東京駅まで
(山手線) 130212A
http://youtu.be/P6HjEh_nA1s
As the title says - and at around 01:04 I
look out the rear cab as the train departs
from Kanda Station. After pulling away
from Kanda, I look out a left side window at
the new Shinkansen track construction next
to (and above) the Yamanote Line.
Regarding the construction at 02:26, I'm not
sure what that is, but I'm beginning to
wonder if it's a passageway they're making
to connect the newly reconstructed Tokyo
Station Building with whatever it is that is
rising on the Yaesu side.
Tokyo Station Yamanote Line Platform
View-360 東京駅山手線ホーム (130212hdc)
http://youtu.be/spgjFYFLODc
A quick HD 306-degree look from the Yamanote
Line platform. I like this particular
platform, since it's the last one with part
of the platform still covered by an old
wooden roof.
Tokyo Station Concourse Stroll 東京駅通路散策散歩
(130212)
http://youtu.be/YIaxpTet7NQ
Starting on the Shinagawa-bound Yamanote
Line platform, I go downstairs to one of the
main concourses in Tokyo Station and head
towards the Yaesu Exit.
Tokyo Station Yaesu Construction 東京駅八重洲側の工事
(130212)
http://youtu.be/b2Q-lfMDXLQ
After a long time spend on the foundation, a
new structure is rising on the Yaesu side of
Tokyo Station.
Kyobashi Stand-Bar 京橋スタンドバー (130212)
http://youtu.be/oylA30jyJo0
Just a quick look from the street, but this
is one of the many "stand-bars" in the
city. The prolonged bad economy has
made them popular and I keep seeing new ones
appearing where there were none before.
Night Chuo Line - Tokyo to Yotsuya 夜の中央線
(130212)
http://youtu.be/cbCiZcLG8E0
The night trains can be quite visually
interesting when you're next to a window -
looking outside and seeing a constant double
image of the electrically illuminated world
outside flowing by combined with bits and
pieces of the inside of the train.
This was such a ride - the world being one
of electric illumination and double
images. Regarding the upside-down
images... I sometimes envision how people
are all around the round planet we live on,
and in that sense, who's to say we aren't
upside-down?
Chuo Line - Arriving at Shinjuku via
Outbound Train 中央線新宿駅 (130212)
http://youtu.be/nn2sxLBLDAg
Arriving at Shinjuku Station - reportedly
the busiest station in all of Japan -
"transfer city" you might say, although
Tokyo Station has certainly gotten a lot
more complicated over the past twenty
years! In any case, Shinjuku is a busy
place!
Street Musician by Shinjuku Station South
Exit (130212)
http://youtu.be/hje2oCORyiA
A quick look at a street musician in
Shinjuku (near the south entrance/exit).
Odakyu Shinjuku Station Platform 小田急線新宿駅ホーム
(130212)
http://youtu.be/7lBqxlL15cc
Shinjuku to Yoyogi-Uehara (Odakyu Line)
新宿-代々木上原 (小田急線) 130212g
http://youtu.be/J6ZrJsRmocY
Another double-exposure effect while looking
out the window of a nighttime train - this
time an outbound Odakyu Line train.
When I get off at Yoyogi-Uehara, I look
around on the platform while the train I was
on continues down the line.
Yoyogi-Uehara - Chiyoda Line Train Interior
and Platform 代々木上原駅 (130212hd)
http://youtu.be/mg0yeMP4F4w
I needed to take an Odakyu Line train to
Shinjuku, so when a Chiyoda Line train came
in that then waited until the train I was
waiting for arrived, I had time to walk
through the (mostly empty) train a little
before getting on my train. I think
this may be the oldest type of Chiyoda
subway train currently in use. This
type of train car has (I think) been in use
the whole time I've been in Japan, so it's
getting a little old. Both trains were
scheduled to depart at the same time (so
people would have a chance to transfer from
one to the other by walking across the
platform).
Yoyogi-Uehara to Shinjuku 代々木上原-新宿 (夜の小田急線)
130212
http://youtu.be/byrRPozUST4
At the beginning of the video - the train
beside and below the train I'm on is the
Chiyoda Subway train that departed from
Yoyogi-Uehara at the same time as my
train. It's below my train as it's
about to enter a tunnel and begin it's
subterranean journey across town.
This was another of those rides on a nearly
empty inbound train, so I walked around
inside the train carriage a bit - exploring
different camera angles. Then, when I
got off the train in Shinjuku, I walked up
one level and took a look at the express
train platforms.
Late Night Inbound Chuo Line Interior
夜遅く中央線車内 (130215)
http://youtu.be/0qarStgRERs
A late night ride on an inbound Chuo Line
train - watching the lights and reflections
in the windows, as usual.
Ashimotoni Gochui Kudasai 足元にご注意下さい
(Tachikawa 立川) 130215hd
http://youtu.be/oKfoTi3eJKg
Considering how obnoxious the endlessly
repeating message to "Watch your step
please!" is, presumably someone must have
fallen down here once. There's this
really weird thing where if one person gets
hurt on the train system, there's a
tremendous over-reaction regarding an
isolated incident as though the survival of
the nation depends on it, with talk of
aiming for "zero accidents!".
Meanwhile, the ongoing carnage on the
highways continues killing scores of people
all the time, but that's just considered
normal it seems.
Midnight Chuo Line Train Going Out of
Service for the Night (130215)
http://youtu.be/R6lKkQIDVgQ
The station guy thoughtfully helps a couple
of people get on the last (for Nakano
anyway) inbound train on one side of the
platform while another train is going out of
service on the other side of the platform.
Ginza One Tokyo-Ten February Exhibition (A)
サロンど東京展2013年2月 (130212)
http://youtu.be/R5P3OmAKMAg
Ginza One Tokyo-Ten February Exhibition (B)
サロンど東京展2013年2月 (130212)
http://youtu.be/Y2yPjrFgR_k
Ishii Kakuko Exhibition at Gallery Kobo
石井香久子作品展 (巷房) 130212
http://youtu.be/wpXx-467LfA
Group Exhibition - Art Gallery Ishi
アートギャラリー石 (2013年2月展示会) 130214
http://youtu.be/zWIuHHJwqWE
Ginza Nighttime Chuo-Dori 銀座夜の中央通り
(130214hd)
http://youtu.be/BavErfVkLeE
Above and below - the colorful lights of
Ginza's Chuo-Dori.
Ginza Lights 銀座光 (130214hd)
http://youtu.be/ZPcVdPw-f9s
Chuo Line Mostly Empty Interior (130213hd)
http://youtu.be/VTSGAyN1fFc
Sometimes train rides are quite relaxing and
enjoyable. This ride was like that.
Yotsuya to Kanda (Chuo Line) 四谷駅から神田駅まで
(中央線) 130214
http://youtu.be/21FbSV9rvEA
Kanda to Hamamatsucho (Yamanote Line)
神田駅-浜松町駅 (山手線) 130214
http://youtu.be/JBJ9Xl0IP4U
I spend most of this ride looking out the
right side of the train, which is a change
from my (for some reason) usual habit of
looking out the left side (on this stretch
of rails). At 01:17 is the
construction hole at the end of the Yamanote
Line platform at Tokyo Station (on the left
side of the train), and at 01:27 I look out
the right side at another large construction
hole - which is a continuation of the
construction on the left side it
seems. On the right side (at 01:36,
but difficult to see in the video) I could
see old red brick of the type the original
Tokyo Station building was constructed of...
I wish I could go down there for a closer
look! In the background (under the
elevated Chuo Line tracks up out of sight at
the top of the frame) you can see the rear
of the Tokyo Station building.
First Scent of Spring 春の匂い (130214)
http://youtu.be/awNTRi3JFJ4
It's since gotten quite cold again, but this
day was fairly warm, and the flowering tree
looked and smelled like spring (as a woman
(out of frame) comments.
Tokyo Tower (130214hdc)
http://youtu.be/cDoV0dhsqMo
A short look at the tower from the ground -
as light clouds drift by overhead.
Lyle
2013/02/11
"1990 Drive, Tokaido Line, Bus; 1991
Kiyose Walkabout; 2013 Hamamatsucho,
Shinbashi, Etc."
Time tripping to 1990 and 1991, as well
typical modern (2013) stuff taken in
Tokyo. The interesting thing about
going back in time via my videos taken 22-23
years ago, is that typically a lot of
related things I haven't thought about for a
very long time come to mind as I'm watching
and remembering the scenes recorded with my
camera back in the early nineties.
Some of the old memories are welcome and
some are the reality version of
nightmares. When you come upon a long
forgotten good memory, it's a great thing,
but for the bad stuff, the expression "Some
things are best forgotten" comes to
mind. In any case, good and bad, so
much of our life goes missing as we get
older. When the bad memories come
back, I find myself pondering "So this is
probably the mechanism through which people
experience PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder)..." Which brings up a
thought - how about the opposite? Is
it PFFAO (Post-Fun, Fun Again Order)?
1990 - Bus Ride to Chigasaki Station
(Kanagawa-ken) 900324
http://youtu.be/WlYhPDmZLRc
It's interesting to see this type of bus
again (in the video), new buses have a very
low floor at the front (for easy access),
along with a low roof, but to accommodate
the rear engine and wheels, the rear of the
bus has a higher floor. The seats over
the front wheels are also rather high, so
the whole interior is a kind of complicated
multilevel arrangement. Since the roof
is also lower at the back (in spite of the
higher floor there), you can't stand back
there without bending your head down if
you're taller than about 160cm.
The announcement has probably been
rerecorded for this too, although maybe
not. They use bus stop announcement
recordings for a pretty long time.
What else... from the sound of it, it's a
manual transmission. Some bus lines
still use a lot of manual transmission
buses, but automatic transmissions seem to
be the norm now (in most of the buses I've
ridden in recently in any case).
1990 - Inbound Tokaido Line Left-Side View
上り東海道線 (900324)
http://youtu.be/Xbefj6WloZw
Starting at Chigasaki Station on the Tokaido
Line (notice the "JRちがさき" (JR-Chigasaki)
sign written with plants at the beginning of
the video). I lived down that way for
a little while back in the eighties, so the
ride in the old type Tokaido Line train
makes me nostalgic for that time. The
sound of the motors, the announcements,
etc., bring back a lot of memories.
For whatever reason, those old heavy all
steel trains had a lot more atmosphere than
the newer more lightweight ones. My
favorite Tokaido Line rides were when it was
an off-peak time and I had one of the
seating booths to myself (when you had to
share the space with three other people, leg
room was an issue, but for the most part,
they were a nice design, and comfortable
enough - so long as the person opposite you
wasn't too tall!).
One reason for the better atmosphere in the
trains then comes to mind... less blindingly
bright florescent lighting! These old
trains also used florescent lighting, but it
wasn't as overdone and unpleasant as on the
newer trains.
In these old videos, also notice how the
station names are written on metal
plaques. Now they're soulless
plastic. The plastic signs are
functional, but soulless.
1991 - Kiyose Walkabout 清瀬散歩 (910202)
http://youtu.be/5ZfIraZOJoY
Kiyose. It wasn't an area I needed to
go to - then or now - but I went there on
February 2nd, 1991 to walk around and see
what was there, and it turned out to be more
interesting than I might have
expected. Watching this now makes me
want to go back and see how much it's
changed in 22 years. The residential
areas probably haven't changed all that much
(or have they?), but I imagine the area
immediately around the station has changed a
bit.
At the 02:51 mark I'm on camera saying
"Because of the war in the Gulf..."
referring to the first gulf war. It's
kind of strange to see myself mentioning
that via the time-slip window on my computer
screen. I didn't imagine the world
would be in the mess it is now back then....
Incidentally, Kiyose Station is in Tokyo,
but an arm of Saitama comes near there as
well, and the sign at 03:54 (新堀 - Shinbori)
is from within that arm of Saitama.
Just from memory, I had been thinking of
Kiyose as being all in Tokyo, but this video
turns out to be a mix of Tokyo and
Saitama. This was before the Internet,
so I didn't look up this kind of detail at
the time - rather just walked around and
recorded address signs from time-to-time
(which is why I know where I was now -
watching this in the future).
Around 07:38, I look at some foreign
cars. The yen had only been strong for
a few years at this point, so foreign cars
stood out a bit then (although they were
beginning to be seen more frequently).
Back when the yen was really weak, foreign
cars were really expensive and hardly ever
seen in Japan.
At 11:14 - a look at an old style
shop. You hardly every seen this kind
of shop these days. Convenience stores
have really taken over. They're - as
the name suggests - convenient, but not very
interesting culturally, and really
incredibly over-illuminated (presumably as
an anti-theft/anti-robbery measure).
The various small shops on the shotengai
shopping street near the station. The
rarer they become, the more nostalgic I feel
about them (17:54, etc.).
1990 - On the Road in Tokyo and Kanagawa
東京と神奈川ドライブ (900324)
http://youtu.be/myhXjvvOduE
First off, I should mention that since I
began living in Tokyo, I'm not a great fan
of automobiles. Not within Tokyo in
any case. Tokyo was - naturally -
originally a no-automobile city, and as they
have forced through strips of dead black
asphalt throughout the city, quite often the
fire-breathing, noxious-gas-emitting
vehicles are running right next to narrow
sidewalks, people's homes, etc. I
really think they should have outlawed
personal car ownership in Tokyo right at the
start. A city needs commercial
vehicles for commerce, deliveries, taxis,
etc., but not personal automobiles (other
than occasional use of rent-a-cars).
I'm not sure what you perceive/think/etc.
when you watch this video, but for me it
represents what a noisy and unpleasant place
main roads in Tokyo are - one example being
12:15 - have a good look at that.
Would you like to live right next to
that? Later on, after getting on an
expressway it doesn't seem so bad - but
within Tokyo, the city would be so much
nicer without so much internal combustion
machinery. Would that the internal
combustion engine had never been invented!
1990 - Old Saikyo Line Train
(Non-Air-Conditioned Car) 900300
http://youtu.be/r4pcq8C1Wrs
I'm really glad I took this video, because
I'd been thinking that I wish I had had a
video camera back in the early eighties in
order to take the pre-1985 version of the
Yamanote Line, but this old Saikyo Line
train is exactly that type of train.
In fact, this might even be a former
Yamanote Line train - they could easily have
shifted some (or all?) of the Yamanote Line
trains over to the newly expanded Saikyo
Line when they introduced the new type of
Yamanote Line trains. Anyway, on to
some details about the train:
At around 00:20, you can seen the central
air conditioning unit on the roof of the
number-two train carriage I'm walking
by. This type of air conditioning unit
was retrofitted to originally
non-air-conditioned carriages. During
my first summer in Japan, that's one of my
more durable memories - watching Yamanote
Line trains coming in, and there were a few
trains that didn't have air conditioning,
and also some trains that had a few
non-air-conditioned carriages within the
train, which was easy to tell, because on a
hot August day, the windows would all be
closed with the air conditioning on, and
then suddenly there would be a couple of
carriages with all the windows open (and if
you stepped back and looked up at the roof,
there was no air conditioning unit there -
just the round air intakes for the ceiling
fans). And the train in this video is
of that type. At the time, I'm not
sure I even noticed (it was winter, so the
air conditioning wasn't running, naturally),
but the carriage I boarded (carriage number
seven or eight I think - which I was
prompted to board by the "doors about to
close" warning sound) turned out to be one
of the rare non-air-conditioned ones.
Look at the ceiling at 01:50 - the ceiling
ads are much higher up than on the
air-conditioned carriages, and you can see
the curvature of the roof. Once they
designed air-conditioning into the
carriages, the roofs became completely
flat. One advantage of the high
ceiling, by the way, is that the florescent
tubes are further away and less irritating.
Ochanomizu to Kanda (Chuo Line) 御茶ノ水から神田まで
(山手線) 130207
http://youtu.be/fy9R1_JOeqQ
Passing by the remains of Manseibashi
Station (万世橋) again. Recently, every
time I pass by, they've destroyed a little
more of the old platform... I hope they're
not going to completely destroy it.
Kanda Station Construction Tunnel, Etc
工事中の神田駅 (130207)
http://youtu.be/I3mN5kgmJ1U
Walking through the fairly long construction
tunnel at Kanda Station in order to get to a
Yamanote Line train headed towards Tokyo and
Shinagawa.
Kanda to Hamamatsucho (Yamanote Line)
神田から浜松町まで (山手線) 130207
http://youtu.be/5MlI7cYX05A
At about the 00:27 mark, there's a building
with what looks like empty scaffolding on
the top - that's an example of something
that's increasingly common - unsold
advertising space. Spaces like that
used to never be empty, but companies are
obviously making less use of this type of
advertising now, as building-top advertising
space like this is often empty now.
A look up at the wooden roof (from the open
door of a Yamanote Line train) - the last
one at Tokyo Station I think - is at
02:02. This might even be
prewar? I'm basing that on a September
1945 aerial photo I saw of Tokyo Station
that showed some of the platform roofs
destroyed, but not all.
Exiting Hamamatsucho Station 浜松町駅を出る
(130207)
http://youtu.be/C0niW85h1BU
Walking Towards Zojoji Temple 増上寺に向かう
(130207)
http://youtu.be/q6yMM-203pU
The flowering tree you can see at the start
of this video (behind the old white wall) is
the first thing I've noticed that's reminded
me of spring this year.
Hamamatsucho Evening Walkabout 浜松町夕方散歩
(130207)
http://youtu.be/qnlFWkmjOME
Winter walk down a main street heading
towards Hamamatsucho Station.
Entering Hamamatsucho Station 浜松町駅に入る
(130207)
http://youtu.be/pTRphmVLvbA
Shinbashi Station - Platform and Stairwell
Stroll 新橋駅夕方散歩 (130207)
http://youtu.be/HBMyiBbG320
Shinbashi Tokaido Line Platform Stroll
新橋駅の東海道線散歩 (130207)
http://youtu.be/kZDdE3E39Nw
Old Type Reserved Seat Express Train
(130207)
http://youtu.be/ZckaKq1QlNQ
Back when I lived on the Tokaido Line, they
sometimes ran this type of train as a
regular train, so if you lined up early, you
could go home in style with a standard
ticket (first-come, first-grab).
Tokaido Line Platform at Shinbashi Station
新橋駅の東海道線ホーム (130207)
http://youtu.be/Dt3tJGN4_W8
Actually, this one is more than just the
platform that I mention in the title.
I also head downstairs and exit the station.
