Home
blog-L
Archive
LL-Letters
Photo
Gallery
Photo
Index
PDF
Files
IroiroVar
J-Page
J-Blog
.
blog-L - Images Through Glass, Tokyo
|
J-Links
|
blog-L 2012/05/17
"Ginza, Kamakura, Enoshima, and Hachioji" Okay - I finally got out of Tokyo for a change, and went down to Kamakura and Enoshima. It was good to do something different, and the weather was about as nice as you could hope for - sunny, but not too hot (pretty close to perfect!). All in all, it was a great day. In fact, I was having enough fun that I left the camera off for much of the day, so there isn't very much material from Kamakura, but there are a lot of train views (primarily the Yokosuka Line, Enoden Line, and the Shonan-Enoshima Monorail), and I got myself back into image-record mode by the time I got to Enoshima, so there are some fairly long scenes from there, particularly (recommended), this clip: Enoshima Evening Side Streets, Etc. - (120511) http://youtu.be/S-SPgfuqh14 Now I've recommended one of the clips (from the long list below), there are a couple of others I should also recommend, starting with a rainy view of a side street in Ginza: Ginza Side Street in the Rain - (120515) http://youtu.be/czWF87AC0ic I also like this view of the elevated plaza beside Hachioji Station - taken on one of the first relatively warm nights of the year - with street musicians out performing and people walking around without their winter coats: Hachioji Elevated Plaza at Night - (120516) http://youtu.be/pxHtlwj_U4E And since there aren't many views of Kamakura, these three capture a little of the ambiance of the day: Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu View 鶴岡八幡宮 - (120511) http://youtu.be/My2wzB9fjiY Priests at Hasedera 長谷寺 - (120511) http://youtu.be/sXHZEyA8j4w Quiet Shrine in Kamakura - (120511) http://youtu.be/-LfPKj0Ci6E And - I guess that's about all for what I'd specifically recommend, although, if you're a rail fan, you might want to check out the Shonan Monorail and Enoden Line front cab views, of which there are several long clips. Well - with that, here are the most recent batch of video clips: Ogawa to Hagiyama - (120504) http://youtu.be/twpgxK0gav8 Tokyo to Kanda at Night - Chuo Line - (120501) http://youtu.be/9dO3KUv3-PE Entering Tokyo Station - (Past Temp Bus Zone) - (120508) http://youtu.be/2FF7wGqa28Q Tokyo to Kanda - Chuo Line at Night - (120508) http://youtu.be/zsTnAxJDz6o Platform Walk - Tokyo Station Chuo Line - (120508) http://youtu.be/RMvlrmAhNL4 Kyobashi to Ginza - Ginza Line - (120508) http://youtu.be/9v8ym2ZaPQk Yokosuka Line (A) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/WujA1LeARWk Yokosuka Line (B) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/JQiKObpLw64 Yokosuka Line (C) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/ROfUgkTl53U Yokosuka Line (D) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/r8_Z7vR5AEo Yokosuka Line (E) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/KZuAeW7c6uI Yokosuka Line (F) Outbound Early Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/hSMp_764nEY Tsurugaoka-Hachimangu View 鶴岡八幡宮 - (120511) http://youtu.be/My2wzB9fjiY Priests at Hasedera 長谷寺 - (120511) http://youtu.be/sXHZEyA8j4w Quiet Shrine in Kamakura - (120511) http://youtu.be/-LfPKj0Ci6E Arriving at Kamakura via Yokosuka Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/qJqX8i2KCQ0 Morning Platform Walk at Kamakura Station - (120511) http://youtu.be/Q4TatNVzuSs Kamakura Station - From One Side to the Other (Morning) - (120511) http://youtu.be/V1oMFowpU_0 Shonan Monorail (A) 湘南モノレール - (120511) http://youtu.be/Ci5Zfj5ugm0 Shonan Monorail (B) 湘南モノレール - (120511) http://youtu.be/QyFyydgno4U Shonan Monorail (C) 湘南モノレール - (120511) http://youtu.be/np6cF-TMDXE Shonan Monorail (D) 湘南モノレール - (120511) http://youtu.be/RJk9J7-_4lI Inside of Quiet Monorail at Shonan-Enoshima Station - (120511) http://youtu.be/GO6fYgaBVA8 Night Ride - Shonan Monorail (Shonan-Enoshima to Ofuna) - (120511) http://youtu.be/cwWnYbfoSaQ Boarding Shonan Monorail in Ofuna - (120511) http://youtu.be/bDodPtYD_iA Hanging Monorail Departs Ofuna - (120511) http://youtu.be/djUZe5SFRiM Ofuna to Shonan-Enoshima 大船から湘南江の島まで - (120511) http://youtu.be/WQJDCVybRbQ Early Morning Shinagawa Station - Changing Trains - (120511) http://youtu.be/BeuYoJ-ev_0 Enoden Line - Gokurakuji to Hase 鎌倉 - (120511) http://youtu.be/yAsMOkguKo0 Enoden Train Leaving Station - (120511) http://youtu.be/dS1tkwYFo_M Enoden Line - Gokurakuji to Hase 鎌倉 - (120511) http://youtu.be/yAsMOkguKo0 Enoden Line Morning Ride - (120511) http://youtu.be/8r6ofg0E4u0 Gokurakuji Station (極楽寺駅) in the Morning - (120511) http://youtu.be/MPZ9wGl6Gc8 Kamakura Komachi Dori (Walking Towards Kamakura Station) - (120511) http://youtu.be/y-hHVf_NjvU Kamakura Traditional Wedding People (Short Clip) - (120511) http://youtu.be/BDhzRtXUIzU Kamakura Komachi Dori (鎌倉小町道) - (120511) http://youtu.be/u_QX78ULkLw Kamakura Morning Path (鎌倉) - (120511) http://youtu.be/BnzMo3whEZM Kamakura Morning Hillside (鎌倉) - (120511) http://youtu.be/-HHKw4-uEzo Kamakura Station - Against Flow to Enoden Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/TG4wUxlq0jY Path of Shadows and Birdsong - Kamakura - (120511) http://youtu.be/KHnwtI9L8bc Morning Walk to Gokurakuji Station (極楽寺駅) in Kamakura - (120511) http://youtu.be/eli7zJNgVIk Yurakucho Plaza to KT-Line - Ride to Tokyo, Etc, - (120511) http://youtu.be/q7UDw5AHMK8 Tokyo to Kanda - Late Night Chuo Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/TSNeMiRZ3js Rattling Glass in Windowpanes Sound - (120511) http://youtu.be/pGIw8BatZb8 Tokyo Station Concourse - (120511) http://youtu.be/WvSsZBdSFMY Yurakucho SB Area - (120511) http://youtu.be/lQOC6elPadg Tokyo to Yurakucho at Night - (120511) http://youtu.be/x7RNy8pUz4I Ofuna Sanpo - Back-streets - (120511) http://youtu.be/5Tm0iWlVbeA Ofuna Sanpo - Near Station - (120511) http://youtu.be/LVOr5i-KycU Ofuna Sanpo - Walk by Karaoke Bar - (120511) http://youtu.be/eHSDICjS1EY Ofuna Station - Ticket Gates, Train, Etc. - (120511) http://youtu.be/19TZF1GyRYQ Hachioji Taxi Stand - (120516) http://youtu.be/XP4GzWV1R84 Hachioji Station - Ticket Gates to Chuo Line - (120516) http://youtu.be/t6X5Cxgty4Y Hachioji Station-side - Looking Around - (120516) http://youtu.be/sJlbPvVXdbw Exploring Plaza by Hachioji Station - (120516) http://youtu.be/awdWM6A9VdE Yuji - Live in Hachioji ユウジ - ライブ イン 八王子 - (120516) http://youtu.be/qNxiFa2hx3o Hachioji Elevated Plaza at Night - (120516) http://youtu.be/pxHtlwj_U4E Y's Arts-508 堤壽子 Exhibition - Haha-no-Iro 母の彩 - (120515) http://youtu.be/L2vDzVvZlkI Chuo Line - Mostly Empty View - (120516) http://youtu.be/0es6jxpqMpY Kyobashi to Ginza - Ginza Line - (120515) http://youtu.be/mZ7NM5Ru8DQ Evening PA-Melody on Enoshima Island - (120511) http://youtu.be/5tk18zDE990 Rail Crossing by Enoshima Station - Enoden - (120511) http://youtu.be/rLxZlPBnHSY Enoshima Back Road Sunset - (120511) http://youtu.be/S_7eEysLfX4 Enoshima Island Evening Colors - (120511) http://youtu.be/511XFskm5Ds Walking Through Kamakura Station - (120511) http://youtu.be/yyvutL6M0rQ Departing Hase Station - Enoden Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/GwuKcIXtlt0 Entering Kamakura Station - Enoden Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/MyqOqX0F_2s Kamakura to Hase - Enoden Line 江ノ島電鉄線 - (120511) http://youtu.be/ngLVWph86Gs Shonan Beach-side Run - Enoden Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/jk-k4Gx2Y2s Enoshima Bound - Enoden Line - (120511) http://youtu.be/j6vroeA-QUY Shonan-Enoden Line to Enoshima - Window View - (120511) http://youtu.be/7fHYUjaXZo8 Ginza Side Street in the Rain - (120515) http://youtu.be/czWF87AC0ic Sunset Over the Water at Enoshima - (120511) http://youtu.be/qJ4dY6HJ55k Enoshima Evening Side Streets, Etc. - (120511) http://youtu.be/S-SPgfuqh14 Lyle 2012/05/03 "Art Exhibition Views and Yurakucho Plaza in the Rain" Friday last week turned out to be a good time to visit Kyobashi and Ginza art galleries - there was really interesting installation by Okawa Mamiko; an innovative exhibition/installation by Gawa Kumiko; and a very interesting exhibition by Moriizumi Shoko. Fortunately I received permission to record video at all three events (see links below), so the events can be both seen from afar and also seen in the future, long after the events are finished. It's video's archival value that strikes me as a truly wonderful thing these days. That has always been photography's main purpose in a way, but so often I've used it for the purpose of showing things to people living very far away, that the archival value ended up being of secondary importance... until recently, when I've been looking over old images and appreciating that it's possible to see things which have long gone. Video is wonderful for this not only due to the recording of motion, but also because of the sound - or maybe even *especially* because of the sound. The strange thing I've found with sound is that it seems more difficult to recall than images - yet when a sound is heard again, it is easily remembered as soon as you hear it. (What is the process/reason for that anyway? I suppose to recognize people's voices? There's little need to recall them if they are not present, but it's important to recognize the voice of someone you know/knew when you meet them?) Anyway - check out the videos below if you have time! Gawa Kumiko Exhibition at Gallery Ginza 1-Chome A 120427 http://youtu.be/_9A-eLXnDZg Gawa Kumiko Exhibition at Gallery Ginza 1-Chome B 120427 http://youtu.be/-gnTlJfIaEo [Art blog] Moriizumi Shoko 森泉笙子展 Exhibition at Salon De La サロンドゥラー A 120427 http://youtu.be/-gnTlJfIaEo Moriizumi Shoko 森泉笙子展 Exhibition at Salon De La サロンドゥラー B 120427 http://youtu.be/kIoiCamATho Moriizumi Shoko 森泉笙子展 Exhibition at Salon De La サロンドゥラー C 120427 