Shinbashi Old Building Stroll 新橋古いビルの散歩
(130207)
http://youtu.be/G1X7wwWX7RI
Beginning outside the building and then
walking through it - including part of the
first floor and the B1 basement floor.
Shinbashi Plaza and Station 新橋広場と駅 (130207)
http://youtu.be/fiV1BOp7O_4
Starting on Shinbashi SL-Plaza, and then
entering Shinbashi Station and going up to
the platform. At about 02:28, the
railway employee is helping a woman retrieve
her cell phone from beside the rails, where
she apparently dropped it.
Shinbashi to Yurakucho 新橋から有楽町まで (京浜東北線)
130207
http://youtu.be/RPCdAuAIhgU
Walking from Yurakucho to Ginza 有楽町から銀座への散歩
(130207)
http://youtu.be/NlZkRxw6gno
Walking from Yurakucho Station to Ginza
(with a look under a rail bridge along the
way).
JD on the Ginza 銀座のJD (130207)
http://youtu.be/s26twsENhBw
A quick look in the window at the Jack
Daniel's shop on Ginza's Chuo-Dori before
continuing down the boulevard.
Yurakucho SB-Area 有楽町SBエリア (130207)
http://youtu.be/0dqF8i9qM6k
A winter view of the SB area near Yurakucho
Station in central Tokyo.
Entering Yurakucho Station 有楽町駅に入る (130207)
http://youtu.be/mHHrZnhOZyY
A bit more than the title suggests - this
starts with a walk down the street heading
towards Yurakucho Station, then goes through
the ticket gates, up the stairs to the
elevated platform, and onto a Keihin-Tohoku
Line train. Finally it ends midway to
Tokyo Station.
Lyle
2013/02/08
"1990 Ueno; 2013 Ueno Station,
Ameyokocho, Haijima Line, Kanda Station,
Etc."
It wasn't so long ago that I last went to
Ueno, but this time around, I had a closer
look at the old station building. I
ran into an old postcard of the station from
the early 1930's and comparing the old
postcard with today's station, an amazing
(for Tokyo) amount of the original building
is still there. And then, while
previewing the videos I took of Ueno this
week, I began thinking "It's changed so much
since 1990... wait... I think I have video
of 1990 Ueno!", and it turns out I did, so I
added a video of March 1990 Ueno to this
batch as well.
Ameyokocho Walkabout (Ueno) アメ横丁魚市場など (上野)
130205g
http://youtu.be/XycHPOdRCc0
This clip shows a fair amount of the
Ameyokocho area, starting with the fish
market near the entrance to the area,
walking through that part and then down to
where they're selling clothing, followed by
walking through an under-tracks tunnel-like
passageway full of various small
shops. When this area is overly
crowded or under-crowded, it's hard to take
pictures, but the balance was almost perfect
on the day I took this.
Ueno - Near Entrance to Ueno Park 上野 -
上野公園入り口 (130205hdg)
http://youtu.be/k-Dngl1EOOA
Looking towards Ueno Station and then up the
stairs (near Keisei-Ueno Station) that lead
up to Ueno Park. As is pretty obvious
in this video, the rail bridge is rusting
away... I don't understand why they
aren't repainting bridges in this
condition. There are many bridges
rusting like this. I presume they've
decided to replace the bridge with something
new - it's the only thing that makes
sense. The more the bridge rusts, the
weaker it becomes... they must know what
they're doing, but it's alarming to see the
bridges deteriorating all the same.
1990 - Ueno Walkabout (Cherry Blossoms,
Station, Etc) 上野駅など (900323)
http://youtu.be/WytK0IyenBc
This starts out on a train as it approaches
Ueno Station, and then shows
inside-the-station scenes, the train yards
near the station, and then the crowds
enjoying hanami parties in Ueno Park.
Towards the end of the video, you can see
the same station area shown in my videos
from this week. Comparing the two,
it's apparent that much has changed in 23
years!
Ueno Station - Open Concourse Area
上野駅中央コンコース (130205hdg)
http://youtu.be/TTDLzKAHOow
A relaxed scene of people walking through
the main plaza-like roofed area leading to
the Central Entrance to Ueno Station.
This was taken in a kind of twilight zone
between the very relaxed afternoon, and the
pressures and speed of the evening rush.
Ueno Central Entrance to Yamanote Platform
上野駅中央改札からホームまで (130205g)
http://youtu.be/pVvrizMo1-s
Looking around while walking to the Yamanote
Line from the Central Entrance of Ueno
Station, including views of the old type
roof just inside the ticket gates, etc.
Akihabara to Yurakucho (Yamanote Line)
秋葉原から有楽町まで (山手線) 130205g
http://youtu.be/2dIxHiLSjf8
Looking out a left-side window of a Yamanote
Line train as it rolls from Akihabara to
Yurakucho. (The ongoing construction
of new Shinkansen tracks can be seen in
places.)
Suburban Side Streets (A) 130203
http://youtu.be/0gcWn1iie5Y
(Above and below) Typical Tokyo winter
suburbia street scenes as seen from a
bicycle... I'm looking forward to the
weather getting warmer and things becoming
greener again!
Suburban Side Streets (B) 130203
http://youtu.be/AMik4CqNuuY
Road Widening Construction (130203)
http://youtu.be/u6ac_-aZSAY
This street is being widened to convert it
into a four-lane main road for trucks,
etc... there used to be a row of big
beautiful trees here, but they were cut down
to make way for dead black asphalt. I
think that within mega-cities, it would be a
good idea to make personal car use
illegal. Nothing ruins the quality of
life in a big city like vast numbers of
internal combustion engined machines running
around on dead black asphalt, pumping
noxious gases into the air all the while.
Sunday Ride Along a Main Street (With
Unusually Little Traffic) 130203
http://youtu.be/8dgRrwV6vK0
Back in the very old days, roads were
usually just dirt, and I guess compared to
that, black asphalt is nice, but it's so
lifeless! And there's so much of
it! If you're walking on a street like
this, generally the first thing you do after
turning down a side street and walking a
block, is to heave a big sigh of relief that
you've (temporarily) escaped the noise,
vibration, and noxious gases of the bloody
automobiles and trucks. When I took
this, there was very little traffic, which
just accentuated the desolation of the vast
expanse of dead black asphalt.
Presumably people in the future will be
(relatively) free of this form of
self-destructive behavior. You have to
envy them that. I wish the internal
combustion engine had never been invented.
At the Grocery Store (130203)
http://youtu.be/ic8mY9_MlOc
Typical grocery store scene....
Power-Off Chuo Line Train 停電中央線 (130130)
http://youtu.be/ZC8cUvjwO58
It's not every day that you walk up to a
train and find that the power is off and the
doors half-ajar! In fact, in about 30
years, I think this is the first time I've
seen this. What happened is that there
was an accident where construction
scaffolding fell onto the overhead power
cables and onto a train (which had one of
its pantographs torn off). So they
shut off the power to deal with that, which
is why this train was sitting at the station
with the power off - with only the emergency
lighting on (one light per car if I remember
correctly).
Not long after this they had (in this train)
power on for the doors, which were set for
manual operation via open and close buttons
(electrically and pneumatically operated,
[electro-pneumatic]) . This type of
train car has the manual option for the
doors, but they almost never use it on the
Chuo Line. When it's particularly cold
or there is some special reason, they can
activate it (see video below). [Note
about the term "manually operated":
It's a bit confusing in this case, since the
term could refer to both manually operated
by directly sliding the doors open and
closed with your hands, or by pushing an
open or close button. I experienced
both on the same train within about ten
minutes on this particular day.]
Manually Operated Doors (Chuo Line) 中央線の手動ドア
(130130)
http://youtu.be/Slsn3dJPkTM
Incidentally, there are some pictures of the
fallen scaffolding that caused all the
trouble on the Chuo Line - here (text in
Japanese):
(画像) JR中央線・国分寺-西国分寺駅間で火事！鉄柱落ちてきてバーン！
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2135951901238647101
Haijima Line Cab View (to
Higashi-Yamato-shi) 東大和市駅まで (拝島線) 130130hd
http://youtu.be/waIbH2cytTw
This batch of "Haijima" videos are mainly
front cab views taken on the Seibu-Haijima
Line. The "thunk-thunk-thunk" sound
that almost sounds similar to the type of
sounds that old steam engine trains made is
apparently due to a flat spot on a wheel, so
with each rotation of the wheel, there's
that "thunk" sound, and (naturally) the
frequency of the sound increases as the
train runs faster. I seem to remember
hearing this noise a little more frequently
back in the mid-eighties, and then it seemed
to become very rare; and now, maybe it's
just a coincidence with the particular
trains I've been taking, but I've been
hearing it more frequently recently.
Hopefully it doesn't signify less stringent
maintenance of the trains.
Higashi-Yamato-shi to Tamagawa-Josui
東大和市から玉川上水まで (130130hd)
http://youtu.be/ioCPx_b5OaM
Haijima Front Cab View (to Musashi-Sunagawa)
武蔵砂川まで (拝島線) 130130hd
http://youtu.be/DhYIl_dN0DY
Haijima - Front Cab View - Haijima Line
拝島線で拝島駅まで (130130)
http://youtu.be/HUlEhoZb1RM
After getting off of the Seibu-Haijima Line
train at the end of the line at Haijima
Station (above video), I transfer to a
Hachiko Line train (following videos).
Haijima Station Transfer 西武拝島線からJRまでの乗り換え
(130130)
http://youtu.be/MhKTMb6k5-E
Haijima Station - Waiting for Hachiko Line
Train 拝島駅で見回る (130130)
http://youtu.be/kBnayf_N6-E
Departing Haijima Station - Winter Afternoon
拝島駅から出発 (130130)
http://youtu.be/2RJHtUYEQ6o
Hachiko Line Side Window View (Winter
Afternoon) 冬の八高線景色 (130130)
http://youtu.be/DO5d_Jh3WLg
Hachiko Line to Hachioji Station 八王子駅までの八高線
(130130)
http://youtu.be/2qsZmfjd6G4
Above and (several) below - after taking the
Hachiko Line to Hachioji, I transfer to the
Keio Line.
Keio-Hachioji Station 京王八王子駅 見回りと出発 (130130)
http://youtu.be/XMRBJZQAO5o
Keio Line to Kitano Station 京王線で北野駅まで
(130130)
http://youtu.be/RU6LofgKZLY
This includes a transfer (between different
Keio Line trains) at Kitano Station.
Kitano to Hazama (Keio Line) 北野から狭間まで (京王線)
130130
http://youtu.be/sODailewhPg
Arriving at Takao Station via Keio Line
高尾駅到着 (京王線) 130130
http://youtu.be/HtuZ-gG2Y3g
1991 - Hibarigaoka and Kiyose - Seibu
Ikebukuro Line (910202)
http://youtu.be/1A6-0XNSdOU
I didn't have much time for time-tripping
this week, so there are just two clips - one
this look back at 1991 - showing two
stations on the Seibu-Ikebukuro Line (西武池袋線)
- Hibarigaoka (ひばりヶ丘駅) and Kiyose
(清瀬駅). The other is a 1990 look at
Ueno (further up the page).
Shinjuku - Chuo Line Platform to Upper
Concourse 新宿駅の忙しい夜 (130205)
http://youtu.be/uZJEvCox-XI
Shinjuku Chuo Line Night Platform Walk
(130205hdc)
http://youtu.be/7r-_Pv5cspc
Nighttime Chuo Line Platform (130205hd)
http://youtu.be/RCGEJmqKu0g
Gallery Kazuki 画廊香月 - February Group
Exhibition (130205)
http://youtu.be/4AxmUpg4eWQ
Matsuda Shizumune 松田靜心 Exhibition at
Gallery-58 (Ginza 銀座) 130205
http://youtu.be/oepg6x9BA9A
Ochanomizu to Kanda (Yamanote Line)
御茶ノ水から神田まで (山手線) 130205
http://youtu.be/vdc0KsyEwPM
Construction continues on the former
Manseibashi Station (万世橋駅) - with more and
more of its old platform being ripped
out. I hope they don't completely
remove it... there's such interesting
history there.
Kanda Station Under Construction 工事中の神田駅
(130205)
http://youtu.be/osI98EWmWW8
Walking through the construction zone that
Kanda is right now.
Kanda Station Middle Platform 神田駅真ん中のホーム
(130205)
http://youtu.be/gIZACO8QaXo
(Above and below) Looking around from
Kanda Station's middle platform while
waiting for a train (on my way to Ueno).
Kanda Station Middle Platform (Waiting for a
Train) 神田駅ホーム景色 (130205hd)
http://youtu.be/A8f2Q3SV5ks
Kanda to Ueno (Yamanote Line) 神田から上野まで (山手線)
130205
http://youtu.be/PDoK5EEoAxU
Looking out a left side window of a Yamanote
Line train as it rolls from Kanda Station to
Ueno Station.
Ueno Trackside Side Street 上野横道ガードの下
(130205hd)
http://youtu.be/p5ib6IF6xTo
Walking along the elevated tracks in Ueno -
on the opposite side from the famous
Ameyokocho street (written on a huge sign
over the street as "Ameyayokocho アメヤ横丁", but
I've always heard the locals call it
"Ameyokocho"). You can't really plan
for mood, but when I went here, things
seemed very calm and relaxed. On
weekends and during more crowded periods,
the atmosphere is quite different.
Ueno Side Street to Main Ameyokocho Area
(130205hdc)
http://youtu.be/1nVEO2x2N-E
Ueno Ameyokocho Stroll 上野アメ横丁散歩 (130205hd)
http://youtu.be/Ieag8yQpqpw
The stereo soundtrack of this one captures
some of the ambiance provided by background
sounds.
Ueno - Old Style Corner Store (Ameyokocho)
上野昔風の角店 (アメ横丁) 130205
http://youtu.be/EePqOxb2Eo8
Ueno Streetside Market Stroll 上野アメ横丁散歩
(130205hd)
http://youtu.be/NmcTmrTsVSo
Walking back over to the clothing stores on
the opposite side of the tracks from the
main part of Ameyokocho.
Ueno Side Street Izakaya Places, Etc
上野横道居酒屋など (130205hd)
http://youtu.be/rrbqe3xXvH8
This area is a lot more active when the
weather is a bit warmer.
Ueno Park Saigo Takamori Square (Under
Construction) 130205
http://youtu.be/ANfB8Kp1TZw
Part of this section of the park is actually
the roof of a building, but it's seamlessly
integrated into the park, so you wouldn't
notice if you didn't look hard at the design
and size of the building that's there.
They tore down the building that used to be
there, and reconstructed a new one (of a
similar size), and they're still in the
process of putting everything back together
on top. At around the 03:20 mark, I
enter the building and head down the stairs
- walking past the many restaurants in the
building. There was a restaurant in
this building that I rather liked before -
I'm not sure if they're back in the building
or not - I don't remember the name of it.
Restaurant Building Near Ueno Station
(130205)
http://youtu.be/RqmzGdLyK6A
Walking around in, and in front of, the new
restaurant building next to Ueno Station
(and near to Ameyokocho). The front of
the building as seen at the end of this clip
used to be where a row of souvenir shops
were. They thrived when the yen was
weak in the old days, but once the yen shot
up in value, people had so much more buying
power of things from overseas, that they
started shopping in different ways and
business fell off for the old souvenir
shops. Now that they are completely
gone, it feels like something from very long
ago, and it's hard to believe how busy they
used to be how different the atmosphere was
on this street.
After writing the above, I checked my old
material and found some video of the area
taken in March 1990 - the old souvenir shops
can be seen towards the end of the video
(which is also listed further up the page):
1990 - Ueno Walkabout (Cherry Blossoms,
Station, Etc) 上野駅など (900323)
http://youtu.be/WytK0IyenBc
Ueno Rail Bridge-360 上野駅の橋下 (130205)
http://youtu.be/wE_gdPaUWj4
Ueno Station Original Building Side Entrance
上野駅オリジナルビル (130205)
http://youtu.be/9uOHffEfb9E
Walking in the side entrance of the old
original Ueno Station building. It's
very unusual for a 1930's building to still
exist in its original form (aside from
interior changes) in Tokyo, so this building
has come to have a special historical
significance for Tokyo I think.
Ueno Station Original Building Side
Staircase (130205)
http://youtu.be/iRNXAXCL8m0
At 00:02, it looks as thought the handrail
has been cut. I suspect the staircase
used to continue down into the basement, and
when they made it into a first-to-second
floor only staircase, they cut it then... I
imagine. It looks that way
anyway. Up on the second floor are a
bunch of restaurants. I imagine the
upstairs area was originally used for
station office space? I need to look
into this. An old building is that
much more interesting when you know how it
was originally used.
Ueno Original Station Building (Upper Area)
130205hd
http://youtu.be/7gMCsOD-VNY
Ueno Station - Original Station Building
Area (130205hdc)
http://youtu.be/Y3O56ua8ULY
Looking at this again - I end up pondering
why I've (until recently) had so little
interest in the Ueno area and this
station. I've come through this area
on and off from time to time, but the
station never seemed as interesting to me
before as it does now. Of course,
they've made it nicer. The huge
skylight effect with the translucent
material used over the central concourse
used to be a standard opaque material.
Making it into one huge skylight while
preserving the original metal structure was
a great idea! It's quite a nice space
now.
Ueno Station - Underground Walkabout 上野駅地下散歩
(130205)
http://youtu.be/oEY5e3rvTI8
Walking down the long ramp into the subway
and basement to the station. Watching
this, I get a flashback. In the
eighties, there were homeless people sitting
all along this stretch, and they weren't
exactly friendly, so I stopped using this
ramp to avoid their hostile stares,
comments, etc., until... now
basically. Come to think of it, that
might be a large part of why I ended up not
having an interest in Ueno. It always
seemed like the almost official campground
for the city, and the atmosphere generally
seemed hostile to me (due to not very
friendly campers), so it was unpleasant to
be there. Well, there it is. No
wonder I haven't spent much time in Ueno
over the years.
Ueno to Akihabara (Yamanote Line) 上野から秋葉原まで
(山手線) 130205hdc
http://youtu.be/D5KBED2eW20
Looking back out a left-side window as the
train rolls from Ueno to Akihabara.
Watching this now, it occurs to me that the
new walls on the edge of the railway might
be to stop the noise of Shinkansen
trains? Presently the Shinkansen
trains are run underground here, but they
are expanding the Shinjuku tracks, so maybe
some of the Shinkansen trains will be
running up at this level? Pure
speculation, but the new elevated rails near
Kanda Station would certainly suggest that
they will be running more Shinkansen trains
overhead.