http://youtu.be/J2-n59OWzaM Moriizumi Shoko 森泉笙子展 Exhibition at Salon De La サロンドゥラー D 120427 http://youtu.be/EtG-xuFjMOg [Art blog] Okawa Mamiko 大川真美子 Installation at Gallery Hinoki ギャラリー檜 120427 http://youtu.be/Y4NYg49-8nE [Art blog] Artist Making Sketch - (120427) http://youtu.be/XnuiSe3pdKs Wet Nighttime Look at Yurakucho Plaza - (120427) http://youtu.be/QNgkqN4FZSw Yurakucho to Tokyo - (120427) http://youtu.be/FT9bur9dY2Y Lyle 2012/04/27 "Chuo Line Telephoto Cab Views, Ginza Art Exhibitions, Etc." Something a little different than usual in this one - several telephoto views through the front cab of an inbound Chuo Line train. It's a different view with different details than the wider angle I usually use. And then there are views of Ginza and Yurakucho, including a few views of a Ginza art exhibition. (Regarding the videos with "LV-HD" - that stands for "Long-View, High-Definition".) Yurakucho-SB in HD - (120416) http://youtu.be/JJtjtchi4Zw Sato Yuichiro 佐藤裕一郎展 Gallery-58 - (120424) http://youtu.be/YUys75o_wLc Chuo Line - Ochanomizu to Kanda - (120424) http://youtu.be/Gika87hoY5c Inbound Chuo Line (A) LV-HD - (120424) http://youtu.be/HjE1B-OGxZo Inbound Chuo Line (B) LV-HD - (120424) http://youtu.be/87z2xZs1BU0 Inbound Chuo Line (C) LV-HD - (120424) http://youtu.be/p1-CibkSf2A Inbound Chuo Line - Central Area (A) LV-HD - (120424) http://youtu.be/FiGcOmjcIl4 Tokyo Station Chuo Platform View - (120424) http://youtu.be/7YtSJkFZ2w4 Yurakucho Plaza and Walk Towards Harumi-Dori 120424 http://youtu.be/a1Hs74HgCoY Sato Yuichiro 佐藤裕一郎展 Gallery-58 Artist Standing by Artwork 120424 http://youtu.be/VkJeon5t2TM Chuo Line Cab View While Exiting Shinjuku 120424 http://youtu.be/GPWpeOLn5d4 Chuo Line from Kanda to Ochanomizu 120424 http://youtu.be/Fq09lxlDTGo Chuo Line from Tokyo to Kanda 120424 http://youtu.be/33is9rjpCJg Construction Site in Ginza 1-Chome by Chuo Dori 120424 http://youtu.be/YkOZ7Kvy4cY About this construction site (above video) - this is a little depressing actually. Ginza was traditionally composed of a large number of small shops, but what they keep doing is knocking down about ten of them at a time and then putting up one large sealed-box recirculating-air structure in their place that looks (sort of) okay from the outside, but is stuffy inside, and uncomfortable even to just walk past, since they generally have overpriced "brand" junk for sale - with stern-faced guards in expensive suits guarding the doors and looking sternly out on the street. What this does is transform a friendly street that is comfortable and fun to walk down into an uncomfortable zone where you feel like you practically need a special security pass to walk - on a public street - past these hideous new boxes. Progress? No. This is regression. Loading Drink Machine 120424 http://youtu.be/inXkXex531E Tokyo to Yurakucho via Yamanote Line 120424 http://youtu.be/hnV5aD3MRsc Waiting Out of the Rain for Walk Light in Shinjuku 120424 http://youtu.be/NTVERT9liXs Walking Through Tokyo Station and Boarding Yamanote Line - (120424) http://youtu.be/zlU1OuslJ7w Ginza Harumi-Dori Stroll 晴海通り散歩 - (120424) http://youtu.be/ZpLPYEzXXQU Lyle 2012/04/20 "An Old CD... / Takao Station, Ginza Exhibitions, Chuo Line, Etc." The passage of time is much in mind this evening - an old CD not listened to for a decade appeared in my hand while going through a dusty pile of old things. Listening to it now... it's really amazing how many feelings come back with an old CD often listened to in an intense chapter of one's life, and then not listened to at all for around 15 years. There are other factors as well. In the 1990's, recordings were high quality, but not as artificial as some more recent stuff? Not sure about that one, but the sound quality seems more real to me in a way. Well - by the time I've written the above while listening to it - I've gotten over the nostalgia rush and have come back to 2012. Okay - time to introduce another batch of video clips: In-between the usual Tokyo train scenes are a few Kyobashi/Ginza art exhibitions/installations. There's also a walk across a section of Ginza in the evening and a few views out around Takao Station. The video titles explain the content fairly well (I hope) - with the exception of "Tokyo Station Temporary Bus Area" of which more than half is walking through busy Tokyo Station in the early evening (after walking past the temporary bus area). Arriving at Takao Station - (120418) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKNldYtq4Fo Old Room Installation - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w51AZLR8KbY Tokyo to Shinjuku - Nighttime Window View - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VKg-M1vi60 Takahashi Toshifumi 高橋俊文展 Ai Gallery 藍ギャラリー - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwV1BoS0o6g Under Tracks Izakaya - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmeAk87Mfl4 Ogawa to Kodaira - Construction Zone - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5I2TmpfXxHA Ginza Gallery Party - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7yZEV9f3eE Evening Yurakucho YSB - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7yTf73ZLnU Chuo Line Arriving at Shinjuku - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwrxNk49dlA Arriving at Takao Station - Inbound Keio Line - (120418) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fd8ftfH1OsU Yo Shimadu シマジヨウ展 Gallery B Tokyo ギャラリービートウキョウ - A - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m04k8hpUSj4 Yo Shimadu シマジヨウ展 Gallery B Tokyo ギャラリービートウキョウ - B - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5zBzl7xMVg Tokyo Station Temporary Bus Area, Etc. - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvwQRgdDWaU Kanazawa Midori 金沢碧展 Installation at Gallery Kobo 巷房 - A - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGk_CQtEEik Kanazawa Midori 金沢碧展 Installation at Gallery Kobo 巷房 - B - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72lbKlvSio Chuo Line Arriving at Tokyo Station - (120417) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MliZKfbe7E Takao to Takaosanguchi - (120418) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GynoQy9xG98 Ginza Evening Stroll - (120416) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qYaFvJ7abE Lyle 2012/04/16 "The Five Sparrows" I don't feed pigeons in parks (or anywhere else) for a number of reasons; a) It's a bad idea, since the more you feed them, the more they multiply, b) they're dirty, c) they're rudely persistent and irritating, d) I don't like them, e) etc. etc. But I like sparrows, and so when a tiny sparrow landed by my feet (in a park in central Tokyo) the other day and chirped away endearingly, I contemplated the sandwich I was eating and thought maybe it wouldn't hurt to give the bird a piece of the bread. While thinking about that, the bold chirper sparrow was joined by four quiet companions and I tossed a piece of the bread over, which the bold one took and flew over to some bushes with, and quickly disappeared under them on foot. This interested me, because I've never fed a sparrow before (or seen one fed), so my point of reference was pigeons and I expected there to be some competition for the bread among the five, with them breaking it into pieces. A second surprise was that the remaining four birds made no effort to follow the first. So I tossed another piece of bread down (air-pressure projected it actually, but whatever) and a second bird grabbed that and flew off to a different area of the park from the first bird. Intrigued, I made another piece of bread available (air-pressure projection means you don't have to get your fingers oily from handing the sandwich outside the wrapper), which was taken by the third bird, who flew off to still another area of the park. A fourth piece of bread produced the same result with the fourth bird, and at this point, the last bird turned around and looked into the park (where its companions had gone) with what seemed like a "Hey! Everyone got a piece but me!"... look? (Maybe "look" works, although it was a combination of "full body movement" and "radio waves".). So I thought "Hold on! I've got one for you too!" and air-launched a final piece of bread near that bird, which didn't notice it right away, since it seemed to have gotten the idea that it had missed out on the action. But then it noticed, and - bread in beak - it also flew off, to a fifth section of the park, leaving me in peace. What I really liked about the experience is that they didn't fight over the bread; they went in turns to their own private part of the park to have lunch, and they didn't come back to harass me the way greedy pigeons do. All of that said - is it normal for sparrows to come asking for a free lunch? Lyle 2012/04/14 "1998 Digital Camera Price and DCC Audio in 1993" Cleaning out some boxes from the back of a closet in a quest for more space in my apartment, I noticed a couple of old magazine ads that caught my attention - one highlighting how much digital cameras have advanced since 1998, and the other an ad for a type of sound recorder I never even knew existed. First - the camera: Nikon Coolpix-910 - which recorded pictures at 1,280x960 (1.3MP) and was listed as costing Y99,800 when it went on sale in October of 1998. The specs of it don't surprise me. If anything, the size of the image sensor sounds fairly decent for 1998 (I bought a 1MP camera in 2000), but the price really stands out. You can get such higher specs now for so much less cash! http://www.letsgodigital.org/en/camera/specification/533/show.html (English) http://www.nikon.co.jp/news/1998/e910j_98.htm (Japanese) DCC Audio - Looking in the November 1993 edition of the magazine, "Audio - The Equipment Authority", there's an ad for a pair of DCC (Digital Compact Cassette) machines from Panasonic. The Panasonic RQ-DP7 portable unit and the Panasonic CQ-DC1 car deck. I don't even remember DCC audio - was that popular at all? Apparently you can also still use the machines to play back standard cassettes. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-10-01/entertainment/9310010055_1_dcc-tapes-analog-cassette-portable (English) http://panasonic.jp/support/product/audio/RQ-DP7.html (Japanese) Lyle 2012/04/12 "Tokyo Hanami-2012, Ginza Art Installations, and Train Window Views" More videos: The sakura tree blossoms came out later this year than usual - coinciding more with school entrance ceremonies than graduation ceremonies, which is more typical. In this batch of clips I visited the Yotsuya rampart and also recorded views of sakura trees in a few other places (Nihonbashi, Yurakucho, etc.) Then there are three art-related clips - two installations and one group exhibition - with the exhibition being at Platform Studio, which is (sadly) closing at the end of this month. For the record architecturally, there are two clips showing the ceiling of Room-515 in the Okuno Building - in which you can see where the walls of the communal restroom of the 1934 half of the building used to be. The 1934 building restrooms were obliterated in order to enlarge the back room there (on all floors except the 1st floor - leaving the restrooms in the 1932 half of the building). Among the train videos are four clips that show the left side window view from an inbound Chuo Line train running from Kokubunji to Yotsuya. Nihonbashi Hanami-2012 - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9-vTkjJsSo Yotsuya Rampart Hanami-2012 - (B) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJrjp9t_3G0 Yotsuya Rampart Hanami-2012 - (A) - (120409) http://youtu.be/POGqb_KhDWQ Kurota Hirofumi Installation at GOBP-306 (A) - April 2012 (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAu5Ng_3Eo Kurota Hirofumi Installation at GOBP-306 (B) - April 2012 (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXZ3FpXal5k Kurota Hirofumi Installation at GOBP-306 (C) - April 2012 (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6F3FEEc--Is Kurota Hirofumi Installation at GOBP-306 (D) - April 2012 (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLQMQ_3K8og Kurota Hirofumi (黒多弘文) installation at Ginza Okuno Building Project-306 (銀座奥野ビル306号室プロジェクト) - April 2012 - D - (120410) Last Group Exhibition at Gallery Platform Studio - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmrWOTDY1gM A look at the last exhibition at Gallery Platform Studio (ギャラリープラットフォームスタジオ) - (120409) Otsubo Miho Installation - Gallery Kazuki - (A) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bdhnj17q_MU Otsubo Miho Installation - Gallery Kazuki - (B) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqhVFX6IxpY Otsubo Miho (大坪美穂展) Installation (インストレーション) at Gallery Kazuki (画廊香) - (B) - (120409) Mitaka to Nakano - Inbound Chuo Line - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j28eN9umvfg Room-515 Ceiling - Okuno Building - (A) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBCNZKyVsto Room-515 Ceiling - Okuno Building - (B) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2npQNV3ZiYc Ginza Office Workers - Homeward Bound - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X3Sg-4jdAM Kokubunji to Mitaka - Inbound Chuo Line - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gS10zp-Rr0 Nakano to Shinjuku - Inbound Chuo Line - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_S0ojqaKAQ Kanda to Yurakucho - Yamanote Line - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNO6KQoDQkM Yotsuya Rampart Arrival - Sakura Quest - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ttO9K6uFrc Shinjuku to Yotsuya - Inbound Chuo Line - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZnJDxKpbbk Yotsuya Rampart Hanami-2012 - (C) - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rpPdimgfs0 Evening Ginza 4-Chome - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qowVXHqzRec Evening Yurakucho to Tokyo - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFC0FHMvYxc Looking Up at Sakura Trees - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mZYfRDI-GI Walking Through Evening Ginza - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvPUJQKnJ44 Nihonbashi to Kyobashi - Ginza Line - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up9tRAncFvI Late Night Yurakucho to Tokyo - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3st9DVywLs Kyobashi - New Building Construction - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAC5eVwGc48 Yotsuya Rampart - Back to Street Level - (120409) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ancg24vmUro Yurakucho Sakura - (120410) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omTAaVpp6rA Lyle 2012/04/06 "Live Jazz in Yurakucho; Ginza, Chidorigafuchi Hanami (千鳥ヶ淵花見), Etc." It's a sign of spring in Tokyo when you start seeing more street bands out performing, so it was great to see a three-piece jazz band enlivening Yurakucho (four clips at the top of this batch, plus a couple of HD clips further down the list). Then there are a couple of art exhibition clips, and views of a strangely empty Seibu Line train (most likely due to a very powerful storm that had just blown through Tokyo, so people were probably avoiding going out if they could), on which I had the first two cars all to myself (until a few stops down the line, when more people boarded the train). Add in a few typical train system views, and finally there's a very strong indication of spring (and something fun) - cherry blossom viewing (花見) season! I visited the area around Kudanshita Station (on the Tozai Line) yesterday evening and had a good time partaking in the yearly ritual of welcoming the coming of spring with parties beneath the cherry blossom trees. Yearly, except outdoor events were canceled last year due to Fukushima radiation, etc, so this was the first time in two years. Yurakucho Jazz Band - (C) - Close-up - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Eu0OA3CpU8 Yurakucho Jazz Band - (B) - (120402) http://youtu.be/Cey3bsPDOmY Yurakucho Jazz Band - (A) - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv-8BS9ody0 Ginza Chuo-Dori Double Shadow - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2KYdrxuJBE 横田寛之 Ethnic Minority - Live in Yurakucho - (2C) - (120402) http://youtu.be/BtxqQjiRVnI Yurakucho Jazz Band - Setting Up - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95SEd7R-29Y Yurakucho Jazz Band - (2B) - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0p6Do3Sifw Yurakucho Jazz Band - (2A) - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2YeoFfhj0 Ginza Line Train Floor - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwkNal48ww0 Tachihara Mariko 立原真理子展 Gallery Kobo 巷房 Screen Door Exhibition - (B) - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93tB7K8UNss Tachihara Mariko 立原真理子展 Gallery Kobo 巷房 Screen Door Exhibition - (A) - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCtEtK_WgEI Empty Front Carriage - Seibu Line - (120403) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vAEzVVu_UY Yamauchi Terue (山内光枝展) Gallery-58 Installation - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_SSgbjavtM Late-Night Yurakucho to Tokyo - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STxCU3nejGs Where is Everybody? - Seibu Line - (120403) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbfoTK_Tnbo Windy Night Station - Seibu Line - (120403) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcsCy9jBqCc Yurakucho Below-Tracks Stroll - (120402) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krK0X6N_GDs Windy Station - Seibu Train Arrives - (120403) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOmYTXGuIYI Cherry Blossoms by Small Temple in Tokyo- (120405) http://youtu.be/FytC1LH56xY Chidorigafuchi Hanami 千鳥ヶ淵花見 - (D) - (120405) http://youtu.be/mXU6hAEaykc Small Temple Cherry Blossoms - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s91v6jMHfMQ Side Streets Near Waseda Station - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gac8u9SPUaM Old Water Pump - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE6IRVVjC60 Shadows - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlgW2uYwALM Kichijoji to Mitaka - Late Night Chuo Line - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irvSRKM1bCQ Nakano Late Night Outbound Platform - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFpwSKrNrE8 Exiting Kudanshita Station - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTCNYSZT0iY Cherry Blossoms in the Dark - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXDEOIHVxBM Kudanshita to Iidabashi - Tozai Line - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADPs7H4ssnI Entering Yasukuni Hanami Area - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-T27o_KGQ4 Crossing Street in Kudanshita - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_x2ZajxWGQ Tozai Line Kudanshita Tile Mural - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0veSeOvdWg Entering Waseda Station - Street->Station->Train - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhW5juja7L0 Walking Through Yasukuni Grounds During Hanami Season - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BoHxNVaXuQ 九段北花見 Kudan-Kita Hanami - (A) - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdn13G2Vsik 九段北花見 Kudan-Kita Hanami - (B) - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8-cmswinnQ 九段北花見 Kudan-Kita Hanami - (C) - (120405) http://youtu.be/6l-afQdHYCE 九段北花見 Kudan-Kita Hanami - (D) - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CeW1jmivdQ Hanami Along 302 - Yasukuni-Dori 靖国通り - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqBpcoflRog Beautiful Flowers at Hanami in Kudan-Kita - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0th6dgthjk Chidorigafuchi Hanami 千鳥ヶ淵花見 - (C) - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItS4H8uGJZI Chidorigafuchi Hanami 千鳥ヶ淵花見 - (B) - (120405) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJNwx6FRMzo Chidorigafuchi Hanami 千鳥ヶ淵花見 - (A) - (120405) http://youtu.be/gJiOy3qtIpY Lyle 2012/03/30 "1990 Shibuya, 1991 Takayama, 2012 Ginza, Yurakucho, Tokyo Trains, Etc." First, I should point out that my summary of this batch of video clips is not in any particular order, so keep that in mind if you go looking for one of the things I mention in this introduction. More than usual, I have posted several video-time-machine views - this time from May 1990 (Shibuya, Asakusabashi, Shinjuku, Takadanobaba, subway views, Sendagaya, Akabane, etc.), as well as clips from an August 1991 trip to Takayama via a very cool mid-engine micro-car - a Honda Beat. Unfortunately, since I was driving the car and it had a manual transmission, I couldn't take footage of a very fun fast drive along a mountain road that I took, and only recorded being stuck in a traffic jam and accelerating away from one traffic light. After spending what felt like a lot of time in the video time machine, I came back to 2012 and took footage of (naturally) train views (Ginza, Chuo, Tozai, Yamanote, Keio, etc. lines), as well as views from Ginza (including a clip from an exhibition and two from exhibition opening parties), and Yurakucho, Shinjuku, etc. There are three basic formats I uploaded this time - digitized versions of analog material recorded over 20 years ago, HD material, and re-processed material (due to a technical problem at YouTube that allowed uploading of some files with the picture, but only one second of sound). 1990 Harajuku and Shibuya Stations at Night - (900510) http://youtu.be/BbefQCc9A9k Takao Station at Night - (120312) http://youtu.be/YzfhWUZJfYg Takao to Takaosan-guchi - (120312) http://youtu.be/V496oMprJgY Keio Line Train Arriving at Takao Station - (120312) http://youtu.be/ftXlY5od0Fs Racing the Yamanote Line to Tokyo Station - (120315) http://youtu.be/_eiMffUiPFY 1990 - Sobu and Yamanote Lines (Side Window Views) - (900511) http://youtu.be/_aEWX4yxwqk May 11th, 1990 - Looking out side windows of Sobu Line and Yamanote Line trains (as well as station platform views). Towards the end is a view of Kanda Station just as they were beginning construction of the Shinkansen tracks towards Omiya. 1990 - Asakusabashi Area - (900511) http://youtu.be/koYma0nizsw May 11th, 1990 - Walking around in Asakusabashi and riding the Sobu Line. 1990 - Shibuya at Night - (900514) http://youtu.be/uAOlfkoZdVA May 14th, 1990 - Walking around in Shibuya at night. 1990 Nightwalk - Yoyogi to Shinjuku - (May 1990) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9XFvwWMISg Walking from Yoyogi to Shinjuku late at night in May 1990. 1990 Takadanobaba May Walkabout http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJnl-ezusIs Walking around in May 1990 in Takadanobaba - beginning with a view from the Yamanote Line platform and ending with a view inside a Tozai (subway) train as it departs Takadanobaba. This shows the atmosphere of May 1990 Takadanobaba. 1990 - May Subway Views (A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DoYqoI6_ts Views of a number of stations and trains on the Tokyo subway system - taken in May 1990. 1990 - Here and There in May (A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rin1J2Vv7B0 Going about in May 1990 Tokyo. Missing a train home, meetings friends at an izakaya, etc. 1990 Sendagaya Station Area in May (900522) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWEz1IrHyIY May 22nd, 1990 - Looking around the Sendagaya Station Area. 1990 Here and There in May (B) Akabane Station, Etc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvE42Fc2qrM May 1990 - Various places, including Shinjuku Station and a several views of Akabane Station. 1991 - Honda Beat Drive - (910811) http://youtu.be/2FlPMsR0V8c August 11th, 1991 - Driving a Honda Beat in the mountains on the way to Takayama. 1991 Takayama Walkabout (910811) http://youtu.be/xxklwRP8igc August 11th, 1991 - Walking around in Takayama. 1991 - Takayama Matsuri - (910811) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5ETl8StxyE On the evening of August 11th, 1991, walking around during a festival in the mountain town of Takayama. Takizawa Tatsushi 滝沢達史展 Steps Gallery - (120323) http://youtu.be/_mEabLRk-U0 Takizawa Tatsushi (滝沢達史) Exhibition/Installation at Steps Gallery. - (120323) Balcony View in Ginza 1-Chome - (120323) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSWqTsFRkw Mysterious Hallways - (120323) http://youtu.be/iyHLa5t-Y9o Yurakucho Station - Waiting for Train - Ride to Tokyo - (120323) http://youtu.be/sHBbjYSoh5g Near Yurakucho Station - Rainy Night - (120323) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8-Gi81aKDA Yurakucho Plaza in the Rain - (120323) http://youtu.be/VM_Nkb9FAoY Yurakucho Evening Rain Walk - (120323) http://youtu.be/hDykxFjfQy4 YSB Yurakucho Street View - (120315) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU4KapmQBrU Tozai Line Train Departing Nihonbashi Station - (120315) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk-B2UAm2gE Hamamatsucho to Shinbashi - Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5opts3EYWxw Osaki to Gotanda - Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izT6dcrRHjw Shinagawa to Osaki - Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mKXsXA6pqg Tamachi to Shinagawa - Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv9r9ZcoGQA Shinbashi to Hamamatsucho - Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2SV-kue8h4 Yurakucho Station - Yurakucho to Shinbashi - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giUrjqaskzo Tokyo Station - Yamanote Line Departure - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r1vWzqNo_U Yurakucho to Tokyo - Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyZ3BBb3xF0 Ginza Harumi-Dori - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn81_SFQaxU Ginza Chuo-Dori Stroll - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYLYrNZedVA Ginza Chuo-Dori - Long View - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GJGf5ApDyU Ginza 4-Chome and Harumi-Dori - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4yD3ubjFkI Ogawa to Kodaira - Construction Zone, Etc. - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCZXemMX0D4 Gallery Exhibition Opening Party-A - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqFRda_ckjk Gallery Exhibition Opening Party-B - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfvn-Nebxvo Abe Chihiro Exhibition at Art Space Rashinban - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgF04nMN228 Abe Chihiro (安倍千尋展) Exhibition at Art Space Rashinban (アートスペース羅針盤). - (120326) Tachikawa Platform - Late at Night - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioHRR8GCkug Nihonbashi to Ginza - Ginza Line - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrcrz6oLkOM Late Night Chuo Line Interior - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdtUGxkm3YU Edge of Ginza - Evening Stroll - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKYpRYYtRhY Late Night Chuo Line - Departing Tokyo Station - (120326) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YhY5mEagrw Lyle 2012/03/16 "Ginza, Mitaka, Kichijoji, Chuo-Line, Low-Resolution, HD, Etc." Regarding the picture quality (resolution) of this batch of videos; it is either high in the HD clips (first five below and a few others), or else very low resolution in LD (Low Definition), clips that ended up in that state through YouTube no longer (for a week at least - I'll be doing more testing later) accepting video clips in the AVI format that one of my cameras generates. I have no idea what the *reason* for this is, but the *result* is that all of the uploaded video clips in that format show up as 1-second videos, so I had to convert the file format before uploading to get YouTube to accept the files - which works, but with very poor picture quality. Anyway - be forewarned that many of these clips have shockingly bad picture quality. The first five (HD) videos are of Shinbashi, Ginza, Yurakucho, and Tokyo Station. Moving into the LD videos, there are views of Tachikawa, Mitaka, the Chuo Line, Kichijoji, etc. I'm hoping to find a way to upload the files from that camera without losing (so much) picture quality. I am confident there is some way of doing this, but with the tools I have at hand - I haven't been able to do it... yet! (HD) Shinbashi Station - Watching Trains Come and Go - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6EsduB9XFg (HD) Ginza Suzuran-Dori - Construction Noises - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ac5OxS-tlk (HD) Suzuran-Dori - 4:00 PM - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13mvOLX6VN0 (HD) Yurakucho to Shinbashi (Looking Back - Yamanote Line) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6orwqgzCR4 (HD) Tokyo Station - Boarding Yamanote Line - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUJNdeL3bmk Mitaka Shotengai (B) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y61e3zIoIw Mitaka Shotengai (A) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-l6PbVEpeQ Tachikawa Station (Inside Ticket Gates) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J52fQ-4e3bM Shinjuku Crosswalk - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXQGq9G7adU Tokyo to Yurakucho (Looking Back - Yamanote Line) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9WxlBDJXJc Bus Side of Mitaka Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZdDfN2_jxc Chuo Line Side View - To Ogikubo - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPLgOXnNY3M Hayashi