Yurakucho Plaza - Passing Shinkansen, Etc
有楽町広場など (130205hdc)
http://youtu.be/rnXrmvzolKU
Watching a Shinkansen train passing
Yurakucho Plaza and then walking towards
Ginza.
Building with Fujiya Gallery in Central
Ginza (130205)
http://youtu.be/GvO-igacDaU
Ginza - Building Shortcut from Chuo-Dori to
Back Street 銀座 (130205)
http://youtu.be/kjFI_9PbRrY
Trying out a building shortcut one evening.
Ginza Twilight Alley (130205)
http://youtu.be/KO9kXfl46ZI
Something quite rare in Ginza - an empty bit
of land that you can actually access.
Lyle
2013/02/01
"Shinjuku, Ochanomizu, Suidobashi, Odakyu
Line, Train Scenes, Etc."
Other than a trip out to Yoyogi-Uehara on
the Odakyu Line, I mainly focused on the
Chuo Line - with scenes from Shinjuku,
Ochanomizu, and Suidobashi - combined with
(as usual) several in-motion scenes taken on
various trains.
Ochanomizu to Tokyo - Kanda Under
Construction 工事中神田駅など (130129g)
http://youtu.be/cM4Dj1QDL6g
This starts off with a platform view at
Ochanomizu Station while waiting for the
train to get underway. I stayed mainly
on the right side of the carriage in order
to get a view of the remains of the Chuo
Line's former terminal station, Manseibashi
Station (万世橋駅). You can see the old
platform from about the 01:38 mark, then
there's a big construction hole (at 01:44)
where a section of the platform has been cut
away, quickly followed by a quick view of
exposed stairs leading to/from the
platform. As I mentioned previously, I
have long known there were remains of a
former station there, but had never looked
up the history and didn't realize there was
a big, interesting terminal station building
there from 1912 until 1919, when the line
was extended. The cool looking big
terminal building was destroyed in the Great
Kanto Earthquake of 1923. Anyway, I
already went into that before, so more
information is further down the page (in a
previous post). I mention it again,
because suddenly that area seems much more
interesting. I wish I had known this
history sooner.
When the train gets to Kanda, I transfer to
a Yamanote Line train - walking through what
feels like greatly intensified construction
activity in Kanda Station (from about
03:24). The construction at Kanda
Station has been going on for quite a while,
but this day the atmosphere felt quite
different and it seemed as though it's on a
verge of a great change - soon.
Speaking of construction - after getting on
a Yamanote Line train, it passes another big
construction hole just before the platform
at Tokyo Station (at around 06:34).
Another big project, but I have no idea what
this particular construction is for.
Basically Tokyo is in a permanent state of
reconstruction. If the city lasts for
300,000 years, it will probably be under
construction for 300,000 years. The
video ends as I walk through one of the
large under-track concourses at Tokyo
Station.
Shinjuku Station 1130 p.m. Dash
新宿駅夜遅くのラッシュとダッシュ (130129g)
http://youtu.be/Er-5uq8FuNA
After walking through the direct-transfer
gates between the Odakyu Line and the JR
lines, I walk through the late-crowd, people
rushing to get the last trains that still
make connections to other lines further away
out in the suburbs. The last trains
from Shinjuku run pretty close to 1:00 a.m.,
but for those who have distant transfers to
make, they need to get on the system between
11:00 and 11:30 p.m., which is why you see
people dashing about on the lower concourse
at Shinjuku Station. Hearing the
"doors are about to close" sound, I run up a
flight of stairs and jump on a train myself.
Shinjuku to Nishi-Shinjuku Crosswalk 西新宿
(元淀橋) に入る (130129ghd)
http://youtu.be/X585UekiLAI
Nearing Suidobashi Station (Political Van)
水道橋駅に近づく (130129ghd)
http://youtu.be/qQziLZnZ7fk
Typical winter street scene in Tokyo.
About the political van that drives by - the
timing puzzles me, since there were
elections quite recently. I guess
they're getting an early start aiming
towards the next elections?
Shinjuku Platform Walk (Chuo Line) 新宿ホーム風景
(中央線) 130129ghd
http://youtu.be/BkBuDnUHN9s
Walking down a nighttime Chuo Line platform
at Shinjuku Station.
Shinjuku Station Upper Concourse (South
Exit) 新宿駅上の通路 (南口) 130129ghd
http://youtu.be/TbUiIbYgTpI
Walking over to and through the South Exit
ticket gates. People passing by in
their winter clothing. Since people
tend to wear dark clothing in the winter,
it's not exactly colorful.
Yoyogi-Uehara Station - Boarding Odakyu Line
夜遅く代々木上原で小田急線 (130129ghd)
http://youtu.be/m_Hfygx8lyc
Looking around on one of the platforms at
Yoyogi-Uehara Station; then boarding a
nearly empty local Odakyu Line train bound
for Shinjuku and taking a quick look around
inside the mostly empty train.
Ochanomizu - Walking South from Station
御茶ノ水駅から南へ (130129g)
http://youtu.be/RTpoG8zJIN4
Starting at one end of a bridge and then
walking back past Ochanomizu Station and
heading south down the main street (towards
Meiji University).
Ochanomizu Walkabout - Outside Market
御茶ノ水道バザール (130129g)
http://youtu.be/hkJKtOITyEQ
The outside market this starts with appears
to be a regular event - with basically the
same type of things being sold each
time. I don't know what the exact
arrangement is, but I remember this from
eleven years ago, and I've seen it on and
off since then. Maybe it's a
once-a-month event? Once-a-week
maybe? Probably once-a-month (I need
to research this...).
Towards the end of the clip, I walk into
Ochanomizu Station, at the entrance with the
pleasantly old wooden structure that I hope
is preserved. This design has so much
more character than the newer designs.
Both (together) are ideal actually - you can
experience both modern designs and older
designs by going from station to
station. The contrast from both ends
enhances both new and old.
Ochanomizu to Suidobashi 御茶ノ水から水道橋まで Chuo
Local Line (130129g)
http://youtu.be/NbpkAsoJQ2Y
Suidobashi Station is slightly unusual (for
the Chuo Line) in that it has the twin
tracks in the middle and the platforms on
either side. More commonly there is
one platform in the middle and the tracks
(one for each direction) are on either side
of the platform. This is more
convenient for riders, since they can just
climb the stairs to the platform without
needing to verify which platform they need
beforehand, and then take whichever train is
going in their direction. Thinking
about it, I presume the arrangement at
Suidobashi is so the rails are straighter,
allowing express trains to go through at a
higher speed. With a center platform,
the rails curve out to get trains on either
side of it (since the platform is
considerably wider than the space between
the double tracks between stations).
Walking South from Suidobashi Station
水道橋駅から南へ (130129g)
http://youtu.be/ZGZ_LU7NTrU
Fairly typical central Tokyo scenery.
One comment - notice the yellow steel
structure at around the 00:26 mark - they
have strong steel structures like this in
front of some bridges - the beams are
slightly lower than the lowest point of the
bridge, so if a truck that is too high to
get under the bridge comes along, it hits
this yellow barrier first, which stops the
truck and prevents it from damaging the
bridge. It's a very effective way of
preventing overly high trucks from hitting
the underside of the bridge.
Tokyo Station Yaesu Construction Tunnel
工事中の東京駅八重洲口 (130129g)
http://youtu.be/Pt4zNouf3PM
These white-walled construction passageways
are moved from place to place as the
construction behind them progresses.
八重洲駐車場 (A) Yaesu Underground Parking (Street
to B2) 130129g
http://youtu.be/-5HLVcl_Dk0
I have passed this underground entrance many
times over the years, but it never occurred
to me to go down the steps and have a look
until the day I took these two videos (above
and below). I shouldn't have been
surprised really, but I didn't realize just
how much parking was down there.
八重洲駐車場 (B) Yaesu Underground Parking (B1 to
Street) 130129g
http://youtu.be/zb97rnkSBPc
Six-Door (Per Side) Train Cars on Saikyo
Line 埼京線六ドア車両 (130129g)
http://youtu.be/cvNSoum_UC0
I haven't had any particular fondness for
this type of train car, but since they took
them off of the Yamanote Line (to make all
the carriages four-door per side in order to
make it easier to install platform walls and
doors), it seemed a little like discovering
something that was familiar, but you thought
had disappeared.
京橋のドゥ画廊に行く Going to Dou Gallery in Kyobashi
(130129)
http://youtu.be/S6p3fxjVqDM
Showing the area immediately around the Dou
Gallery in Kyobashi (next to Ginza) before
heading inside.
臼木英之展示会 (ドゥ画廊) Usuki Hideyuki Exhibition
(Dou Gallery) 130129
http://youtu.be/PNBip49ZDMs
A look around at an interesting exhibition
of artwork - both paintings and directly
painted clothing (each one a one-off,
painted by hand).
Shinjuku East Side - Game Centers Etc 新宿東側
(130129hd)
http://youtu.be/xdCUlWFTm4s
Walking down a side street near Shinjuku
Station - past game places, a pachinko
parlor, restaurants, etc.
Shinjuku Shadow Street - Winter 2013
新宿影通り(冬) 130129
http://youtu.be/IVs3pTjle_Q
"Shadow Street" is not a proper name - I
just called it that, because the angle of
the winter sun was such that there was
absolutely no sunlight on the street at all,
so it felt like "Shadow Street".
Shadows - Shinjuku South-East Exit Plaza
(130129)
http://youtu.be/0lEYVxi_WPU
I'm not a big fan of winter - but at least
the long shadows in the afternoon are
interesting.
Shinjuku - Walking West Towards South
Entrance (130129)
http://youtu.be/drdGWYEkHKM
Shinjuku - Long Shadows by South Exit
新宿南口の長い影 (130129)
http://youtu.be/8Jl6zHy8pyY
People waiting for a walk light to change -
casting long shadows near the South
Entrance/Exit to Shinjuku Station.
Shinjuku Upper Concourse Walk, Etc 新宿駅上の通路散歩
(130129)
http://youtu.be/NDuxJEG-vVQ
Entering Shinjuku Station via the South
Entrance and walking along the upper
concourse. At the end of this clip,
notice how *wonderful* [heavy sarcasm] the
English announcement sounds. It's real
English, but they obviously didn't use
someone professional. "PLAtfORm...
NUmBer...... TEn." Uh!
Yuck! Man, I hate those
unprofessional announcements! You'd
think that since they're going to torment
people with those recordings
over-and-over-and-over again (forever
more?), they'd try to get a decent recording
of someone who doesn't sound like they're
reading a children's book to
preschoolers! (And not even a
professional preschool teacher at that!)
Shinjuku to Ochanomizu (Chuo Line)
新宿から御茶ノ水まで (中央線) 130129
http://youtu.be/kAYRzDy2URQ
Recently I don't buy much from the platform
stores (00:14), but I always feel glad that
they are there - something about the option
to get a variety of things from most train
station platforms being there is very
welcome. It makes the platform a more
interesting place to be while waiting for
the train to arrive. And so it was on
this day. Once the train arrived, I
climbed aboard (an expression I should
change, as it's just a horizontal thing now
- like walking onto an elevator) and looked
out a left side window at the high contrast
landscape flowing past under mid-winter
sharp-angle January lighting. The
lighting was generally bad for pictures, but
as the train pulled into Ochanomizu Station,
the reflections on the river down below the
left side of the train were quite nice, so
after getting off the train, I hurried over
to a spot next to the river to take a couple
of videos of the cool reflections (following
two videos) before the light changed.
River Reflections (A) Central Tokyo 水の反射
(中央東京) 130129hd
http://youtu.be/80RA1FvQH-8
River Reflections (B) Central Tokyo 水の反射
(中央東京) 130129hd
http://youtu.be/p0C42gHcW4w
Ochanomizu Station Area Stroll 御茶ノ水駅あたり散歩
(130129hd)
http://youtu.be/m1hoNDEQHl8
Walking along a narrow street that runs in
parallel with the tracks from one entrance
of Ochanomizu Station to the other - with
both entrances located at an end of the
ten-car platform. Depending on how
much time you have, and your perspective,
the general ten car length of Tokyo trains
is a pretty long distance (and some lines
have 15!).
Ochanomizu Station Platform Views 御茶ノ水ホームビュー
(130129)
http://youtu.be/JTR1IINepSY
Walking around on a platform at Ochanomizu
while waiting for my train to come.
Looking around, it occurs to me that
this station is pretty remarkably intact in
its Showa-Era construction and
atmosphere. For the sake of
understanding history, I hope they leave at
least a few stations like this alone
(repainting them of course).
I go on about that a lot I know, but every
time I'm at a station like this, it hits me
again how much atmosphere and history is in
the structure.
Suidobashi Station Afternoon Platform View
水道橋駅ホームビュー (130129hd)
http://youtu.be/WO6s2P9PUH0
The roof structure for this station is quite
interesting I think. And in this case,
the combination of new roofing material over
the platforms and old original railway rails
(used for I-beams) still there as part of
the overall structure works very well
aesthetically I think. This is good to
see.
Suidobashi Station - Platform to Exit
水道橋駅_ホームから改札まで (130129)
http://youtu.be/RlOgjMsOpwk
Aside from the platform, this takes a look
at the old wooden parts of the stairway
while walking towards the ticket gates
(wooden roof, etc.).
Suidobashi Station - Boarding Sobu Line 水道橋駅
- 中央線を乗る (130129)
http://youtu.be/18Ip9TVTVqM
After taking some pictures in the area
around Suidobashi Station (further up the
page - out of chronological order), I
returned to the station and went to the
other platform in order to go back to
Ochanomizu (where I could catch a faster
kaisoku train).
Suidobashi to Ochanomizu 水道橋から御茶ノ水まで (総武線)
130129
http://youtu.be/eBBDlvN2Tu0
Hachioji to Nishi-Hachioji - Snow on Ground
(130128)
http://youtu.be/go_yMn11yXo
Kyobashi 1-Chome Side Street 京橋一丁目横道
(130129)
http://youtu.be/CdfY5rtUvqk
Approaching Shinjuku South-East Exit
新宿駅東南口向き (130129hd)
http://youtu.be/MmAOEVtw8TA
Walking down the upper concourse at Shinjuku
Station - towards the South-East Exit.
Saikyo Line Train at Shinjuku Station
新宿駅に止まった埼京線電車 (130129hd)
http://youtu.be/RQZxAaJ66I4
Mainly walking down the platform beside the
train as people board it, but with a quick
look inside the train as well. The
departure time being a few minutes later,
people are relaxed about boarding it (in
contrast to jumping on a train that is going
to close the doors and depart in a matter of
seconds).
And... reviewing the next video, I see it's
basically a continuation of the one above -
although the second one shows a train arrive
at the station, and another train depart.
Saikyo Line Late Night Platform Walk
埼京線夜遅くホーム散歩 (130129hd)
http://youtu.be/S2mu7ewFpws
Shinjuku Station Concourse to Platform
新宿駅通路からホームまで (130129hd)
http://youtu.be/2AZMXwoZbXE
At 00:38 - a view of many people standing in
line on an open platform, waiting for their
train to arrive. I've always found
this type of view to be fascinating, and so
don't look forward to the platforms getting
walls (although I must admit it's safer that
way). [01:20]: A man comes running up
- on crutches(!). They are forever
telling people not to run for the trains,
but it's a natural thing to want to
do. The doors are about to close...
you have two or three seconds to get on the
train, or be left behind. The railways
present it purely as "It's dangerous to
run", while ignoring the natural feelings of
"I don't want to be left behind!" and "I
want to get where I'm going on time!".
Those two generally being heavier, people
run, ignoring the ceaseless barrage of
verbal warnings from the railways not to
run.
Evening Construction Cranes on Yaesu Side
八重洲口の夕方工事 (130129)
http://youtu.be/bGVIPMIZOO8
Waiting for the walk light to change to
green, I looked around - including over and
up at the construction cranes towering over
the Yaesu side of Tokyo Station. After
that, I - shock and surprise - walk across
the street when the light changes to green.
Gargantuan Metal Shutter Coming Down for the
Night (130129)
http://youtu.be/4B71MjkCAYo
No big deal really, but this is one of the
larger metal shutters I've seen, so when it
started to come down right next to me, I
pulled out my camera and took this video.
Kanda Lights - Seen from Chuo Line 神田の夜光
(130129)
http://youtu.be/kKK_8Iu9KSE
The businesses, signs, restaurants, etc. are
so close to the railways here, that it's
always kind of a nice light show when
passing through this stretch at night.
Odakyu Line Departing Shinjuku 小田急線 -
新宿駅から出発 (130129)
http://youtu.be/ZjWVFO0zrJA
I don't use the Odakyu Line much these days,
so I hadn't realized that they have platform
walls up at Shinjuku now.
Nighttime Odakyu Line - Left Side Window
View 夜の小田急線 (130129)
http://youtu.be/EPWmkYmCYfI
Looking out the window of an express train
as it rolls towards Yoyogi-Uehara - enjoying
the mixture of direct light and reflected
light that nighttime views from a train
afford.
Yoyogi-Uehara Station - Outbound Trains
代々木上原駅の下り電車 (130129)
http://youtu.be/G-tyqpCSN58
Watching a couple of outbound trains depart
Yoyogi-Uehara Station after getting off of a
train from Shinjuku.
Train-Watching at Yoyogi-Uehara (Romance
Car, Etc) 小田急線ロマンスカーなど (130129)
http://youtu.be/AOIfuwmqbEs
While waiting for a train back to Shinjuku
at Yoyogi-Uehara, I walk around on the
platform and watch other trains passing,
including one of the Romance Car (reserved
seat express) trains.
Yoyogi-Hachiman to Shinjuku (Odakyu Line)
代々木八幡-新宿 (小田急線) 130129
http://youtu.be/FkLaLAgxRvk
The thing about getting on a nearly empty
inbound train late at night, is that - after
practically always riding in full trains -
you suddenly feel like you have all this
space to yourself and all this freedom (to
move,etc.)... which is how I felt on this
evening, so I wandered around a bit inside
the train, looking out the windows, at the
hanging advertisements inside the train,
into the next carriages, etc.
At 04:26, you can see (at the top of the
picture) a few illuminated trees up on a
two-story high structure - that is the edge
of Shinjuku Southern Terrace, which is
basically a platform built by Odakyu over
the Odakyu railway. When on the
Southern Terrace, even when you know, it's
kind of hard to imagine that you're directly
over all that train activity below (which is
on the surface of the earth, not a subway).