Nobuaki (林伸朗) Installation at Gallery Hinoki (ギャラリー檜) Close-Up - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KcURZdyl64 Mitaka Shotengai Stroll - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIrBgspNWJw Mitaka Station Mall (and Walk to Platform) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0u8qIiDLic Walking Through Mitaka Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyvYeZLErf0 Night Side Window View - Chuo Line to Mitaka - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMXbeRd4a2I Ogawa to Hagiyama - Construction Area - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muUYTVeW1CI Yamanote Line - Departing Shinbashi Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8j3jkUGZUo In Front of Ogikubo Station-360 - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0ZPwNjIj_U Shinbashi Side Street Construction - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDwAKPoJRO8 Musashisakai to Mitaka - Chuo Line Side Window View - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bqvbz4kw-g Kichijoji Side Streets (D) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-ep7-6ksw Kichijoji Side Streets (C) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibyqne-g_BU Kichijoji Side Streets (B) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gk9b3lulUec Kichijoji Side Streets (A) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOkDW142fZA Kichijoji Shotengai Stroll (C) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II40zu1qZ-0 Kichijoji Shotengai Stroll (B) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8vf6gvbb8g Kichijoji Shotengai Stroll (A) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzQCaR7-oTc Exiting Shinbashi Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGpcDOYtfaY Kichijoji Station Area - Construction, Etc. - - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCBz6th5O8Y Kyobashi Side Street - Construction - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APmnJl0W7EI New-Old Tokyo Station (Under Construction) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KhtR2uAVZI Kichijoji Evening Shotengai (C) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGF3je7_OQQ Kichijoji Evening Shotengai (B) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv3WiSUqCF8 Kichijoji Evening Shotengai (A) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9So1b0o0U Nishi-Ogikubo to Kichijoji - Chuo Line, Etc. - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0-PEh8U4Eg Entering Kichijoji Station - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avnspge56sQ Kichijoji Narrow Passageways - Evening Old Shotengai - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozt0qQEEAgY Chuo Line Escalator at Tokyo Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiZuasGYcq4 Chuo Line Arriving at Mitaka - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lQbiOG1gsA Lyle 2012/03/09 "May 1990 Shinjuku and Shibuya, 120229 Snow, Tachikawa, Kichijoji, Mitaka, Ginza, Etc." A large chunk of the videos in this batch were affected by some kind of issue with AVI format files not uploading properly to YouTube, so I converted many of them to FLV files, which uploaded easily, but have degraded picture quality. If the next batch of AVI files I attempt to upload doesn't work, then I'll try to (if I understand the process well enough) convert them into MP4 files (rather than FLV). That technical bit out of the way.... On the last day of February - the 29th this year - there was a pretty big snowfall in Tokyo (big for Tokyo anyway) and I took several clips of the unusual appearance of the city under all that white snow. Most of the snow scenes are of Tachikawa, but there are some other angles thrown in, including train window views. I went to both Kichijoji and Mitaka recently and took a few clips of the shotengai areas in each place. Back in central Tokyo, while checking out art galleries, I took some video of Ginza - including a couple of exhibitions/installations that were interesting and very colorful - "No doubt the artist is thinking of spring" thought I. And of course there are the usual train views from various lines - primarily the Chuo, Ginza, Tozai, Yamanote, and Keihin-Tohoku lines. May 1990 - Shinjuku Omoide-Yokocho http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZQRKlKBPug May 1990 - Shibuya Station Platform http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tRh_iIdznI Tachikawa - Elevated Walkway - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-Krw6snHAg Snow - Takao Station - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v4Um4NKwt0 (x2) Walking from Kyobashi to Ginza - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds4N4eTgpt4 Video recorded at 15fps and then played back at 30fps for double-time video with no sound. (x2) Elevator Up - Stairs Down - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=258HtR1_B7M Video recorded at 15fps and then played back at 30fps for double-time video with no sound. Kichijoji Mall (Short) - (120301) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULhq9zB6P7s Snow - Tachikawa Station Platform - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbsG73tE5Fk Ginza Chuo Dori - Looking Both Ways - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fthks6Rak2s Snow - Nishi-Kokubunji to Tachikawa - (120229) http://youtu.be/JI5LaPa8ZWw Looking at a rare snowfall from a side window of a Chuo Line train while going from Nishi-Kokubunji to Tachikawa. Path to Tachikawa Shopping Arcade - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5SXkVS3n8Q Kono Satomi (河野里美) Exhibition at Y's Arts-508 - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zZu-m44cIE A beautiful and colorful exhibition. Someday I hope to have internally illuminated pictures like these on my walls! For now at least, the artist told me that the pictures are for the exhibition only and are not for sale. Ginza Chuo-Dori - February 28th, 2012 - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chkmt4LlAr8 Yurakucho-SB (A) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6K21r6-0W8 Yurakucho-SB (B) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwL2sNBDdqU Yurakucho to Tokyo - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PowAikBr67o KT-Line at Yurakucho Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXq9PPEe4zM Watching a Keihin-Tohoku Line train at Yurakucho Station. Nihonbashi to Ginza (Ginza Line) - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4fkuxBTOo0 Snow - Tachikawa Station (Both Sides) - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNWSpg-CrU8 Snow - Tachikawa Station Area - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyk2VliBuuk Snow - Tachikawa Station Area and Streets - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzZqGH2yxbg Snow - Tachikawa Station Area Stroll - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9CmJjdhQFM Snow - Tachikawa Streets - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKMWKbTwoVM Snow - Tachikawa to Hachioji - Chuo Line - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_clU0_4RrEA Snow in Tokyo Suburban Park - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeBvko98ElY Ginza Line - Nihonbashi to Ginza - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jo7x6P8fpA Tachikawa - Reserved Seat Train Arrival and Departure - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWhGsNcx9iM Tachikawa Station Shops - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVHoBdKnV9A Tachikawa Platform - Old Type Train, Etc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CHQamvuH4U Tachikawa Evening Rush - February 29th, 2012 - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CeTHFkU05c Tachikawa Station Shopping Arcade - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlFJZ-WTm5I Tachikawa Elevated Walkways (With Snow) - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ILKc12vwyg Tachikawa Platform on Rare Snow Day in Tokyo - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3h2BuC5MPs Tachikawa Side Streets - Evening Slush - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89tR9nLzkFk Tachikawa Station - Ticket Gates to Platform - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEEvB-t92b4 Tachikawa - Shopping Mall to Chuo Line Platform - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtjEJrH7-ZM Tachikawa - Walking Towards Station (Some Snow) - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiSj2dEkGf0 Tachikawa Outside Escalator (Snow Day) - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltMEne_sBOc Tozai Window Reflections - Takadanobaba to Waseda - (120228) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDTa0B7mt8U Yamada Keiko (山田恵子) Exhibition at Steps Gallery - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAGJJJY3oh0 Ginza Harumi-Dori (晴海通り) - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi4oXeIn0sM Ginza Chuo-Dori (A) - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgYyCYTCf_A Ginza Chuo-Dori (B) - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teyvOhHUjCY Hayashi Nobuaki (林伸朗) Installation at Gallery Hinoki (ギャラリー檜) - (120306) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bIRQpLMns A very colorful and fun installation/exhibition! Yamanote and Shibuya (May 1990-A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMfqFs-olLc Views of the Yamanote Line (mainly inside) and Shibuya at night - taken in May 1990. Train Watching - Shinbashi Station - (120307) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKFT517BiKo At Shinbashi Station - looking down the tracks towards Kanagawa. The many tracks and trains are quite an impressive sight - although I wonder why the railway is letting the overhead steel structure that supports the power cables rust. I suppose there's been a decision to replace them with something else, and so