At 04:36, the inbound local train I'm on
begins going down to the lower level local
train platform while an outgoing express
train descends from the upper level
platforms. Odakyu runs a lot of
trains, and so they stacked the platforms.
If I remember the history of the railway
correctly, it was originally called "Odawara
Kyuko 小田原急行" (Odawara Express), and that was
shortened (by combining elements of the two
words) to "Odakyu 小田急". I remember
reading an article (or was it a book?) about
26 years ago in which the author stated that
the name "Odakyu" was initially resisted by
the railway itself, but as it was in popular
usage (starting with the term appearing in a
song), they gave in and begin calling it
Odakyu.
Looking on-line - I see there are three
Wikipedia pages for the Odakyu Line train
system. I strongly recommend this one:
Odakyu Electric Railway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odakyu_Electric_Railway
Personally, I don't think there should be
three pages for it - they should merge those
other two pages into the one "Odakyu
Electric Railway" page.
In any case, looking at the proper page for
the railway, the first two paragraphs of the
history section are as follows:
"The 83 km line from
Shinjuku to Odawara opened for service on
April 1, 1927. Unlike the Odawara
line, rarely were pre-WWII Japanese
private railways constructed with
double-track and fully electrified from
the first day of operation. Two
years later, April 1, 1929, the Enoshima
Line was added.
"The original full name
of the railroad was Odawara Express
Railway Co., Ltd. (小田原急行鉄道株式会社 Odawara
Kyuko Tetsudo Kabushiki-gaisha), but this
was often shortened to Odawara Kyuko
(Odawara Express). The abbreviation
Odakyu was made popular by the title song
of the 1929 movie Tokyo Koshinkyoku and
eventually became the official name of the
railroad on March 1, 1941."
Also, here is Odakyu's own website:
Odakyu
http://www.odakyu.jp/english/
Which has (on February 2nd, 2013 anyway) the
slogan "Odakyu has a Japan". Um...
Odakyu? What exactly does that
mean? We weren't aware that there was
more than one Japan. Which one exactly
is it that you have? Time for a
rant. In this age of easy
communication with nearly all countries on
the planet, there is no excuse for putting
embarrassing, idiotic English on a corporate
website. From past experience,
probably some middle-management scum sent
out a group e-mail to people within the
company, including a few token foreigners,
pretending to solicit feedback. Then
the middle-management scum ignored the
feedback - especially the feedback from the
native English speakers (what do they know),
and then sent back a reply saying
色々な意見を聞きまして、以下の通りに決めました ("After going over
feedback from everyone, we have decided on
the following"), followed by this idiotic
mutant English expression "Odakyu has a
Japan". When problems arise (only a
matter of time), the middle-management scum
can then point to the foreign names on the
group e-mail send list and claim that they
didn't say anything. Of course, if
they had, they would have been axed for
doing the right thing and saving the company
from worldwide embarrassment, but causing
middle management scum to lose face (been
there, done that, and was fired for doing
the right thing - I won the battle [for the
company] but lost the war).
Corporations would do well to get rid of at
least half of their middle-management scum -
they drag the whole corporation down
performance-wise, and also bring shame to
everyone working there... and (once you're
publishing on the Internet) to the whole
country.
All of that said, this English language
(well, *mostly* English language) website of
Odakyu's isn't all bad - it has maps,
information, etc. If I seem a bit
harsh in the above paragraph, it's due to
having had some very bad experiences helping
companies I've worked at battle mutant
English promoted by middle-management
scum. Anyway....
And that's all for now - sore-dewa, mata!
Lyle
2013/01/26
"Yurakucho, Kanda, Ueno, Okachimachi,
Akihabara, and Nakano, Etc."
I didn't think of any new places to go to
this past week, so I just revisited some
places I haven't been spending much time in
lately. This being Tokyo, if you don't
go somewhere for a little while, it's almost
a sure bet that when you get around to
returning, there will be changes - sometimes
to a disorienting degree.
[A cautionary note about
the time figures I've used below - they
were taken from video file playback
software running the original files on
my computer, and not from the YouTube
upload, so I'm not entirely certain they
will always be accurate, although one
file I tested was exactly the
same. The time figure *should* be
exactly the same, but thought I'd
mention this production detail just in
case.]
Akihabara to Yurakucho 秋葉原から有楽町まで (130124g5)
http://youtu.be/HgTrltoQpZs
This starts on the plaza in front of
Akihabara Station and then I walk through
the busy ticket gates (with area commuters
heading home for the day), and then board a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train that takes me to
Yurakucho. Getting around the city, I
generally don't even think about sitting
down (which you more often than not can't do
anyway), but instead stand at a door so I
can look out the window. Some rides
are more visually interesting than others -
this particular ride was a good one, with
lots of trains running to handle the evening
rush of homeward-bound commuters, so there
was nearly constant motion outside the
window (as you can see in the video).
Regarding standing by a door in order to
look out a window... the problem with the
efficient seating method of having long
seats along the windows facing the center of
the train, is it kind of forces you to look
across the train and between the heads of
the people sitting on the other side (with
each side facing each other across the
center of the train). It's not much
fun visually, so you have to pick comfort
(*if* there's a seat available) or stand by
the door if you want to have a good look at
what's going on/by outside.
[Audio note, I appear to
have accidentally gotten in the way of
the microphone in a couple of places on
this one, causing the audio level to
drop way down - sorry about that.
Most of it is okay though.]
Yurakucho Plaza to YSB-Zone
有楽町プラザからYSBゾーンまでの散歩 (130124g)
http://youtu.be/kfS1lWXyElo
From the middle of Yurakucho Plaza, I walk
under the newer Shinkansen rail bridge and
then immediately afterward through the old
arch of the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku
Lines. In the middle I look back to
see/verify that the motor noise was from
heating/cooling equipment, and then at about
the 1:08 mark I follow a man into a
soba-noodle place, do a zoom-twist, and
continue on towards the YSB Zone.
At 1:25 (and 2:25), note the appearance of
the overhead railway cars going past - it's
a view that is likely doomed to be
hidden. From the appearance of
functional and sensible, but rather ugly
walls put up near the Ameyokocho area
between Ueno and Okachimachi stations, it
appears that they intend to wall in the
overhead railways - to cut down noise (and
maybe also to keep trains from crashing down
in the case of a severe earthquake)
presumably. A necessary progression I
suppose, but a disaster visually. One
of the major visual attractions of Tokyo are
the clear views of overhead trains running
through the city.
Walking Towards Akihabara Station at Night
秋葉原駅に向かう (130124g)
http://youtu.be/No3Neo3U80I
Typical winter crowds during the evening
rush-hour(s) time in Akihabara.
Turning to look back away from the station,
the clarity of the winter evening is
apparent....
Spring isn't so far off, and the local tree
pollen along with air pollution from China
will begin blowing through town sometime in
February. The quality of air in the
world gets worse and worse. When will
we stop worshiping short-term convenience
over everything else and head in some
direction other than destroying the planet,
which is a form of mass-suicide?
Better to live I think.
Yurakucho Izakaya Stroll 有楽町居酒屋散歩 (130124g)
http://youtu.be/PVBab3rFNxI
Walking through the outside izakaya places
in Yurakucho. The street of tents
doesn't appear to be doing very good
business, but I'm not surprised. They
are crowded in the spring because it's nice
to be outside, with the sound of the trains
going by and the unobstructed sky
overhead. What's the attraction of
sitting in a semi-heated enclosed plastic
tent? If you have to be under a roof
and behind walls, it might as well be a real
roof and real walls. I'd consider
visiting those places if they were out in
the open - even in the winter (if you drink
something warm and don't stay long, it can
still be enjoyable in the cold), but those
plastic tents don't look inviting at
all. And since they nearly always
appear to be empty when I walk by, it looks
like I'm not the only one who thinks
so. Notice how the always-inside with
real walls and real roof place (seen at 1:24
through a window in the narrow passageway
under the tracks) is full. If you want
to be warm in the winter, best to go for the
real thing!
Nakano Station to Nakano Back Streets
中野駅から横道まで (130124g)
http://youtu.be/4ysaelskDo0
Walking down one of the platforms at Nakano
Station, going through the ticket gates on
the north side (北口 - North Exit), walking
towards the entrance to Sun Mall, turning
right, and then diving into a narrow alley
that leads back to the back street izakaya
area of Nakano. [There is more from
this area of Nakano further down the page.]
Tokyo to Akihabara - 50th Anniversary Green
Yamanote Train (130124g)
http://youtu.be/PJV_aFwaKCE
It was a weird feeling when I went to board
a Yamanote Line train and noticed that it
was all-green! For a second I thought
"They're running one of the old
trains! Far out!!", feeling like an
old friend had suddenly appeared after they
were reported lost in the jungle twenty
years before. But as I took a closer
look, I quickly realized it was just a
(temporary) paint scheme on one of the
current generation trains, with this
explanatory text helpfully on the train (on
the side - towards the top, which I record
in this video): "50周年みどりの山手線, 103系電車誕生"
which means "50th Anniversary Green Yamanote
Line Train ([From] introduction of type-103
electric train)".
It's hard to tell in the video, but as the
train pulled into each station, people were
staring at it with "What? Wait...
huh? What's this?" looks on their
faces. Probably some of the young
crowd (who never experienced the old type of
all-green train cars) were wondering if it
was a new-type of Yamanote Line train?
In any case, it certainly surprised
people. The effect was something like
if you walked into your workplace one day
and noticed it had suddenly been repainted
to a completely different color with no
warning. For a second, you might well
wonder if you had mistakenly walked into the
wrong office by mistake.
Notice all the evidence of construction at
Kanda - that station is headed for a radical
rebuild I think. In the future it will
probably look completely different. I
understand and cheer on (often reluctantly I
must admit) the never-ending rebuilding of
Tokyo, but I really wish they would leave at
least a little of past structures. I
like the current Kanda Station precisely
because there's a solid connection with the
past in its design and time-soaked
structure. *Everything* being new is
really depressing.
Chuo Line Front View - Passing Old Type
Tokkyu Train (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/GHptEMOAMQU
Looking out the front cab of an inbound Chuo
Line train - which passes an old type JR
(from the JNR days) reserved-seat express
train going in the other direction just
before the Chuo Line train arrives at
Ochanomizu Station.
Chuo Line Front View - Ochanomizu to Kanda
中央線の御茶ノ水-神田 (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/Zzbig54ioGk
The ongoing construction of overhead new
Shinkansen tracks is visible though the
front cab as the train curves to the right
to run in parallel with the Yamanote Line,
etc.
Kanda Station - Platform Sights and Sounds
神田駅の音と風景 (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/quZKOPo47eQ
Kanda Station Under Construction (B) 工事中の神田駅
(130122)
http://youtu.be/MQBBBPJS2_A
Okay, so the naming is confusing here, but
this "B" video comes before the next video
(taken with a different camera). This
starts on the inside of the ticket gates and
continues (after going through the ticket
gates) within the station, as well as
walking to both streetside exits.
Kanda Station Area - Walking Around 神田駅辺り散歩
(130122g)
http://youtu.be/5lWJzxkCCx0
Kanda Under-Bridge Sounds 神田橋の下音音 (130122g)
http://youtu.be/4egiPbG6j2U
One of my favorite aspects to Tokyo - the
industrial sounds of the overhead trains as
heard from under steel rail bridges.
Kanda Station Under Construction 工事中の神田駅
(130122hd)
http://youtu.be/qiQ78tghQ-s
Looking around in Kanda Station on the
outside of the ticket gates and then going
through the gates and walking up to one of
the Yamanote Line platforms. There's
so much construction going on in and over
Kanda Station, that I'm increasingly
wondering what sort of dramatically
transformed station it will become.
(Being one of the first stations that I
often used in Tokyo, it has some nostalgic
value for me.)
Kanda - Construction Tunnel to Platform
神田駅工事通路からホームまで (130122g)
http://youtu.be/dbpXHpxl9EQ
My second trip (on this day) to one of the
Yamanote Line (and Keihin-Tohoku Line)
platforms... I went to the wrong one the
first time.
Kanda to Ueno (Keihin-Tohoku Line)
神田駅から上野駅まで (京浜東北線) 130122
http://youtu.be/rhd_4yQRJWE
Looking out a right side window of a
Keihin-Tohoku Line train I took from Kanda
to Ueno. For this stretch, the
Yamanote Line and Keihin-Tohoku Line trains
run in parallel, so I tend to think of them
as the same, but the view is slightly
different (naturally) due to the (slightly)
different location of the tracks.
Ueno Station - Yamanote Line Platform
上野駅山手線ホーム (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/sOKwQ-vKQcs
The advertisements on the side of the
Yamanote Line train stand out to me when I
review this (I didn't really notice them
while I was recording the scene at the
time). While the number of printed (or
painted) advertisements outside have been
steadily declining, advertising on the sides
of Yamanote Line trains is fairly common
(and was never done before JNR became
JR). As advertising goes, it doesn't
get (locally) much more visible than on the
side of a Yamanote Line train. For
street billboards though, people don't even
notice their surroundings while walking now
- since they're always staring at their
micro-computers (formerly known as
"telephones"). While many people still
continue to stare at their micro-computer
screens even while a huge train comes
blasting into the station, most people tend
to look up and watch a train come in -
noting how crowded (or not) it is and making
mental preparations for how things are going
to be once they get inside, so they
generally notice advertising on the outside
of the train.
Ueno Station Walkabout (Inside and Out)
上野駅散歩 130122g
http://youtu.be/-6-cSxirPbI
Ueno Station handles a lot of train lines
and is correspondingly confusing, but this
shows a few parts of the station, including
the original Ueno Station building and how
it looks from the elevated plaza next to the
station.
Ueno Station Front-360 上野駅前360度 (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/PhLXlOvUCSw
Standing on the elevated plaza, looking down
on the many taxis lined up outside Ueno
Station - near the original old Ueno Station
building.
Ueno Elevated Plaza - Evening Passing Trains
Etc 上野駅前 (130122hd)
http://youtu.be/C7Rk9mx13p8
Walking into Higashi-Ueno 東上野に入る (130122)
http://youtu.be/f6cYg-moEUY
Walking under a sculpture and then taking an
outside escalator down to street level on
the side of the elevated Ueno Plaza.
Walking away from Ueno Station, I passed
mainly people headed towards the station
(likely headed for home).
Cars, Asphalt, and Side Streets 車アスファルトと横道
(上野) 130122
http://youtu.be/GA_WFWkrt3g
Looking around on a nondescript side street
in Higashi-Ueno. Not sure what to say
about it - it's pretty typical for much of
central Tokyo... well, most of Tokyo maybe,
but not the far western part.
Escalator to Ueno Plaza 上野プラザまでのエスカレーター
(130122)
http://youtu.be/hL6QHyTTU2Q
Riding the external escalator back up to the
elevated plaza in front of Ueno Station -
and then walking towards the station -
passing an outside smoking area along the
way, and pausing to look down on the black
road for internal-combustion machinery.
Entering Ueno Side-Streets 上野横道を入る (130122)
http://youtu.be/Su2bvffrKHY
Walking down a flight of stairs from the
elevated plaza - past the remnants of the
big January 14th snowstorm - and entering a
side street. Ueno isn't one the areas
I've tended to spend much time in, but its
side streets are rather interesting to walk
through.
Ueno Izakaya Stroll 上野居酒屋散歩 (130122)
http://youtu.be/weWukSMUxZo
Walking through an area with a lot of
izakaya places in Ueno in the early
evening. Watching this video now at
home as I type this, I find myself wondering
why I've always felt like it's fine to walk
through Ueno, but never felt like I belonged
there. I've been partial to Shinjuku,
Shibuya, Yurakucho, Ginza, etc., but not
Ueno and Ikebukuro, etc. There seems
to be some sort of barrier there for me, but
I'm not sure what it is exactly. And
I'm a bit warmer towards Ikebukuro than
Ueno, come to think of it, but only the east
side of Ikebukuro.
Ueno Evening Ameyokocho 上野夕方アメ横丁 (130122)
http://youtu.be/duCeeCcXpBQ
More cool train rumbling-by overhead sounds
while looking at the under-track
shops. After the train (music machine)
passed by, I went out to the main Ameyokocho
street and headed towards the big fork in
the road - with the right side being lined
with clothing shops and the left with fish
(and other food) shops.
Walking past the food stalls, I see the area
as being a victim of it's past
success. It was an area where people
came from afar to shop in the tough years
just after WW-II, when there were shortages
of so many things. Now that whatever
is available just about anywhere in the city
- and typically cheaply - people shop for
different reasons than before; because they
like a shop and don't care what things cost,
or because things are cheap; or because it's
convenient, etc. Those don't fit in
with this area so well any more, so you have
to wonder what the future holds.
At 03:03 you can see the rather ugly
rail-bed wall they've installed. I
can't argue that a wall is a good idea,
especially since everyone is expecting a
very powerful earthquake to strike either
sooner or later (predictions are for
sooner...), but couldn't they have come up
with something that looks a little
nicer? Just sayin'...
Old Glass-Show-Window Shop in Ueno
昔風の上野店のショーウィンドー (130122)
http://youtu.be/YXrOkI63-uY
This used to be the norm for retail shops -
big glass cases facing the street so people
could look in the show windows and ponder
what was for sale without having to enter
the shop. It's very rare now, so I
thought it was important to get this one
recorded while it's still in existence.
Ueno Ameyokocho and Under-Track Space
上野のアメ横丁とガード下 (130122)
http://youtu.be/zx6RvPC5I5g
Starting out on the main shopping street, I
walk under a rail bridge, and then into part
of the long under-railway retail space, and
finally back out onto the twilight
streets. "Twilight"... I can't help
thinking that this area as it now exists,
with its amazing number of small shops under
the tracks, might also be in its own
twilight....
Twilight Ueno Side Streets 夕方上野横道
(130122hdg)
http://youtu.be/cT9wDfIihio
This is one my favorite videos in this batch
- the combination of late twilight,
colorfully chaotic street scene with lights
everywhere, and to top it all off (and I
swear I didn't deliberately time this or
anticipate her presence) a woman in kimono
walks by in wooden shoes at about the 0:05
second mark (and can be seen again at 0:22
walking away under the rail bridge).
Actually - the same woman (I think) was in
another video clip walking in the other
direction (see next video - placed
out-of-order - below this one), but I just
assumed she had continued on in the same
direction. When I saw her walk by out
of the corner of my eye, I thought "(!)The
kimono woman again!" I'm glad I didn't
notice she was coming, as I probably (in
order not to be rude) wouldn't have had the
camera recording.
At 0:44 is a stand bar (or "standing bar",
whatever). These have become popular
(again) due to the bad economy. The
shop doesn't need to have chairs, more
people can fit inside, and since everyone is
standing, people have a tendency not to stay
as long. From the customers'
perspective, they can enjoy going to an
izakaya with friends for a reasonable price
- which is more important in these hard
times than it would be if the economy were
stronger.
Wooden Shoe Sounds in Ueno 上野 (130122)
http://youtu.be/aoHZxsB3RIE
Entering Ueno Under-Rail Passageways
上野ガード下通路を入る (130122)
http://youtu.be/PhhautFrsDI
The thing about having a look at places like
this with the camera rolling, is that since
they tend to not have many customers these
days (or they never do every time I
look...), the shopkeepers are standing
around bored and they look over everyone who
comes by. I can easily imagine their
frame of mind - business is bad and they're
probably not in the mood to be picturesque
subject matter for tourists' cameras.
But... I strongly feel it's important for
future understanding of the past that this
type of thing be recorded at least a little
- how else are people in the future to
understand the past? Still, it didn't
seem like a good idea to continue in any
further, so I backed out quickly and tried
again with the next video.
Ueno Under-Rail Passageways 上野ガード下通路
(130122)
http://youtu.be/Ag1BjEc3mXs
On the one hand, I like the atmosphere of
these narrow passageways through all the
small shops, but on the other hand, always
feel strange regarding the lack of
customers. It's not polite to hang out
too much without being a customer, but -
again - I strongly think these things should
be recorded for future understanding of what
the past consisted of and (as much as a
video can convey such a thing) what it felt
like at the time the video was recorded
(thank you color and sound!).
Okachimachi Station Bound 御徒町駅向き (130122)
http://youtu.be/757RePS2jfo
More views of new railway side walls - these
at least looking slightly better with
windows (which is good, considering how much
higher they are than the not-very-attractive
wall I noticed further down the tracks).
Okachimachi Station Outside Ticket Gates
御徒町駅 (130122)
http://youtu.be/VBX7UxsYzaM
Walking into Okachimachi Station and looking
around the station on the outside of the
ticket gates - and then wandering over to
where a cool old department store used to
stand, but is now a new construction site.
御徒町駅隣の工事現場 Construction Site Beside
Okachimachi Station (130122)
http://youtu.be/aWKlssnTKLc
As I mentioned above, this construction site
marks the spot where a cool old department
store used to be. In the summer they
had a beer garden on the roof and the
building as a whole had a lot of
character. Now that it's gone, I
really wish I'd recorded it while it was
still a part of Tokyo, including the
pleasant atmosphere of the rooftop beer
garden in the summer....
Okachimachi Station 御徒町駅を入る (130122)
http://youtu.be/I5EjydOARK8
Entering Okachimachi Station and going up to
one of the platforms.
Okachimachi to Kanda (Yamanote Line)
御徒町駅から神田駅まで (山手線) 130122
http://youtu.be/9pWGt5_YhRg
Boarding a Yamanote Line train and heading
towards Kanda. The sound that is
almost like that of an old steam locomotive
gathering speed is (I think) a wheel with a
flat spot. That used to be more
common... and maybe I'm mistaken, but I get
the feeling that it's becoming a little more
common again... maybe they've changed
something regarding regularly scheduled
maintenance?
Yamanote Line Night View (Flat Spot Wheel)
夜の山手線 (音音) 130122
http://youtu.be/59XIHmNLqM4
Departing Kanda Station on a Yamanote Line
train at night and riding to Tokyo (the next
station).
Tokyo to Yurakucho (Yamanote Line) 東京から有楽町まで
(山手線) 130122
http://youtu.be/YmnMeWJHx8s
Still on the same train with a flat-spot
wheel on the train car I'm in, I ride from
Tokyo to Yurakucho, where I get off and walk
down the platform.
東京駅の八重洲側 Yaesu Side of Tokyo Station
(130122)
http://youtu.be/XOFBA2tpKg8
Walking past illuminated trees towards the
Yaesu side entrance to Tokyo Station.
The long stretch of long-distance buses
parked in front of the construction zone is
always depressing to walk through.
There's an unfortunate trend for people to
travel long distance by bus instead of rail
- this in Japan with it's fantastic rail
system. Anyway, after the bus zone, I
enter the station and begin walking through
one of its concourses.
新宿駅に到着 (下り中央線) Arriving at Shinjuku Station
(Chuo Line) 130122
http://youtu.be/kueIiDQivSk
Beginning with a brief look down the middle
of a Chuo Line train, followed by the scene
out a side window as the train pulls into
Shinjuku Station. Getting off the
train, I go up to the south exit concourse.
Nighttime Stroll Along Shinjuku Southern
Terrace with Illumination Still Up (130122)
http://youtu.be/OyW1gjbYmBg
Probably due to the low power consumption of
LED lights, they leave the end-of-the-year
seasonal lighting up a lot longer than they
used to. In the case of lighting along
Shinjuku Southern Terrace, I think it will
be there until the end of this
month. It's cool that they leave it up
for a while - it really does look nice.
Magic Pyramid of Love Operation (Shinjuku
Terrace) 130122
http://youtu.be/xObJU4TIKJU
Around Christmas, there were a line of
couples trying this... attraction(?) out -
the arrangement being that they needed to
hold hands and each one would touch their
free hand to one of the pedestals, and the
short light and sound show would
occur. So... since there was no-one
there at all when I went by this evening, I
decided to try it out. Since I don't
have three hands, I held the camera in my
teeth while touching the sensors on the
pedestals (to complete the electrical
connection and start the mini-show going).
西新宿 (元淀橋) に入る Crossing into Nishi-Shinjuku
(130122)
http://youtu.be/kWqFOpjYsUA
Looking around in Shinjuku while waiting for
the walk light to change - and then crossing
over into Nishi-Shinjuku.
Ochanomizu to Hamamatsucho - Chuo and
Yamanote Lines (130124)
http://youtu.be/rRgaA76Zb44
This is a fairly long clip - starting on the
Chuo Line just after departing Ochanomizu
Station, covering the transfer at Kanda
Station, and then the ride to Hamamatsucho
Station.
At the 00:16 mark, hit the pause and you can
see an exposed stairwell of Manseibashi
Station (万世橋駅). A while back they
allowed a limited number of people into the
remains of the closed station to take
photos, and now they're doing something with
the remains - hopefully preserving enough of
the original station to keep things
interesting. The station used to be a
terminal station, and was similar in style
to the 1914 Tokyo Station. According
to Wikipedia:
"The private Kobu Railway (甲武鉄道) between
Tachikawa and Shinjuku was opened on April
11, 1889. The line was gradually
extended east towards the center of Tokyo
and was nationalized on October 1,
1906. The line was further extended
to Manseibashi Station, which was opened
on April 1, 1912 and remained the eastern
terminal station of the line for seven
years.
"The first station
building was designed by Tatsuno Kingo in
a style inspired by the Amsterdam Centraal
and repeated in his design of Tokyo
Station, opened two years later. A
statue of Takeo Hirose was erected in
front of the station."
"After the 1914 opening
of Tokyo Station, Manseibashi still served
as the eastern terminal station of the
Chuo Main Line until March 1, 1919, when
the line was further extended and Kanda
Station opened. The 1923 Great Kanto
earthquake destroyed the original station
building, and a simpler station building
was erected in its place. The statue
of Hirose was left standing.
"In 1925, the elevated
railway running through Ueno Station and
Akihabara Station was opened for passenger
traffic. Since both Akihabara and
Kanda stations were within walking
distance of Manseibashi, passenger numbers
at Manseibashi decreased. On April
26, 1936, the Railway Museum moved into
Manseibashi Station, and the station
building itself was scaled back in
November 1936. The station was
officially closed on November 1, 1943 and
the station building was completely torn
down. The statue was removed after
World War II."
"The train line
continues to run through the site, and it
is used for parking the occasional
train. The Tokyo Railway Museum
became the Transportation Museum in 1971,
and continued to operate on the site until
2006, when the museum was re-focused
towards railways and moved to Saitama,
Saitama as the Railway Museum.
"In July 2012, work
started to redevelop the site, with the
original redbrick structure forming the
basis of a new office and retail complex
scheduled to open in summer 2013. JR
East plans to build decks and a cafeteria
on the platform and open shops under the
bridge."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manseibashi_Station
Here's a Japanese (language) site that has a
several cool old pictures of the station and
the area around it:
http://www.geocities.jp/a1115b/sub43.htm
Drums at Zojoji Temple (Tokyo Tower in
Background) 増上寺の太鼓 (130124hd)
http://youtu.be/AlHIvTO3VhU
You need to have the sound turned up a fair
bit to hear them, but there are drums coming
from one of the Zojoji Temple buildings.
Akihabara Evening Side Street Stroll (A)
秋葉原夕方横道散歩 (130124hd)
http://youtu.be/WRX3Z5_9MsQ
This is how most of Akihabara used to be -
one big collection of electronic and
computer parts stores - now this sort of
thing is being increasingly crowded out with
computer games and theme-park-style cafes,
etc.
Exiting Akihabara Station 秋葉原駅を出る散歩散策
(130124)
http://youtu.be/fkBQthnVpkI
Walking Around in Akihabara 秋葉原駅散歩散策
(130124)
http://youtu.be/Y--JauBzXsY
As the title says - walking around... and I
would just comment that in this video, from
around the 03:22 mark, you can see young
women handing out flyers for what are
essentially cosplay cafe's - and from this
visit to the area, it appears that what's
more popular now than the maid uniform (that
you saw a lot of before in this area), are
high school mini-skirt uniform-wearing
women. I tried to avoid them, as my
purpose of visiting Akihabara was to record
the electronics shops, but in this section,
the street was saturated with them, so it
couldn't be helped. I tried to just
unobtrusively pass through, but still ended
up with a couple of advertising flyers in my
hand - one for a (I think) maid cafe and one
for a... I wonder what the correct term
is... high school uniform cafe?
Whatever!
Akihabara Computer Parts Stores (Akiba Side
Street) 秋葉原電気街 (130124)
http://youtu.be/iQD9pg5O8rs
Akihabara Computer Parts Stores Street View
(Akiba) 秋葉原散歩 (130124)
http://youtu.be/rJMqQE9gBgQ
Walking Towards Akihabara Station at Night
秋葉原駅に向かう (130124)
http://youtu.be/qhbaLn4_c5o
Akihabara Plaza at Night 夜の秋葉原プラザ (130124)
http://youtu.be/fKMNVzfCNIM
Notice right at the start of this video the
"AKB-48 CAFE & SHOP". I walked
over for a look and was fascinated [cough]
to discover that you can actually [cough]
buy AKB-48 cookies inside.... This...
is the new Akihabara.
Akihabara Evening Side Street Stroll (B)
秋葉原夕方横道散歩 (130124hd)
http://youtu.be/bonIMmpwj8s
Evening Yurakucho Plaza 夕方有楽町プラザ (130124hd)
http://youtu.be/gqrW02ELKGU
Near Yurakucho Station - Waiting for the
Light to Change (130124)
http://youtu.be/qkHdX22XPTM
Walking by Expanded Retail Space of Bic
Camera in Yurakucho (130124)
http://youtu.be/X3hPPv-1CpA
New use for under-the-tracks space
(00:39). For decades, these
under-the-tracks places were used mainly by
interesting izakaya places, but now JR is
very enthusiastic about retail shops, and so
here we are - with Bic Camera having
expanded its retail space over from the
neighboring building (former Sogo Department
Store). Functional, practical,
convenient - and (unfortunately)
soulless. Nostalgia doesn't pay the
bills, but the old small shops had so much
more atmosphere.
Chuo Line Nighttime Side-Window View
(Ochanomizu to Shinjuku) 130124
http://youtu.be/F2UIsaz_y6s
Departing Shinjuku via Late Night Chuo Line
Train 中央線夜遅く (130124)
http://youtu.be/MQgo5fwQtNM
Nakano Station Concourse at Night 夜の中野駅通路
(130124)
http://youtu.be/No1ZKCK4NAw
Nakano Side-Streets (A) 中野夜遅く横道 (130124)
http://youtu.be/hf96k_QrTSI
Nakano Side-Streets (B) 中野夜遅く横道 (130124)
http://youtu.be/NDJP2lQ2Iks
Above and below - four videos of walking
around on the back streets of Nakano fairly
late in the evening - around 9:00 p.m.
Some areas like this have become sort of
like theme-park attractions (as an example,
Omoide-yokocho in Shinjuku), but this area
is still the real thing. Honest back
streets where you can wander around free
from the
noise/smell/vibration/inconvenience/etc. of
fire-breathing machinery - how nice the
whole city must have been before the
invention of the bloody automobile.
Cars may be wonderful out in the
countryside, but they're horrible in the
city.
Nakano Side-Streets (C) 中野夜遅く横道 (130124)
http://youtu.be/yQEcLC82gPI
Nakano Side-Streets (D) 中野夜遅く横道 (130124)
http://youtu.be/1A22A5j0OBI
Boarding All-Green Yamanote Line Train
(130124)
http://youtu.be/TTX7zov-kSM
As I mentioned further up the page - it was
a bit of a time-warp experience to come
across this all-green Yamanote Line
train. 一瞬タイムスリップしてしまったと思った！ -
50周年みどりの山手線, 103系電車誕生, 50th
Anniversary Green Yamanote Line train.
Arriving at Shinbashi in an All-Green
Yamanote Line Train 130124
http://youtu.be/lUiMl9unJzg
50周年みどりの山手線 (103系電車誕生) 50th Anniversary
Green Yamanote (130124)
http://youtu.be/ZXM6bOFBG78
Jack Daniel's Shop in Ginza 銀座のジャックダニエル居酒屋店
(130124)
http://youtu.be/3fBlFG-j-Qc
This is pretty interesting-looking, but it
might be temporary - there's a very strong
trend to tear down all small buildings in
Ginza and replace them with large
ones. I suspect the owner of this
small lot is just renting out the space on
temporary short contracts, while waiting for
neighboring land to open up, so they can
tear down all the small stuff and build
another big box. It's really
depressing to watch actually, because the
smaller buildings are where the most
interesting things are in Ginza. If
they tear them all down, it may well become
a boring place - suitable only for
overpriced "brand" garbage... I hope not,
but the current trend isn't so great....
Yurakucho Plaza Look-Around at Night
夜の有楽町プラザ見回り (130124)
http://youtu.be/EproeJw2eR4
Yurakucho Street Scenes 有楽町ある冬夜の道 (130124)
http://youtu.be/C3gXVRxCoKA
Lyle
2013/01/20
"Snow!, Shinagawa, Hamamatsucho, Ginza,
Kokusai Forum, S47 Site, Chuo Line, Etc."
The two things that stand out (to me) in
this batch of videos are the fairly heavy
snowfall that Tokyo experienced and a visit
to the 47-Ronin graves at Sengakuji Temple
泉岳寺. I'm a bit shy on time right now,
so there may not be much in the way of
comments by the videos this time - hopefully
the titles are self-explanatory.
Ebisu-Shinagawa Side Window and Cab Views
恵比寿-品川 電車からの景色 (130117g)
http://youtu.be/REhjaVLcmns
For several stations, I looked out a side
window (on the right), but I moved to the
front of the train and looked out the front
cab for the last hop of the trip, going from
Osaki to Shinagawa. It's an
interesting part of the Yamanote Line, as it
makes a fairly sharp turn to the left that
starts the train heading north towards
Shinagawa, Yurakucho, Tokyo, Akihabara,
Ueno, etc. At the top of the loop, the
line runs west for a little before heading
south (basically making two 90-degree
turns), so the bottom part of the loop is
the only place where it takes that sharp of
a turn (more than 90-degrees) between
stations.
Shinagawa to Hamamatsucho (Yamanote Line)
品川-浜松町 (山手線) 130117g
http://youtu.be/G0ieQo1FjBg
Hamamatsucho to Yurakucho (Yamanote Line)
浜松町-有楽町 (山手線) 130117g
http://youtu.be/UGaQCTNSirs
Looking Around Inside of Kokusai Forum
国際フォーラム内を見回る (130117g)
http://youtu.be/oZoX7B89B6o
The Kokusai Forum is quite visually
interesting... of the two videos, I like the
way the first part of the video taken while
exiting the space (below) turned out.
Exiting Kokusai Forum 国際フォーラムを見ながら出る
(130117g)
http://youtu.be/vfhBPN8EG5U
Departing Shinjuku Station (Late Night)
夜遅く新宿駅から出発 (130117g)
http://youtu.be/OfAnc4_RDpw
I keep saying this, but take a good look at
how the Yamanote Line platform looks,
because it won't look this way for very much
longer. The next step is it will be
under construction for some time and then
they'll put in the platform walls...
Chuo Line Snow - Kokubunji to Kichijoji
中央線雪, 国分寺-吉祥寺 (130115)
http://youtu.be/tTfBdRtNj6o
These side window pictures from the Chuo
Line (three - together covering one trip
from Kokubunji to Kanda [and then a fourth
video covers Kanda to Tokyo and Yurakucho])
were taken the day after the big January
14th snow, so a lot of the snow had already
melted, but since so much had fallen the day
before, a fair amount remained and the
whiteness of the landscape is unusual for
Tokyo. Since the train wasn't crowded
at all, I went back and forth between the
left and right sides of the train - with
most of the first part of the trip being
recorded on the left, but then the Nakano to
Shinjuku part on the right and the rest of
the trip more evenly on both sides.
Chuo Line Snow - Kichijoji to Koenji 中央線雪 -
吉祥寺-高円寺 (130115)
http://youtu.be/grS4-xhbKkA
Chuo Line Snow - Koenji to Kanda 中央線雪 -
高円寺-神田 (130115)
http://youtu.be/Nn_gk69L-sw
This a long one, with the Nakano to Shinjuku
part of the trip (as I mentioned above)
being recorded on the right side of the
train, so you can see the high-rise
buildings of Shinjuku gradually get bigger
on the horizon as the train speeds towards
Shinjuku. After Shinjuku, I went back
and forth more evenly, recording from both
sides of the train.
Kanda to Yurakucho via Chuo and Yamanote
Lines 神田-有楽町 - 東京駅で乗換え (130115)
http://youtu.be/EFUcLYPHIdk
I had been planning to transfer to the
Yamanote Line at Kanda, but ended up staying
on the Chuo Line and riding it to its
terminal stop Tokyo Station, where I
transferred to the Yamanote Line and rode
the one stop down the line to Yurakucho
Station.