to just let them rust until the point where they need to be replaced.... Lyle 2012/03/02b "Takadanobaba, Ginza, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Yurakucho, Etc." General winter scenes in Tokyo - with walking scenes in Takadanobaba, Ginza, near Tokyo Station (which is under renovation/reconstruction), in Shinjuku, Yurakucho, Kyobashi, etc. And at this point a roadblock to further video uploads struck in the form of YouTube's avi reformatter breaking, preventing me from uploading anything else. I did (in the middle of about 80 failed uploads), somehow luck out and get one short video posted showing a single street during Tokyo's February 29th, 2012 big snowfall, but if the broken avi-reformatter issue isn't solved (I suspect the real issue is that YouTube has reached (surpassed actually?) the breaking point with the vast number of - ever-increasing in intensity - uploads it's been taking in non-stop for all this time...) - if a way to again upload avi files doesn't present itself, this could be the end of most of my video uploading. I tested a couple of alternative sites - Vimeo and MetaCafe - but in both cases the video plays strangely, and in one case with no sound - so there doesn't appear to be any (practical) alternative to YouTube... although I hear other file formats may be okay, so I need to find a way to convert my avi files into something else (MP4 is best apparently). Takadanobaba Side Streets - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar7cR6kWqfs Takadanobaba Station Area - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1jKMqb4MBI Ginza Chuo Dori - Afternoon Stroll - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6Ts5WfQdMA Winter Shadows Near Tokyo Station - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtNLL-9lpn8 Tokyo Station Area - Under Renovation - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoPK1vHsOXA Shinjuku Station Evening Stroll - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT17ZcJ4MXY Boarding Seibu Train at Ogawa - (120221) http://youtu.be/Qf1Trhdt_8o Kokubunji Station Area - (120220) http://youtu.be/Dm6AsCCa8xU Late Night Shinjuku Chuo Line Platform - (120221) http://youtu.be/yWo5kGW8YXw Beside Tokyo Station - (120221) http://youtu.be/cvrPp5i_Y3U Edge of Ginza 1-Chome - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyR5UZy9GA8 Yurakucho Izakaya Path - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpynXSesDN4 Yurakucho Evening Stroll - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6d7vnlYf3Y Ginza Evening Stroll - 6:00PM - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hgxRn8jyY Kyobashi Sky - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvGe-4kjOvU Undertracks Izakaya in Yurakucho - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvwPnoJ2Cs Yurakucho Electronics Store Stroll - (120221) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPygviGHf7g Snow In Tokyo Suburb - (120229) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPqenpNpNyc Kokubunji Trains - Snow - (120229) [via Vimeo] http://vimeo.com/37778347 Looking around at trains at Kokubunji Station on a snowy February 29th, 2012. (Note: In testing this one, it didn't play back very well on my computer, so I'm not sure how it will look for others....) Boarding Tozai Line at Takadanobaba - (120228) [via MetaCafe] http://www.metacafe.com/w/8172968 Watching a Tozai Line come in to Takadanobaba Station and then boarding it. (Note: This clip also didn't play very well when I tested it, so I'm not sure how it'll do.) Lyle 2012/03/02a "Roads, Trucks and Cars, Etc. 1959 and 2012" Continuing to read "All the Best in Japan" by Sydney Clark (published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited in 1959), I notice the road and vehicle traffic situation has radically changed, while rail travel has basically the same reputation (with some changes). Looking at the section entitled: "But There Are Things to Cope with Too": "In the interest of balanced reporting I have to state that motor touring in Japan, while perfectly practicable almost everywhere - I have enjoyed a lot of it - leaves much to be desired. From the tourist's angle poor roads are Japan's most noticeable fault and the fact that a vigorous ten-year reconstruction plan has just got under way does not lend much comfort to those who plan to come now or soon. Great stretches of the roads you'll want to use are narrow and bumpy and many portions are thick with dust in dry weather, gooey with mud in wet. ......" Well, ten years from 1959 was 1969, and here we are in 2012, from which I can report that it's exceedingly rare to find any road that isn't covered with smooth asphalt now. So much so, that when I find myself standing on dirt (an exceedingly rare occurrence), I look down and marvel, "Wow! Real dirt! Just think, this dirt may actually have never been buried under asphalt before! Amazing!", which is unfortunately not even sarcasm (not much anyway). It really does seem like some kind of wonderful thing to be standing on actual dirt [comment from 1996]. "Statistics before me reveal that of Japan's vehicles officially tallied in a recent year, buses totaled a surprising 10 per cent. The figure for trucks (but the majority of these are in and near the big cities, not on the open highways) is a whopping 60 per cent, while that for passenger cars is only 25 per cent, the remaining 5 per cent being scored as 'Special'." There are still a lot of buses and trucks, but certainly trucks are not 60 percent of the vehicles on the road now. I do remember being struck with the large number of trucks on the road when I first came here though (in the eighties). In fact, I think there are probably many more trucks on the open highways now than in 1959 (with a lower percentage - but certainly not absolute number - in the cities). They have cut rail freight use way down (the Shiodome office tower area near Shinbashi Station used to be a freight rail yard, for example), and have been feverishly burying ever more of the country under asphalt over the past 50 years, so it's gotten to the point where I wish for the opposite of what Mr. Clark wished for back then. It would be an altogether happier situation if they were now making new plans to *reduce* the number of roads in the country and stop doing everything for the sake of petrol-burning internal-combustion machinery. "..... If highway travel is bad, railway travel is quite wonderful, for Japan is perhaps the most railway-minded great country in the world. Rail service is excellent in quality and the punctuality of trains, all trains, is nothing less than spectacular. I think Japan comes the nearest of any country in the world to keeping its trains so precisely on time that 'you can set you watch by them'." This is still true, although they have been building large new bus terminals beside major rail stations (Tokyo and Shinjuku immediately come to mind) and more and more people are traveling from Tokyo to other areas of Japan via night buses, which is a horrible development in my view (horrible to be using bloody buses when they could be running trains). Meanwhile, rail travel on many train lines away from the mega-cities is way down. Making Japan a car culture is one of the more horrible mistakes of the 20th century I think, and - although young people are less interested in owning cars than their age group used to be, the Godzilla construction industry continues to work hard in the 21st century at burying ever more of the country under asphalt for the sake of bloody internal combustion engines. I hope oil runs out in the world in a hurry - to put a stop to this suicidal madness. Lyle 2012/02/21 "Looking Over the Horizon in Tokyo via Darwin" In reading "A Naturalist's Voyage Round the World" by Charles Darwin, M.A., F.R.S., I came across the following paragraph, didn't quite get it the first time, so went back and read it a second time, and then realized something - but first, have a look at this text from Darwin's 1831-36 voyage on the Beagle, referring to a trip he took in Argentina: "For many leagues north and south of San Nicolas and Rozario, the country is really level. Scarcely anything which travellers have written about its extreme flatness can be considered as exaggeration. Yet I could never find a spot where, by slowly turning round, objects were not seen at greater distances in some directions than in others; and this manifestly proves inequality in the plain. At sea, a person's eye being six feet above the surface of the water, his horizon is two miles and four-fifths distant. In like manner, the more level the plain, the more nearly does the horizon approach within these narrow limits; and this, in my opinion, entirely destroys that grandeur which one would have imagined that a vast level plain would have possessed." It took me a minute to conceptualize what he was getting at, but then the horizon dropping out of sight due to the roundness of the earth meaning of what he was saying came into mental focus and I realized that - in Tokyo - you very rarely have an opportunity to see very far into the distance at ground level in the first place. The views can be spectacular from the top of high-rise buildings, but while you're contemplating the view, for some reason the concept of being able to see further over the horizon by virtue of being up high doesn't come to mind. And the mental picture of being on a vast and empty plain is like a vision from another planet from the perspective of living in Tokyo, with it's (greater area) population of 30,000,000! Another thing that is strongly evident between the lines of that book from the early 1800s, is how there is no thought of humankind having the power to destroy the planet, and travel on land was generally via walking or on horses - there