Ebisu Station Platform - Sights and Sounds
恵比寿駅 (130117hd)
http://youtu.be/96cwUHsXvIs
A major (*the* major?) part of this video is
its audio. While I waited for a train
to arrive, there was nearly a symphony of
competing noises - from the slightly
obnoxious repeating message about the
escalator being under construction (being
repaired actually, but they use the term 工事中
[koji-chu - under construction] in
Japanese), to the various typical platform
announcements. It's in stereo, so if
you want to know how the station sounds,
hook this one up to a stereo (or better yet,
play it through headphones) and play it loud
- it'll give you a very good idea of how it
sounds to be waiting for a train at Ebisu!
Snowing in the Woods - January 14th, 2013
林の雪 (130114)
http://youtu.be/aIpObItwybY
Tokyo Big Snowstorm - January 14th, 2013 -
(130114)
http://youtu.be/xij9qfIg-Ls
Very Snowy Tokyo Park (130114)
http://youtu.be/LYzD1C-T8DM
Heavy Snow - White Tree Branches 雪雪雪
(130114hd)
http://youtu.be/WZKQ40TFTNA
Snow Along Tamagawa-Josui 雪雪雪 (130114hd)
http://youtu.be/8cfQUi2r2Hw
Heavy Snow in Tokyo - January 14th, 2013 雪雪雪
(130114hd)
http://youtu.be/l9GcDIUeTeo
Looking Around on the West Side of Shinagawa
Station 品川駅西側 (130117hd)
http://youtu.be/tpHfPLEZcbw
Light Clouds Drifting by Tokyo Tower
(130117hd)
http://youtu.be/y9OTUs1IbxM
サロンど東京春秋展 Ginza-One (銀座ワン) January 2013
Group Exhibition - (130115hd)
http://youtu.be/PkVq5UeO89g
Tobu-Tojo Line Side View to Kita-Sakado
(Snow) 東武東上線北坂戸まで (雪) 130116
http://youtu.be/IgUxM45kZwQ
Seibu-Shinjuku Line Front Snow View to
Hon-Kawagoe 西武新宿線 - 本川越駅まで (130116)
http://youtu.be/6p8jkMsj6P8
Personally, I think this video is a bit
boring. It does show the snow on the
railway through the front cab - but it would
have been better to have taken pictures out
a side window. Actually, I wanted to
do both, but the train was so crowded, that
I couldn't get to either side of the train,
so I was stuck in that one position -
looking through the front cab.
Ginza Side Street 銀座の横道 (130115)
http://youtu.be/KssSoNJZoN4
Yurakucho Platform Walk and Ride to Tokyo
有楽町駅など (130115)
http://youtu.be/F-JYmztEzfE
Alley Stroll in Ginza 銀座の裏道 (130115)
http://youtu.be/YuCI2FeaCTk
Waiting for the Next Train at Tokyo Station
東京駅で待っている (130115)
http://youtu.be/7S8McKaqMIM
Looking into the Night - Chuo Line Side
Window View 夜の中央線 (130116)
http://youtu.be/FXyKJZ5rxD8
A night view of snow on the ground as seen
out a side window of a speeding train.
Saitama Countryside in Snow 埼玉の雪景色 (130116)
http://youtu.be/uf8Ey6Gpbl8
Tobu-Tojo Line to Asakadai (Snow)
東武東上線朝霞台駅まで (130116)
http://youtu.be/3lSe6HAP0a0
Departing Shinjuku via Shonan-Shinjuku Line
(Snow) 湘南新宿線 130117
http://youtu.be/7GDdWvUbluA
Shinjuku to Ebisu - Shonan-Shinjuku Line
新宿-恵比寿 - 湘南新宿線 (130117)
http://youtu.be/92VHO_GVU-g
Exiting Shinagawa Station via Takanawa Side
品川駅高輪口から出る (130117)
http://youtu.be/1-rKiPHgDgg
Walking Towards Takanawa Area from Shinagawa
Station (130117)
http://youtu.be/fTw0E4ePwWg
Area Under Construction in Takanawa 高輪工事
(130117)
http://youtu.be/S4hqU_EnhnU
Spot Midway to S47 - Takanawa, Minato-ku
(130117)
http://youtu.be/xTv7ixCNZ38
Visiting S47 Site at Sengakuji Temple 泉岳寺 -
雪あり (130117)
http://youtu.be/kLtubFkjkYc
Not the first time to visit the graves of
the 47 samurai/ronin, but the first time to
go there when there was snow on the
ground. The story is that the event
took place on a day with a big snowfall, so
it seemed appropriate to see Sengakuji
Temple with snow on the ground.
Looking Around at S47 Site at Sengakuji
Temple 泉岳寺 (雪あり) 130117
http://youtu.be/UA9iQWWdb6E
Leaving S47 Site at Sengakuji Temple 泉岳寺
(雪あり) 130117
http://youtu.be/WSrHZJx0cWU
Approaching Takanawa Entrance to Shinagawa
Station 品川駅高輪口 (130117)
http://youtu.be/ERg-lVYPnIU
Entering Shinagawa Station from Takanawa
Side 品川駅高輪口から入る (130117)
http://youtu.be/9fPBQPTXf1A
Shinagawa Yamanote Platform Walk 品川駅ホーム散歩
(130117)
http://youtu.be/RW42Xbx5j_I
Hamamatsucho Station (Platform to Exit)
浜松町駅ホームから出口まで (130117)
http://youtu.be/nhVWMzrGPxU
Hamamatsucho - Building Being Demolished
浜松町工事 (130117)
http://youtu.be/KzbnaYdSv8c
Shibadaimon Walkthrough 芝大門散歩 (130117)
http://youtu.be/YA9FDs_NgsM
Looking Up at Tokyo Tower 東京タワーを上に見る
(130117)
http://youtu.be/SxgLlpeIgnU
Under the Bridge in Yurakucho 夕方有楽町橋の下
(130117)
http://youtu.be/NajWyUIBdME
Walking into Ginza in the Twilight 夕方銀座に入る
(130117)
http://youtu.be/96rLwnvfQZw
Lyle
2013/01/14
"Shibuya, Zojoji Temple, Asaka,
Yurakucho, Shinagawa, Shinjuku,
Keisei-Narita Airport Line, Etc"
No time-tripping in this batch - all the
videos are from January 2013 - with typical
views from here and there in central
Tokyo. What stands out for me are the
videos taken near Asakadai and Kita-Asaka
Stations; the twilight views of Zojoji (with
Tokyo Tower in the background); the new
Keisei Narita Airport Line (why names of new
lines have to be so long, I don't know...);
and a fully mechanical rope-making machine
that I recorded in action. Otherwise
are pretty typically visited areas: Shibuya,
Shinjuku, Yurakucho, Ginza, Shinagawa,
Tokyo, Hamamatsucho, etc., as well as train
views (Chuo Line, Yamanote Line, Hibiya
Line, Keisei Line(s), etc.
Shibuya Hachiko Square - Afternoon View
渋谷八個広場 (午後) 130110g
http://youtu.be/sZfP_RNsM3Q
The type of train carriage this opens with
is unusual in that the base is wider than
the top - it looks pretty cool, but I always
ended up banging my head on the glass when
sitting down, since I expected it to be
where it was on other trains, and it was
angled in towards the top on this
type. I'm glad they have this cab
version of that type of train sitting in
Hachiko Plaza/Square, but always find myself
wishing they had left its wheels on.
This is definitely more practical, but....
After looking in the old train carriage
(which is used as a waiting area now, which
is a great idea), I walk around a little in
the eternal meeting spot that the area
around Hachiko Stature is. One thing
about it that has changed is that it wasn't
really well known outside Japan a few
decades back, but now it's a standard
tourist destination and appears to be
well-known worldwide.
Shibuya to Ebisu (Yamanote Line) 渋谷から恵比寿まで
(山手線) 130110g
http://youtu.be/NQEewazi4Wk
How many times have I walked down this
Yamanote Line platform at Shibuya
Station? It feels like my whole life,
but has been only ("only?") about 30
years. As I look at this video now and
think back to my early experiences in
Shibuya Station in the 1980's, I have a
feeling of the area having been vacated by
the people who crowded there three decades
ago, who were replaced by another set of
young people... and that's pretty much
exactly what has happened. There's a
weird feeling of some kind of disconnect -
of the place not being used to the new crowd
yet and the new crowd not knowing the
history of the place very well (if at
all)...? Or something else...
something about the group-think of the new
crowd being so different than before.
At what point do the mental broadcast
frequencies change so radically?
Riding to Ebisu... with the bland (and in
the case of the English-language version,
extraordinarily irritating) recorded
announcement instead of the conductor
speaking to everyone on the train live, as
was the case before. And Ebisu
Station! In 1991, it was just a single
open platform - as you can see in this video
from July 1991 (which also has the tail end
of a live announcement at the beginning):
Ebisu Station in July 1991 - 1991年7月の恵比寿駅
http://youtu.be/wanxYIwsdDs
Listening again to the 2013 English
announcement... man I hate that
announcement! "This is a Yamanote Line
train BOUND For [Station names]...."
Yuck! If you're going to force people
to listen to something
over-and-over-and-over-and-over again,
day-after-day-after-day,
week-after-week-after-week,
month-after-month-after-month,
year-after-year-after-year, you should put
some effort into finding someone with a
pleasing voice who can read announcements
professionally!
Twilight View of Tokyo Tower Behind Zojoji
Temple 夕方の東京タワーと増上寺 (130110g)
http://youtu.be/sU5vPphSI8c
Twilight - with the temple, clouds overhead,
and illuminated Tokyo Tower in the
background, made for that feeling of magic
in the air. I had only intended to
take the short video above, but then I heard
the bell toll and went back to take the
following video to get the sound of the
temple bell and the surrounding twilight
scene....
Something I hadn't noticed before is how the
large post (correct term?) used for ringing
the bell has to be handled carefully to keep
it from hitting the bell a second time -
which stands to reason - it's a really large
and heavy object - basically a long log in
size and weight.
Zojoji Temple - Twilight Bell Ringing
夕方の増上寺鐘が鳴る (130110g)
http://youtu.be/B-b0hZPPy_0
Asakadai Station Platform View 朝霞台ホームビュー
(130109hdg)
http://youtu.be/7YG7Ni5Cqfk
The train that pulls out of the station at
the beginning of the video is one of the
oldest types still in use on the Tobu-Tojo
Line. I've been riding in that type of
train carriage (on and off) for close to 30
years now, so I feel some sense of nostalgia
watching it and knowing that its days are
numbered. The train that pulls out
just past the one minute mark is one of the
trains that run seamlessly into the subway
(becoming the Yurakucho Line).
Side Road Trackside Night Stroll (Asaka)
夜の朝霞鉄道隣見 (130109g)
http://youtu.be/VBwFo_qpH80
The two stations (Asakadai and Kita-Asaka)
and the cluster of companies around them
form the center of the area, so walking up
to the stations is like entering the center
of a small town in a way.
Mechanical Rope-Making Machine 素晴らしいメカ縄作り機械
(130108g)
http://youtu.be/OkD2llbfLmE
This machine was quite impressive!
Fully mechanical with no electronics and no
need for electricity, all you need is plant
material (in this case rice plant stalks),
and to rotate it via the foot petal (there
are two pedals, but he was operating it with
just the front one), and you can make your
own rope. One older guy came by and
said that there used to be one in the town
he lived in while growing up, and people in
the neighborhood would all use it to make
their own rope.
Yurakucho Station Area Night Sights and
Sounds 有楽町駅街頭の風景 (130110g)
http://youtu.be/vUnVQh9UfIU
Walking under a rail bridge towards Ginza as
a Shinkansen passes by overhead - the
end-of-year seasonal illumination still
installed.
Bookstore Aisle Cruising 本屋通路散歩 (130110g)
http://youtu.be/WxyRYOoljZ4
While you can't beat the convenience of
clicking on a title you want on your
computer and having it delivered to your
door, you also can't beat the pleasure of
wandering around a good-sized bookstore and
seeing a large collection of books that you
can pick up, look through, and buy Right
Now, as opposed to waiting for a delivery.
Yurakucho Izakaya Cold and Slow Night
有楽町居酒屋寒い夜 (130110g)
http://youtu.be/u8aGy1p-bF8
It was a cold and windy evening - and on a
cold and windy evening, people are much less
inclined to want to go to an outside
izakaya. The izakaya places in this
video have set up heaters and curtained off
the outside areas, but it's not the same as
going somewhere that is just Warm, and not
semi-warm, with regular cold blasts of
winter air as people come and go.
However, the two places in that tunnel under
the tracks seem to do good business all year
round.
Yurakucho Trains in the Night 有楽町夜の電車を見る
(130110g)
http://youtu.be/dOBusIFJ9pE
Looking around from one of the platforms of
Yurakucho Station. The clear winter
air makes the lights seem brighter and the
gleaming Shinkansen looks nice as it goes
by....
夜の品川駅前 Area in Front of Shinagawa Station at
Night (130110g)
http://youtu.be/Bidun-M9RGs
Walking out of Shinagawa Station and into
the winter night.
22:00 Tokyo Station (Tokaido Line, Etc)
夜の東京駅 (東海道線など) 130110g
http://youtu.be/zqGxBFbwULQ
Taking the Tokaido Line to Tokyo Station and
then walking down into one of the station
concourses.
Waiting for a Train (Shinjuku) 電車来るまでを待っている
(新宿) 130108
http://youtu.be/h69IO3DAZ8s
I walked onto the platform at a gap in the
schedule, when there were almost no trains
at the station (and none at all for a little
between Yamanote Line trains).
Depending on the ebb and flow of people,
gaps like this can produce quite a crowd on
the platforms, but it wasn't crowded this
particular time - nevertheless the timed
recording read with the overly-smooth
forced-informal and artificially-jovial tone
saying to please properly deal with crowded
conditions drones on....
Visually, you might want to take a good hard
look at how the open platforms look in this
one, because they're constructing platform
walls (just over a meter high, so like a
fence) on the Yamanote Line now, so it's
only a matter of time before this takes on a
completely different appearance.
I can't argue that platform walls are safer,
and given how crowded the platforms
sometimes become, combined with a reduced
number of railway employees on hand, it's
probably a great idea, but the current open
platforms are more interesting visually and
photographically.
And then there's energy... for one Yamanote
Line platform at one station, if each
platform wall door (two per opening) uses
one motor, how much power is consumed each
time a train comes in? Eleven
carriages, four double-doors per carriage,
so 44 openings, doubled to 88 since the
platform wall doors are also double
doors. 88 electric motors running for
each and every train (every few minutes on
the Yamanote Line) at each and every
station. It seems to me it would have
made more sense to install platform walls
with openings where the train doors are, and
skipped the platform doors. With a
door-gapped wall, there's something to grab
onto even if you start to fall where one of
the gaps are. When I used the Ikegami
Line, that's the system they use (and still
do I think). It's safer than an open
platform and you don't have the tremendous
financial costs and waste of energy that the
powered door version requires. Here's
what the Ikegami Line looked like in 2010
(and presumably still does):
Hatanodai Station - People Getting On &
Off an Ikegami Line Train 池上線 - (100112)
http://youtu.be/sktreuwxZ8g
And back to the general appearance of the
platforms at Shinjuku Station on the evening
I took this video. This view gives you
an idea of how long the platforms are for
10-car (and 11 for the Yamanote Line) trains
are. (Some main JR line stations have
platforms that accommodate 15-car trains.)
Shinjuku Station Late-Night Stroll (South
Exit Area) 130108
http://youtu.be/zcRp7BDIDfQ
Walking around on the concourse near the
south exit. I spent a little too much
time on the team of advertisement changers
working to remove a cover-everything
advertisement, but I thought it was kind of
interesting at the time and hadn't seen that
process before. After spending too
much time on the concourse, I walk down to
one of the Yamanote Line platforms.
Keisei-Nippori Station Platform View -
Boarding Train 日暮里駅 (130108hd)
http://youtu.be/RRvinQBBnSc
I went out to Narita Airport and tried out
(midway, after transferring from the first
Keisei train I took) the new speedier Keisei
line (which goes in more of a straight line
to the airport and runs up to about 120kph)
to the airport. It costs Y200 more
than the fastest non-Skyliner Keisei train
that runs on the original Keisei tracks, but
gets you there ten minutes faster (by
regular train express, not Skyliner - the
new Skyliner goes up to 160kph and takes
much less time). The new line confusingly
goes by three (or more?!) names:
"Keisei Narita Airport Line" and "Narita Sky
Access" and "Access Express", etc.
(京成成田空港線 - 成田スカイアクセス - 成田空港アクセス, etc.)
On a map at this link, the two lines are
labeled "Keisei Main Line" and "Access
Express":
http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/skyliner/us/
The history is interesting - apparently part
of the new track was laid on what was
originally right-of-way intended for a
Shinkansen link to the airport (the Keisei
Line runs on wider gauge than most rail
lines in Tokyo, by the way, using the same
gauge as the Shinkansen tracks I think):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keisei_Narita_Airport_Line
The new line is really cool, but why are
there so many different names for it?
What are we supposed to call it? Given
that there are at least three names for it,
I guess we can call it whatever we
like? Free-for-all in naming?
Not trying to be unfriendly here, but having
three (or more?) different names for the
same thing is really confusing.
Stopping at New Station on Keisei-Narita
Airport Line (130108hd)
http://youtu.be/11RphcDVQ10
Yurakucho Station Platform (Afternoon View)
午後の有楽町駅 (130108hd)
http://youtu.be/tgq1QIb-Apo
Again, have a good look at how the open
platforms look, because this scene won't
last forever.
Yurakucho Under-Bridge View 有楽町橋下ビュー
(130108hd)
http://youtu.be/ztQe4Y_trAk
Walking through that little time-slip alley
right by the station. It's quite
short, but really feels like it's from a
completely different era.
Kita-Asaka to Asakadai Transfer, Etc
北朝霞駅から朝霞台駅までなど (130109hd)
http://youtu.be/KyzWrGeQq1s
With a transfer like this, it seems like it
would have been better to have used the same
station name for the two stations that
people regularly transfer to and from.
As it is, the Tobu-Tojo Line station is
called Asakadai Station, and the JR station
is called Kita-Asaka.
The next several videos are all from the
area around the Kita-Asaka and Asakadai pair
of stations. I transfer here from
time-to-time, but I hadn't really taken a
good look at the area before, so I slotted
in some time to just walk around and see
what it's like.
Trains, Cars, and Bicycles 電車, 自動車と自転車
(130109hd)
http://youtu.be/ES6f40NUajU
Freight Train Passing Through Kita-Asaka
Station 北朝霞駅 (130109hd)
http://youtu.be/O1qmCR5sczY
Looking Around in Front of Kita-Asaka
Station 北朝霞駅前 (130109hd)
http://youtu.be/S8yCICBwaz8
Taxis, Sidewalk, Buildings and a Train 北朝霞駅前
(130109hd)
http://youtu.be/RR_EPSMu2Cg
Asakadai Station Concourse and Transfer to
Kita-Asaka 朝霞台駅と北朝霞駅 (130109hd)
http://youtu.be/uhH0mWaMP0Q
The next several videos are from my recent
trip out to Narita Airport:
Keisei Tokkyu to Aoto (Narita Bound) 京成特急
(青砥駅へ, 成田行き) 130108
http://youtu.be/h7LLftDCYlc
Keisei Line Racing Another Train 京成線電車のレース
(130108)
http://youtu.be/eMkCG8EQ-WA
Keisei Narita Airport Line - Speeding
Towards Narita Airport (1of4) 130108
http://youtu.be/ivzw1BkaQV0
Keisei Narita Airport Line - Speeding
Towards Narita Airport (2of4) 130108
http://youtu.be/wgbrIXx5rzg
Keisei Narita Airport Line - Speeding
Towards Narita Airport (3of4) 130108
http://youtu.be/1E3rbNq_oKQ
Keisei Narita Airport Line - Speeding
Towards Narita Airport (4of4) 130108
http://youtu.be/5Y5rbVE1Ihw
Daytime Tunnel Reflections (130108)
http://youtu.be/xpkTY_kIc-c
Keisei Narita Airport Line - Arriving at
Narita Airport 空港第２ビル駅 (130108)
http://youtu.be/r7C2D6febwI
Narita Airport Keisei Station Platform -
Building Number Two 空港第２ビル駅 (130108)
http://youtu.be/QG4CBrf0e44
Be sure to pay attention to platform numbers
when getting on a train.
The next three videos are side window views
from a Chuo Line train.
Chuo Line - Mitaka to Nakano 中央線三鷹から中野まで
(130108)
http://youtu.be/XN6jXlOPmKY
Chuo Line - Nakano to Yotsuya 中央線 - 中野から四谷まで
(130108)
http://youtu.be/6ngk8Cdr61s
Chuo Line - Yotsuya to Kanda 中央線四谷から神田まで
(130108)
http://youtu.be/ffLFjOH31N8
Kanda Station Under Construction - Ride to
Yurakucho (130108)
http://youtu.be/ildcGdl48Tc
This is a fairly long video - I had
originally intended to just show the
transfer from the Chuo Line to the Yamanote
Line at Kanda Station, but it appears to
have entered a difference phase of
reconstruction than the last time I passed
through, so I paused to look around a little
inside the station, and then went up to
catch a Yamanote Line train. Since a
train came pretty soon after I got there, I
left the camera running and also recorded
the run to Yurakucho.
About the recorded birdsong in the stations
- I haven't done any research into this, but
while I thought it was an attempt at making
a pleasant atmosphere at first, now I think
it might be an anti-pigeon measure? If
a pigeon thinks an area is already claimed
territory by other birds, maybe it stays
away? Just conjecture, but the way the
recorded birdsong is used at so many
stations, there must be some reason for it.
On the way to Yurakucho, the train stops at
Tokyo Station - and regarding that platform,
which still has (over most of the platform)
a wooden roof and support beams, I think
this is the last platform with this old type
roof (dating back to?) left at Tokyo
Station. I remember the skylights as
having been installed in the late eighties,
by the way. They didn't originally
have those.
Those bloody recorded announcements... "The
doors on the LEFT SIDE will open."
Ugh! Yuck! Man I hate those
horrible English announcements!
気持ち悪いよ！ 止めてくれ！
Kyobashi New Building Construction 京橋ビル工事
(130108)
http://youtu.be/YxW-WJZHzd4
This is a short one, but if you look closely
you can see them lifting one of the outside
sections into place, which I thought was
sort of interesting.
Bamboo Installation at Kobo - January2013
竹のインスタレーション (130108)
http://youtu.be/XkJyP_rjeFw
An installation of bundles of split bamboo.
Tobu-Tojo Line - Side Window View 東武東上線左側の景色
(130109)
http://youtu.be/pY_QTPMezEc
Looking out a left-side window of an
outgoing Tobu-Tojo Line train. There's
enough open space along the railway line
where I took this video, that it's kind of
relaxing to watch the scenery go by.
When there are large buildings right next to
a train line, there's nothing you can rest
your eyes on, since the entire scene going
by the windows is constantly changing.
It's interesting, but also kind of stressful
to try and keep track of. With open
space though, you can stare off into the
distance and drift into one deep thought or
another.
Speaking of deep thoughts... one of the
attractions of going out into the crowds in
Tokyo is that basic navigation requirements
and constantly changing surroundings prevent
you from thinking about anything very deeply
- which is a good way to not be depressed!
Okay - here we come to a long stretch of
videos showing various views of the area
around Asakadai and Kita-Asaka. "Wait
- didn't that already happen further up the
page?" - It did, but those were taken with a
different camera than this batch. The
titles are pretty self-explanatory, so I
won't comment much on this batch.
Exiting Asakadai Station 朝霞台駅の改札口 (130109)
http://youtu.be/x4MssCgtClw
Underground Bicycle Parking (A) 自転車駐車場
(130109)
http://youtu.be/Eh4NlbKfhUM
Underground Bicycle Parking (B) 自転車駐車場
(130109)
http://youtu.be/9czzOrrgfbc
Asakadai to Kita-Asaka Transfer
朝霞台駅-北朝霞駅乗り換え (130109)
http://youtu.be/4qnBt3FqXkU
Elevator Ride (A) Looking Around (Asaka) 朝霞
(130109)
http://youtu.be/ObVZInXGxcE
Atrium Views and Kita-Asaka Station 北朝霞駅
(130109)
http://youtu.be/6lY9M9c_e9E
Elevator Ride (B) Looking Around (Asaka) 朝霞
(130109)
http://youtu.be/yq1Lv9G6xVA
Area In Front of Kita-Asaka Station 北朝霞駅前
(130109)
http://youtu.be/3fSQYYRmEZw
Asaka Trackside Lookaround 朝霞鉄道隣の見回り
(130109)
http://youtu.be/CCObPTBRFUQ
Tobu Line Train Passing Vertical Flags
東武東上線電車が通り過ぎる (130109)
http://youtu.be/QRz-7ekYLxc
Twilight Asakadai Station Concourse 夕方の朝霞台駅
(130109)
http://youtu.be/mD2NgbvQv2I
Outbound Commuter Train Passing in the Night
夜の電車通り過ぎる (130109)
http://youtu.be/Lg64guufcXY
Outbound Commuter Train Passing in the Night
夜の電車が通り過ぎる (130109)
http://youtu.be/lsEWkvdGFUs
Flags and Trains in the Night 夜の電車が行ったり来たり
(130109)
http://youtu.be/2D9yFe-YhF4
Pedestrian Spiral Stairs and Passing Night
Train 夜の電車 (130109)
http://youtu.be/J0qAmlEZ__U
Atmosphere is something that is hard to
convey to people in far-off lands, but I
suppose moving pictures with sound go some
way towards conveying something of the
experience. For me watching this video
reminds me how your perception of the world
changes when you live a car-free (except all
the fire-breathing beasts everywhere... I
mean "car-free" in the sense of doing
without one yourself) existence. You
get around by train, and when on the street,
instead of nervously thinking about the
place you left the car - whether a parking
meter might run out, whether the paint will
get scratched, whether it will be
vandalized, how much parking will cost, etc.
etc. etc., you are completely free to just
take in your surroundings. I'm sure my
car-breathing friends will not
agree/comprehend with that, but take it from
a former car-addict - there are very real
advantages to doing without your very own
fire-breathing beast on wheels.
Anyway - I think I blasted right off into a
tirade there without properly explaining my
point. Oh well.
One detail comment about this one - notice
the ramp on the side of the stairs?
That's for bicycles - not to ride them of
course, but to wheel them up and down the
ramp while you walk on the stairs.
People Boarding Bus by Asakadai Station
朝霞台駅隣のバス停人々 (130109)
http://youtu.be/-ZqE8fx9HxE
I generally don't like riding in buses, but
they provide some welcome variation from the
train experience from time to time.
Bus Departs Asakadai Station Bus Stop
朝霞台駅隣のバスが出発 (130109)
http://youtu.be/e0lXyiLo1GY
Crowds of Evening Commuters Transferring at
Asakadai and Kita-Asaka (130109)
http://youtu.be/lPB3ZbOJ4wA
Evening Rush Transfer - Asakadai--Kita-Asaka
朝霞台駅-北朝霞駅夜乗り換え (130109)
http://youtu.be/sqh5Wiw5yH0
Joining River of People Flowing By 人々川に入る
(130109)
http://youtu.be/NrFVDO4gCtY
The title of this one refers to when I got
into a steady flow of people heading from
Asakadai Station to Kita-Asaka Station, but
it goes all the through to arriving on the
elevated platform of Kita-Asaka Station.
Evening Rush Musashino Line Train Arrives at
Kita-Asaka 夜ラッシューの北朝霞駅 (130109)
http://youtu.be/Gw6Q30Qe168
After walking around Asaka for a while,
finally I get back on a train and continue
on my way.
Hibiya Line Front Cab View
(Ebisu-Kasumigaseki) 日比谷線 (恵比寿-霞ヶ関) 130110
http://youtu.be/0AqZ8XmZ_LI
Looking into the tunnel through the front
cab (via the small window on the far right
away from the driver). There's
something fascinating about looking into the
tunnel and imagining the work of building it
- and the train rolling along the rails down
in the earth with the city above....
Shinjuku South Exit Concourse (Afternoon)
お昼すぎの新宿駅 (130110)
http://youtu.be/9W30Yh7_0o4
Shinjuku to Shibuya (Yamanote Line) 新宿から渋谷まで
(山手線) 130110
http://youtu.be/o5dlJssR3B0
Walking down a Yamanote Line platform in the
afternoon and then boarding a train and
riding to Shibuya while looking out a
left-side window.
Entering the Subway System at Ebisu Station
(Hibiya Line) 恵比寿駅 日比谷線 (130110)
http://youtu.be/6LcR2J-1Azk
Kasumigaseki to Kayabacho (Hibiya Line)
霞ヶ関から神谷町まで (日比谷線) 130110
http://youtu.be/KQ7T7Q04aSI
Taking a Hibiya Line subway ride from
Kasumigaseki to Kayabacho - looking into the
tunnel along the way. Not exciting,
but the pattern of lights and shadows
passing by is a part of the experience of
riding in subway trains.
Small Park in Minato-ku 港区にある公園 (130110)
http://youtu.be/jv4w9clnCUE
LED Archway at Base of Tokyo Tower 東京タワー
(130110)
http://youtu.be/hUr-gA6WymA
Night Yamanote Line - Front Cab View
(Yurakucho to Shinagawa) 130110
http://youtu.be/svEhHgv6E4U
Looking out the front of the train between
Yurakucho and Shinagawa. Central Tokyo
is more interesting in a way at night, what
with all the lights. On this run all
the platforms were open, which is something
that will change before long.
Hamamatsucho - Ticket Gates to Platform
浜松町駅_改札からホームまで (130110)
http://youtu.be/bT_FCyI5BCI
Evening Yurakucho Station 夕方有楽町駅 (130110)
http://youtu.be/m79xz2IvMKE
Ginza Side Street Glimpse (130110)
http://youtu.be/BNAf2PTHfoI
Quick Walk Through Ginza Inz (130110)
http://youtu.be/4KLu9vYpwto
These shops are below an elevated
expressway.
Snow Sculpture in Yurakucho Plaza 有楽町広場の雪彫刻
(130110)
http://youtu.be/CcBYaN0PjWY
The snow used to make these snow sculptures
was either transported to Tokyo or
artificially manufactured. (Either
that or they used a time machine to grab
some January 14th snow and take it back to
January 10th!)
Yurakucho 2nd Floor Seasonal Illumination
有楽町イルミネーション (130110)
http://youtu.be/VtqQZOSlvbo
Light Display and Books (Yurakucho)
イルミネーションと本 (有楽町) 130110
http://youtu.be/_yXCE5JvpE0
After walking around looking at part of an
illumination display up close, I walked into
a large bookstore and walked abound a
bit. This bookstore is in a great
location - very near to Yurakucho Station,
and it always seems to be quite busy.
Small bookshops seem not to be doing so well
- just about every time I walk past one and
look in, it's empty.
Bookstore Stroll 本屋散歩 (130110)
http://youtu.be/7rWiPimY_zQ
Shinkansen Passing Illuminated Yurakucho
新幹線と夜の有楽町 (130110)
http://youtu.be/3HTuWAHtcWM
Tokyo Kotsu Kaikan Illumination
東京交通会館イルミネーション (130110)
http://youtu.be/k9gJxi5ScbE
Yurakucho 1-Chome Night Stroll 有楽町一丁目夜散歩
(130110)
http://youtu.be/rbJFLJEc-_4
Walking towards Yurakucho Station one cold
January day.
Shinagawa Station Around 900PM 九時ごろの品川駅
(130110)
http://youtu.be/WhEl398ZDaU
Walking Towards Shinagawa GOOS
京急EXイン品川駅前に近づく (130110)
http://youtu.be/TP_aS1F0LwI
I spent some time in this building back in
1984, when it was the Meridien Pacific Hotel
- now it's an acronym hotel called Shinagawa
GOOS (GOOS - Gate, Occasion, Oasis, and
Satisfaction). Too bad about the name
(not the greatest *sounding* acronym when
spoken as a word, and does *everything* have
to be an acronym now?), but I'm glad the
building is still in use. I went to
the top floor restaurant in 1984, and it's
nice to know I can still do that. The
website for the building is:
http://www.shinagawagoos.com/
In spite of my general lack of enthusiasm
for acronyms (just about everyone overuses
them I think), the concept for the hotel is
good - on their website, the name is
explained this way:
「Shinagawa
GOOS」は、品川の街の入口として(Gate)、品川を訪れる方々や品川で暮らす方々に、記憶に残る特別な時間(Occasion)、都心での落ち着い
た環境(Oasis)、当施設ならではの満足(Satisfaction)を提供する場所
にしたいという想いを込めて名付けました。
京急線品川駅高輪口から徒歩３分、同駅からノンストップで羽田空港国際線ターミ
ナル駅まで13分（京急線エアポート快特利用時の標準時間）とアクセスが良く、また豊かな
緑環境にあることから、幅広いお客さまにご利用いただける施設です。
Hallways and an Elevator (130110)
http://youtu.be/P5DsbWNqb6s
Nighttime Shinagawa - Looking Around
(130110)
http://youtu.be/ugejgLC-ubM
Looking around in Shinagawa from a
pedestrian bridge near Shinagawa Station.
One View of Shinagawa at Night (130110)
http://youtu.be/NvuXN2CnTWE
Old Stairwell 古い階段 (130110)
http://youtu.be/rDTq76VcIbA
Walking to Shinagawa Station from West Side
at Night 夜の品川 (130110)
http://youtu.be/jVpSfamBbRM
Tokyo Snow - January 14th, 2013 - (130114)
http://youtu.be/3wBO6TLRrcQ
This is part of the Tamagawa-Josui Canal
(玉川上水) that was built over 300 years ago to
supply extra water for Edo. From the
air, it appears as a narrow strip that runs
from western Tokyo to Kichijoji (although it
forks and I'm not sure where the other fork
goes). From the ground, it's a nice
oasis in Tokyo for walking, jogging
etc. (It seems much bigger from the
ground than from the air.)
Here are a couple of views of Tamagawa-Josui
in warmer weather:
Tamagawa-Josui Walk 玉川上水散歩 (100526)
http://youtu.be/w5Qi3KMPRN8
Bicycle Ride Along Tamagawa Josui Canal
玉川上水隣のサイクリング - (100124)
http://youtu.be/DlQeIqMvU8c
Lyle
2013/01/07
"1990 Ikebukuro, Toyoko Line, Yokohama,
Shinkansen Ride; 1991 Setagaya, 1949
Streetcar, Boroichi; Etc."
Time tripping to December 1990 and January
1991, as well as New Year's Day views from
2013 and a few train system views from later
in the first week of 2013. This batch
of time-tripping views mainly consists of
what are basically day-trips rather than
just views from day-to-day life in
Tokyo. To go over the various views in
order (with more details after some
titles/links):
Beginning with an intensively for-video day
I
experienced/orchestrated/choose/time-invested-in/etc.
on Saturday, December 8th, 1990. The
day (the version I recorded images and
sounds of that is, but I had the camera
running for nearly the entire day) begins
with a look at the west side of Ikebukuro
Station, and then shows the inside of always
busy Ikebukuro Station; the ride via
Yamanote Line to Shibuya; the transfer at
Shibuya from the Yamanote Line to the Toyoko
Line, and a seventeen-minute video of the
(approximately) 30-minute ride to Yokohama,
most of it a front-cab view.
In Yokohama are views of Yokohama Station
and a long walk - going from one place in
Yokohama to another - including views of
work on the foundation for the
yet-to-be-built Landmark Tower building and
some time (too much time maybe) spent in an
amusement park in the newly developing
"Minato Mirai-21" zone. After the
amusement park, I walk to a subway station
and take a train to Shin-Yokohama Station,
from where I take a Shinkansen (a Hikari no
less) to Tokyo Station.
I think at the time I was hoping to get on a
new type Shinkansen, but from the
perspective of 2013, I'm really happy my
train turned out to be the original type
Shinkansen, and I was able to record some
views of the dining car, which modern
Shinkansen trains no longer have.
There is one 65-minute video that covers
nearly all of my time in Yokohama, with
separate clips showing the Landmark Tower
foundation work and several views of the
amusement park (which are part of the long
65-minute video) and then separate (and not
part of the 65-minute video) views of the
trip back to Tokyo after that (subway,
Shinkansen, etc.).
After views of 1990 Ikebukuro and Shinjuku,
I jump to this year - 2013 - for a few views
from a shrine, taken on New Year's
Day. After that, I go back again -
still 22 years ago, but this time to January
1991.