were no noxious-gas-emitting automobiles poisoning the air. I love machines and electronics, but I've come to deeply resent the internal combustion engine - and the tremendous damage its use has cased/is causing to the planet. Lyle 2012/02/19 "Japanese Politeness, Tipping, Population, Etc. 1959/2012" Another look back at "All the Best in Japan" by Sydney Clark (published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited in 1959) - this time about the things that the author liked and suggested visitors would also like. "Those Things You'll Love - Your first shocks of pleasure, following your initially grim impressions of Tokyo street traffic, occur when your taxi reaches your hotel. To your amazement you'll find that when you pay the taxi driver - who hasn't, after all, killed you or anybody else in his mad dash - he will promptly pass you your change, all of it, and drive swiftly away in search of his next fare. He expects no tip and you should offer him none unless he has done some very special service for you. Where else but in Japan could this phenomenon occur?" This is still true enough, although I would add that over the years, I've had some bad experiences with taxi drivers in every country I've used them in, including Japan. Not all drivers are honest, and some find one way or another to overcharge their passengers. The way that's happened to me here, is with drivers not going directly to the destination. In one very blatant case, I asked the driver to "Stop here please" and he keep driving until the meter went up, and then stopped (so I had to both pay extra and walk back to where I had asked the scoundrel to stop in the first place). Of course, from a taxi driver's perspective, they have to put up with abuse from bad passengers, but I've never done that myself and so don't appreciate being a victim. As it currently stands, I prefer to walk an hour than to take a chance on a taxi driver being honest. "At the door of your hotel, whether it is the celebrated Imperial, the eagerly desired goal of most American tourists, or some lesser hostelry, bellboys or bellgirls, bowing from the waist, will welcome you and relieve you of your luggage. After you've registered they'll take you to your room, install you politely, bow again and disappear. 'Wait a minute,' you'll say, calling down the corridor. 'Here. This is for you,' as you offer a gratuity. Again he or she will bow and politely decline it. That, as least, has been my experience over and over again, or it was until I learned not to offer tips. Even in the Imperial Hotel, the very nucleus of U.S. tourism, exactly this happened to me on three early occasions." Not having to tip everyone for everything in hotels in Japan is a really wonderful thing. It's stressful being thrust into the role of direct employer of the people working in hotels and restaurants. I prefer for them to get their wages from their proper employer and think the employer should pay them enough that they don't have to go around with their hands out all the time for extra cash. I think tipping is a truly horrible custom. As for the Imperial Hotel being the "very nucleus of US tourism"; in 1959, you got 360 yen for 1 dollar, but that's down to about 80 yen for 1 dollar now. As a result, Japan is now a very much more expensive place to visit for someone coming here from a foreign country than it was in 1959. The Imperial Hotel is a luxury hotel and either people with a lot of money to spend or business people on expense accounts are the type of foreign guest that comes to mind now. "You'll love the schoolchildren as tourists. At every Buddhist temple, Shinto shrine or other tourist sight you'll see them being herded along by their teachers, for sightseeing is a very definite part of every child's schooling. They all wear uniforms, in deference to democracy, so that there shall be no obvious difference between rich and poor. ......." This is pretty much still true, although some schools allow regular clothing. I've had several people tell me that they liked having a uniform, as it eliminated the pressure to competitively dress. The "at every Buddhist temple" part is the sensation you'll often have when visiting Kyoto and Nara, but not so much in other areas of the country. "The multitudes of these children-in-uniform, encountered everywhere you go, will constantly amaze you, even when you grow accustomed to the spectacle. They flow around you like a human river. Often you have literally to plow your way through them. To us these giggling kids are a delight, but to the Japanese government they are a constant source of worry, for the country, with some 90 million inhabitants, is already overpopulated and the national tally has been increasing by a million or more a year. Last year, however, there was a ray of hope, for the net increase was only 935,000, the first time since the war that it has been under a million. You and I will leave population worries to whom they may concern and will selfishly enjoy these swarming, scurrying, buoyant youngsters." I admit it took me several years to fully get used to seeing school children in uniform out and about here, there, and everywhere at all hours and even on national holidays. In the beginning you ask yourself "Why are they in uniform on a holiday?" and gradually it sinks in that there are a vast number of schools in Tokyo, and sometimes the students will wear their uniforms for a school concert, etc., and so, with the very large number of schools, someone is bound to be in uniform pretty much on any given day. About population growth - the author mentions 90 million and growing in 1959, and mentions that growth was slowing, but that people were worried about overpopulation. It grew to its current (approximate) 127 million, and now has slowed to the point where it's actually declining, as many people are not having children, or only having one or two children. The big worry now is that - in the words of hysterical TV talking heads - "Japan will disappear" which is utter nonsense of course, but bloody TV always tries to be sensationalist to get people's attention, and then a certain percentage of the population unthinkingly takes the hysteria at face value. (Lest this cynical comment be taken out of context, I hasten to say I'm referring to human beings on planet earth, and not criticizing the residents of any particular country.) "You'll love the built-in courtesy of all Japanese, young or old, rich or poor, for nothing quite like it exists anywhere else in the world. I'll grant that among the Japanese themselves the formalities of politeness reach heights, or depths, that seem to Westerners absurd. ...... Self-depreciation is also a part of this traditional formality. A hostess offering a superb dinner, impeccably served, will apologize for the poor and meager quality of her hospitality. A person giving a costly and elegant present will ask forgiveness for venturing to proffer so small and worthless a gift. But you and I won't be often exposed to these traditional customs. ....." Yes, being polite is one of the nice aspects of Japan. As for some aspects seeming "absurd" to Westerners, well - the author had tourists in mind when he wrote "you and I" but as I read this as a long-term resident, I realize that I have fallen into the same habit. It's not as strange as it sounds, as it's just a matter of not being boastful and not loading guilt onto a person by saying "I'm giving you this wonderful thing", etc. In short, it's manners, and once you're used to how they're handled here, it's just the way it is. "And finally - for I must abridge this catalog of virtues - you'll love the Japanese instinct for beauty. It is an instinct that you'll see, and cannot fail to see, in parks, in works of art, in the widespread passion of flower arrangement ..... We of the West tend always to put comforts first and beauty second. With the Japanese it's quite the other way around. In Japanese inns, for instance, which are very rarely blessed with central heating, the rooms will be cruelly cold in winter and bleakly chilly in early spring and late fall, but to the Japanese customer this doesn't much matter. What does matter very much is that the room shall be decorated with restrained and faultless taste, and there shall be one or two exquisite objects d'art in the elevated alcove (tokonoma), which is an essential of every room, perhaps with one lovely scroll on the wall above it, a scroll having a 17-syllable poem or tradition or an inspirational message painted on it. And it matters very much that the room's windows shall look out upon a bit of a garden, perhaps with one tenderly groomed pine tree visible, and a mossy stone lantern under it." While the comments about beauty hold true, people's expectations regarding indoor heating have changed a lot in the past 25 years or so. In the eighties, I found it pretty much as the author describes it in 1959, but I'm finding that just as I have gotten used to doing without central heat in the winter, the locals have suddenly gotten used to being warm all the time and - for example - some open-air drinking places in Yurakucho now have to put up plastic sheets and place heaters all around the tables, or customers won't come. So it's come full circle, where they're destroying atmosphere in the quest for comfort. Personally, I find heaps of irony in the fact that I'm now walking around, shaking my head, and thinking "Young people are so weak! Where's their will power? It's as if they think they'll keel over dead if any room they're in is less than 25 degrees. And they don't appear to see how hideously ugly the plastic sheets and heaters are. It's a shame - what's becoming of the world?", etc. Lyle 2012/02/18 "Ginza, Evening Shinbashi, Okuno Building, Shinjuku, Kichijoji, Etc." This