On January 12th, 1991, I visited Setagaya,
and while buying a pen in an old store, the
shopkeeper (the daughter of the owner) told
me that there was going to be a big street
market in the area on the 15th and 16th (you
can see her writing down the name of it for
me in the video I took in the old store), so
I returned on the 15th to have a look and
found myself in some pretty intense
crowds! Since that area is reached by
one of the last two remaining streetcar
lines in Tokyo, I also got to experience
riding the cool old 1949 streetcars (which
have since been retired unfortunately).
And then there are the usual train scenes -
from the Keio Line, the Setagaya Line (the
streetcar I mentioned), the Saikyo Line, one
of the Seibu lines, etc. And finally,
jumping back to 2013, there are a few scenes
from one of the Seibu lines.
1990 - Ikebukuro - West Side 池袋 (901208)
http://youtu.be/_awfo4nS9a8
Walking along on the west side of Ikebukuro
Station, and then entering the station and
beginning to walk down the concourse outside
the JR and Tobu ticket gates.
1990 - Ikebukuro Station 池袋駅 (901208)
http://youtu.be/FDwSVJj9Y98
Looking closely at the people rushing by in
Ikebukuro Station, one of the more striking
differences between 1990 and 2013 is that
the women in 1990 still had undyed hair and
eyebrows (also black). The
overwhelming majority of 2013 Tokyo women
dye their hair some shade of off-black (is
that a word?) or brown (drug stores sell
hair dye in 759 shades of brown) and have
removed most of their eyebrows - leaving
just a thin line. It's not for me to
say which is better - I'm just commenting
that a big change has come about over the
past 23 years!
After walking through the crowds in the
under-tracks concourse, I go through the
ticket gates (using a strip of kaisuken
tickets), and up the stairs to catch a
Yamanote Line train. The model of
train that arrives was only used on the
Yamanote Line for about ten years I think,
after which it was replaced with the type of
train currently being used. Since ten
years is a short time for a railway
carriage, I think they moved the version
shown in this video over to anther line -
maybe the Saikyo Line? (Or the
Musashino Line?) In any case, many of
the current Saikyo Line (and Musashino Line)
trains appear to be the type that was on the
Yamanote Line in 1990. (The clip ends
just as I'm boarding a train - the
continuation with views of the inside of the
train continues with the next video of
Shibuya Station.)
1990 - Shibuya Station 渋谷駅東横線 (Toyoko Line)
901208
http://youtu.be/JA5tWwLmJTY
This begins inside a Yamanote Line train as
it pulls out of Ikebukuro Station, and then
shows the transfer from the Yamanote Line to
the Toyoko Line - walking through always
busy Shibuya Station. (Manual ticket
gates for JR and automated for Toyoko - it
wasn't long after this that all the ticket
gates in Tokyo were automated.)
1990 - Toyoko Line - Cab View to Yokohama
東横線横浜 (901208)
http://youtu.be/RGRju21J1A4
Notice that the train is bound for
Sakuragicho Station 桜木町駅, a station the
Toyoko Line no longer goes to, since it was
diverted to line up with a subway line that
goes through Yokohama with the terminal stop
near Chinatown. Sakuragicho Station is
historically interesting as it was the
Yokohama side of Japan's first rail line
that ran from Sakuragicho (then called
Yokohama Station) to Shinbashi Station in
Tokyo.
From Wikipedia:
"Sakuragicho is one of
Japan's oldest stations. It opened on June
12, 1872 as Yokohama Station when the
service between Shinagawa and Yokohama
provisionally started. The station was
renamed Sakuragicho Station on August 15,
1915 when the next Yokohama Station opened
(near Takashimacho Station)."
Between March 31, 1932
and January 30, 2004, Sakuragicho Station
was the terminus of the Tokyu Toyoko Line.
"Shinbashi is the
original terminus of Japan's first stretch
of railway, the Tōkaido Main Line, and is
one of Japan's oldest
stations (the oldest station being
Shinagawa, a few kilometres down the
line). The original Shinbashi Station,
opened on October 10, 1872, was built some
way to the east of the modern-day
structure and was known as Shinbashi
Teishajo (新橋停車場)."
Hmm... for 30 years, I've been reading
sentences similar to: "Shinbashi is the
original terminus of Japan's first stretch
of railway" and hadn't heard anything about
Shinagawa. And regarding that name
mentioned: "Shinbashi Teishajo (新橋停車場)" -
that means "Train stopping place [in]
Shinbashi"! I guess they didn't use
the word 駅 ('eki' - station) back then?
Incidentally, when I came to Japan, JNR
(Japan National Railways) correctly I feel,
spelled 新橋 (しんばし) "Shinbashi". At
issue is the character "ん" which is
basically "n", but in one of the many
competing forms of romanization of Japanese,
there are (idiotic in my view) rules for
converting the (unchanging in Japanese)
character ん (n) into "m" depending on what
comes after the ん. I think it's
totally wrong (both in concept and actual
pronunciation) and refuse to go along with
it, so I always write ん as "n" and correct
incorrectly spelled "Shimbash" to correctly
spelled "Shinbashi" when I come across it.
1990 Yokohama Station 横浜駅 (901208)
http://youtu.be/yNNCLCBIhV0
This starts with me getting off the Toyoko
Line and going downstairs to the manual
ticket gates (which were already automated
at Shibuya Station at the time) and walking
out into the concourse and then out in front
of the station where a couple of young men
did what was was fairly popular (for young
people) at the time - they jumped up in
front of my camera (instead of the
traditional ducking down). Back in
1990 and 1991, this happened to me fairly
often. Since it's not really the sort
of thing a lot of people would naturally do
on their own, I suspect some comedy show on
TV did it and enough people thought it was
funny that several of them started doing it
too? The awesome/terrible/horrible
influence of television...
1990 - Yokohama Walkabout 横浜散歩 (901208)
http://youtu.be/kxYHz5MTi-k
This - at 65 minutes - is the longest of
this batch of videos. It's not a
standard "See the sights of Yokohama" type
of video. Rather, I started walking
from Yokohama Station, and basically just
kept walking all day long - stumbling into
an amusement park that I hadn't even known
existed, and also stumbling into foundation
work for the Landmark Tower. Watching
this video now, I would say that I probably
should have slowed down while recording the
various street scenes that I saw, but the
material is historically interesting for the
large number of street scenes it
covers. Just watch it with quick
reflexes and pause it here and there if you
want to have a longer look at some of the
street scenes. While out walking, I
didn't hold the camera still anywhere for
long, although by the time I got to the
amusement park, I was a little more relaxed
and holding the camera on scenes slightly
longer. Anyway, just remember "the
pause button is your friend" and there's a
lot to see in this video.
Early on (at about 4:03), I did what I
usually did at the time when I went
somewhere outside Tokyo (in the era prior to
electronic maps on cell phones), I went to
the first bookstore I could find and bought
a street map of the area - Yokohama City in
this case. With map in hand, I would
walk around and periodically check the map
(matching area names on utility poles with
area names on the map) to keep track of
where I was. I would also change
course when something on the map looked
interesting.
Hmm.... I'm watching the video now as I type
this. Scenes of food being cooked in a
department store restaurant, trucks being
loaded... later on there are scenes from a
park; a vertical parking garage with
electric turnstile, several trains passing
at a large crossing (with several train
lines running in parallel), the entrance to
Minato Mirai-21 (みなとみらい-21), etc. etc.
Well, considering that I basically just kept
moving while recording things, there is a
lot in this video (I originally typed "a lot
on this tape" - which would apply to the
original [analog] source tape). Too
much to go over in detail here, so I'll jump
to the next video. Anyway - if you're
interested in what the streets of Yokohama
looked like in 1990 - this could be of
interest. [Note: the next five videos
are isolated parts re-edited from the same
stretch of tape that contains this longer
65-minute sequence.]
1990 Yokohama Landmark Tower Under
Construction 工事中横浜ランドマークタワー (901208)
http://youtu.be/H54FO7vN7tM
1990 - Yokohama Amusement Park 横浜遊園地
(901208)
http://youtu.be/cTelMjHuHCY
This covers most of my visit to the Yokohama
Cosmoworld amusement park (よこはまコスモワールド遊園地) -
where I rode (with my camera rolling most of
the time) on several rides. I've
isolated three specific rides and made
individual videos of them (see below).
The one I've entitled "Yokohama
Cycle-Monorail Ride" I don't remember the
actual name of, and since it appears to no
longer exist at the Cosmoworld amusement
park, I'm not sure how to find out the name
of it. The other two rides are still
there.
1990 - Yokohama Cycle-Monorail Ride
ペダルモノレール乗り物 (901208)
http://youtu.be/gS6lM2GTmsY
I went on this one twice. Once in the
evening, and the second time just before
leaving the amusement park after dark.
The second time I got on the self-powered
ride, since I was the only one on the ride,
I figured it would be okay to go slowly and
take some pictures, but a couple of the
young men running the ride (after shaking it
to make it harder to take pictures) jumped
on one of the cycle-powered things and rode
over and rammed me, and made rude gestures,
etc. to hurry me off of the ride for some
reason (I wasn't on it for a particularly
long time before they came out to harass me
- I just stopped a few times to take
pictures, which people were doing in the
daytime anyway, even with a lot of people on
the ride). I've cut out almost all of
that unpleasant aspect of the ride from this
version, but several elements of that
incident are in the overall "Yokohama
Amusement Park" video further up the
page. It was a weird experience - the
three of us were all pretending it was fun
and games, but there was something else
going on below the surface....
1990 - Cosmoworld Galaxy コスモワールド ギャラクシー
(901208)
http://youtu.be/WaScs5TNncc
This is a surprisingly entertaining ride
that I've enjoyed at other amusement parks
as well, for example in this clip (below)
from Toshimaen Amusement Park (としまえん遊園地) -
also taken in 1990, but a few months earlier
(in September), when the weather was
basically still summer:
Toshimaen Swing-Around - (1990) としまえん
スイングアラウンド
http://youtu.be/bCEi4CUej-s
The ride is the same, but the surroundings
are quite different! One of
Toshimaen's attractions is all the green
within the park. It's quite a nice
space when the weather is nice. For
Cosmoworld, the bayside location is a
different kind of attraction - one that can
be quite nice in the evening.
1990 - Cosmoworld Super Planet コスモワールド
スーパープラネット (901208)
http://youtu.be/_YZuggb37tM
This comment applies equally to all the
rides at 1990 Cosmoworld: Take a good
look at the area around the amusement park -
it's mainly empty space in these 1990
views. In 2013, there are a lot of new
buildings in and around this area. As
I walked up to the area in 1990, there was a
big sign saying "みなとみらい-21" (Minato
Mirai-21), announcing the area as a new
development project for the coming 21st
century. And now here we are - in the
21st century, and the area is pretty well
fully developed.
A comment on how this ride looks to me now
(when watching the 1990 video) - it seems a
little like how a propeller airplane pilot
might have seen the world while buzzing
around in an airplane? Not having ever
been in that type of aircraft, I'm not sure,
but it reminds me of some movie footage I've
seen from old planes with open cockpits.
1990 - Isezaki-Chojamachi to Shin-Yokohama
伊勢佐木長者町駅-横浜駅 (901208)
http://youtu.be/9Hg95kd_e-E
There's some overlap in this video with the
65-minute Yokohama video, but only at the
beginning within the first minute.
After that, it's the trip from
Isezaki-Chojamachi Station to Shin-Yokohama
Station (via subway).
1990 - Type-0 Shinkasen Ride (Yokohama to
Tokyo) ０型新幹線 (新横浜-東京) 901208
http://youtu.be/gf2DyxslWLM
A ride in a Hikari Shinkansen from
Shin-Osaka to Tokyo. The fast Hikari
Shinkansen trains are scheduled so that if
you time it right, you can take one to just
about any of the Shinkansen stations.
I don't think so many Hikari Shinkansen
trains stop at Yokohama, so it was lucky
timing (since it's more interesting to be on
a Hikari than it is to be on a local train -
even though there is no difference in speed
between them when running between
Shin-Yokohama and Tokyo [the Shinkansen
didn't stop at Shinagawa in 1990]).
One of the things I like about this video
are the noises the train makes in the dining
car - noises that remind me of passenger
trains I rode in as a kid. Newer
trains don't sound like that.
1990 - Tokyo Station - Shinkansen to Chuo
Line Transfer (901208)
http://youtu.be/CMhES9uW2HY
1990 - Chuo Line, Saikyo Line, and Seibu
Line Views (901208)
http://youtu.be/t9CufnEUtfM
1990 - Ikebukuro and Ride to Shinjuku
(901213)
http://youtu.be/NnqHKBat6PU
Jumping back to this year - to January 1st,
2013 for a look at New Year's Day at a Tokyo
shrine.
New Year's Day 2013 - Okonomiyaki お好み焼
(130101)
http://youtu.be/zfHvNGbXy9Y
New Year's Day 2013 - Food Stall Banners
(130101)
http://youtu.be/8vhOmeOfNCo
New Year's Day 2013 - Walking by Food Stalls
(130101)
http://youtu.be/UN6gsdUXw_0
New Year's Day 2013 Shrine Visit - Waiting
in Line (130101)
http://youtu.be/fcVxXFQ4lxA
New Year's Day 2013 Shrine Visit - Looking
Around (130101)
http://youtu.be/AAfx2WrUexk
And back to 22 years ago - this time to
Saturday, January 12th, 1991, and then
Tuesday, January 15th, 1991.
1991 - Old Store in Setagaya 世田谷の古い店
(910112)
http://youtu.be/EI4kp8D4fgE
This old type of store used to be the norm -
a small store in front, with the owners of
the store living in the rear of the
building. The shopkeeper allowed me to
take pictures and I recorded a little while
talking with her.
1991 - Setagaya Line to Shimotakaido
世田谷線の下高井戸駅 (910112)
http://youtu.be/ZqcQRkIvJBo
Shimotakaido is the station where the
Setagaya Line terminates and is a transfer
point to/from the Keio Line. It's also
an interesting area with narrow streets full
of old shops (more so in 1991 than in 2013,
but still it's an interesting area).
1991 - Shimotakaido Station 下高井戸駅 (Setagaya
and Keio Lines) 910112
http://youtu.be/jdMFo3r7opI
1991 - 1949 Setagaya Streetcar 世田谷線の市電
(910112)
http://youtu.be/SsKYXItaAeU
I ride a cool old (1949 - 昭和24年) streetcar
with a wooden floor, much of the interior
also made of wood, and with
interestingly/artistically shaped cast-iron
pieces supporting the hand grips, etc.
These old streetcars which were still in use
in 1991, have unfortunately all been
replaced with functional, but soulless new
ones.
1991 - Keio Line - Shimotakaido to Shinjuku
京王線下高井戸から新宿 (910112)
http://youtu.be/mj09WeJdMco
1991 - Shinjuku Station - Keio, Odakyu,
Mosaic-Dori, JR 新宿モザイク通り (910112)
http://youtu.be/Bt0PBjvIhjI
1991 - Shinjuku Mosaic-Dori 新宿 モザイク通り
(910112)
http://youtu.be/n-hDcSn9ljM
By way of contrast, here is what this
street/alley/shopping mall looks like now
(video from December 2012 - I enter the
street from the opposite direction at about
0:55):
Shinjuku - South Exit to Odakyu Illumination
Area 新宿光 (121227g)
http://youtu.be/T_4zEmmuSk4
Hmm... I didn't notice the change until
comparing the two videos, but the old tile
sidewalk that probably gave the street its
name (Mosaic) has been replaced with
something that isn't a mosaic any
longer. So if you were wondering (from
the 2012/13 version of the street) where it
got its name, here's the answer!
1991 - Saikyo Line - Shinjuku to Ikebukuro
埼京線 新宿から池袋まで (910112)
http://youtu.be/RYPQJgSrgoE
1991 - Ikebukuro Station - Winter Night
Scene 池袋駅冬の夜 (910112)
http://youtu.be/UDRYWL0DVYQ
On January 12th, 1991, the woman in the old
shop had told me about the big Setagaya
Boroichi street market that was to take
place on Tuesday, January 15th, so I went
back for a look:
1991 - Hibarigaoka to Boroichi in Setagaya
世田谷ボロ市までの旅 (910115)
http://youtu.be/es0FQI49h48
1991 - JR Orange Card Booth (Ikebukuro)
オレンジカード販売中 (池袋駅) 910115
http://youtu.be/p6R4r9OCBEs
I had completely forgotten about the "orange
card" that JR sold for a short while!
It was sold at a time when all the railways
had similar type cards, and each railway's
card could only be used in its own
machines. JR had the "Orange Card",
and I think (if I remember correctly)
Seibu's card was the "Leo Card", etc.
I've forgotten what the others were
called. This system (where the card
could only be used to buy tickets, not
as a ticket itself) didn't last long.
1991 - Shimokitazawa Station 下北沢駅 (910115)
http://youtu.be/uxsBMDe4q4g
Shimokitazawa is the point where the Odakyu
and Inokashira lines cross each other -
sharing the same station, which is a
convenient transfer point from one to the
other.
1991 - 1949 Street Cars - Daytime View
(Setagaya) 1949年の市電 (世田谷) 910115
http://youtu.be/VOW81sahEX4
Putting these daytime views of the 1949
streetcars together (above and below) with
the night views I took on January 12th, 1991
(see links further up the page), you can get
a pretty good idea of how these streetcars
looked and sounded (the end of the following
video, from around 21:00 has some fairly
good views from the ride away from the
street market).
1991 - Setagaya Boroichi Street Market
1991年の世田谷ボロ市 (910115)
http://youtu.be/G531RsoYQsc
The street market was incredibly
crowded. It's a bit too popular for
its own good. When the crowds get
really intense, you can't really shop -
about all you can do is struggle through the
intense crowds. When I visited a few
years ago, it was still like that -
particularly on weekends (the event takes
place on December 15th and 16th and January
15th and 16th, regardless of what day of the
week those dates fall on).
And back to 2013:
Seibu-Shinjuku Line - Tokorozawa to
Higashi-Murayama (130105)
http://youtu.be/wxY_F9zKieU
Higashi-Murayama Station Platform at Night
(130105hd)
http://youtu.be/W0o8-3FU160
Seibu Line Trains Arriving at Tokorozawa
Station (130105hd)
http://youtu.be/YDqX1YSHt1w
Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/
http://youtube.com/lylehsaxon
[For older posts, see this link: [blog-L Archives]
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