batch of video clips starts off with Ginza street scenes, and goes to Shinbashi, where I walk around in the area that reportedly inspired the director of the movie Blade Runner (in print very soon after the movie was made - but for some reason, people started saying the inspiration was Shinjuku some years later, probably due to the "Omoide-yokocho" izakaya street, combined with the destruction of much of Shinbashi's former back-street izakaya). While Shinbashi doesn't have nearly as much of a mysterious atmosphere as it used to, there are still some interesting back street places and a little of the old atmosphere (see videos below). I've posted short clips of the Okuno Building before, but there are two in this batch where I systematically go through the building (actually two buildings combined) one half (1932) first, and then the other half (1934) - explaining some features of the building. And - further down the page - I go through the whole building, taking a systematic look at the fascinating floors, which are a kind of history book that some people are capable of reading/perceiving. Then there are some scenes from Shinjuku, and various trains views, from the Chuo, Tozai, Ginza, Keihin-Tohoku, Seibu lines, etc. February is the coldest time of year, which keeps the camera from overheating while taking extended videos, but really chills my camera hand! I'm looking forward to spring, but am not so enthusiastic about the coming heat of summer. Ginza - Walking Towards Shinbashi Station - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkAlcwNfsLo Ginza Main Street Stroll - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwI9vyNYYS0 Ginza Side Street Stroll - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1AnCYPKTZY Passing Trains at Yurakucho Station - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8aKSdRF6Nk Ochanomizu to Yurakucho - Chuo and Yamanote Lines - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu4xobJekq0 Walking to Shinbashi Station - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52lADtegKqo Evening Ginza 4-Chome Intersection - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd1uE-h7eOA Shinbashi SL-Plaza in February 2012 - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pY42eVnJhU Shinbashi Side Streets (A) February 2012 - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1LKtJR0lqk Izakaya Quest - Shinbashi (February 2012) - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3ofbTc-Hj0 Shinbashi Side Streets (B) February 2012 - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgCL4LGoLVY Shinbashi Station Area Night Stroll - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD0w99n9Ws4 Shinbashi SL-Plaza - Walk Towards Ginza - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tLw7-O7J-w Shinbashi Walkabout - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EHOHTPVvXU Walking Around in Shinbashi - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WrCDHpb2oM YSB Scene - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBweV3KGytY Walking into Yurakucho - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx6RsYBV9xQ Yurakucho Night Stroll - (120202) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgf6bc65oDs Okuno Building Tour - 1932 Building - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwKjktbtbLU Walking through the 1932 half of the Ginza Okuno Building - going from the 7th floor down to the basement and with a quick view of the front exterior of the building. Okuno Building Tour - 1934 Building - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxMste12d38 Walking through the 1934 half of the Ginza Okuno Building - going from the 1st floor, up to the 7th floor in the elevator, and then back down to the basement (via the stairs) and including a quick view of the front exterior of the building. Ginza Line - Nihonbashi to Ginza - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F37XKnNTQmA Shinjuku - Waiting for Walk Light - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjZUnr28ryo Shinjuku South Exit (Evening) - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjDYPuhuGR8 In Front of Takadanobaba Station - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0h2_xblMXs Chuo Line - Tokyo to Kanda - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=on4tnAfTRNg Polished Stairs in Ginza - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrsC0oy_4mQ Boarding Tozai Line in Takadanobaba - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNlQGpG3sGM Ogawa to Hagiyama (Construction Zone) - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VK1L3FapFw Yurakucho Plaza Reflections - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFdob52p8Wk Yurakucho - Evening Sidewalk Stroll - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KOhzj5LeTQ Shinjuku Chuo Line Platform - Evening Outbound - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4psAYiQpfE Yurakucho to Tokyo (Yamanote Line) - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77f6YI-75SU Nearing Kichijoji on Chuo Line - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTCI_NzdrjA Seibu Line Window View - to Takadanobaba - (120207) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XDLIMxHCAo Side Window View - Outbound Chuo Line (Winter) - (120208) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWlMEgaQ_G4 Chuo Line Side Window View - Outbound to Tachikawa - (120208) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V_JHKrqKGs Chuo Line to Hachioji - Window View - (120208) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xv95jZ3It9U Outbound Chuo Line (Interior) - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfJwQ56mD6Y Kichijoji - December 2011 Shopping - (111225) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgpbzM2hlkM Kichijoji Sidewalk - (111225) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Lxxa7R4t_U Kichijoji Station Area - (111225) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDlYyDW2xis Hagiyama to Kodaira - Seibu Line - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0sY2z51PFk Ogawa to Hagiyama - Construction Zone (Seibu Line) - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEbyIK9QeLw Historical Floors - Ginza Okuno Building - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qOPUnRNhRQ Taking a look at the fascinating floors of the Ginza Okuno Building. 80/78 years of people walking on them. They are a kind of historical record and an accidental piece of art. Ginza Station - Ginza Line Platform View - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o64KRihfQog Waiting for a Subway Train - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCaQ3yPYBxA Shiiba Taishi 椎葉泰志展 Installation at Gallery Kobo 巷房 (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjuju4rkaAc Walking Through Tokyo Station in the Evening - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZpLkFdBO0E Tokyo to Kanda - Night View (Left Side) - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHDLPJfQdvE Busy South Exit Area - After Chuo Line - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS-wvcfa35o Going from the 1st Floor to the 7th Floor - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYI7val47k Ginza Line - Nihonbashi to Ginza (HD) - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLKKUu58B7c Chuo Line Night View - Departing Ochanomizu - (120214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krJ1cKIVSFc Okuno Building - 1st and 6th Floors - (120216) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvfCJ2ANhjQ Hachioji to Nishi-Hachioji (Chuo Line) - (120215) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0KN8qDzpEg Okuno Building - Basement Installations - (120216) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrbgHxjLBzc Tokyo Station - Waiting for the Chuo Line - (120216) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L64lAzZ-M9A Kanda to Yurakucho (Keihin-Tohoku Line) - (120216) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM6oaRgXZL8 Lyle 2012/02/12 "Here We Go Again...?" Mental forecasts regarding what you expect someone to say have a lot to do with being able to comprehend what people are trying to communicate, and so, when expectations of the listener are different from what the speaker is saying, typically the listener will either hear something the speaker didn't say, or just not understand them. When you cross international borders and look different from the locals in the new area you visit (or live in), this sort of problem intensifies. In the early 1980's in Japan, most foreigners who visited the country were tourists, and so most foreigners, almost by definition, didn't speak the local language (this was before manga and anime caught on overseas, incidentally), and so there were many times when someone would see a foreigner and *expect* them not to speak Japanese, and so wouldn't hear Japanese even when the person was speaking it properly. (Amusingly, you could call someone on the phone; begin a normal conversation in Japanese, and when you identified yourself as a foreigner, sometimes they were extremely reluctant to believe it, as they basically believed that no foreigner spoke the language well enough to sound like a local.) In this era, when a large part of tourism to Japan was from North America (north of Mexico) and Europe, there was a fairly reasonable expectation by locals that foreigners spoke English, so there were some (many, actually) strange verbal exchanges (in public, on trains for example) like this (F=Foreigner / LR=Local Resident): LR: Where are you from? F: Watashi desu ka? Igirisu kara kimashita. (Me? I'm from England.) LR: Oh. I've been there before. F: So desu ka. Sochira-wa, doko kara kimashita ka? (Is that right? Where are you from?) LR: I'm from Japan! F: Sore wa wakarimasu ga, Nihon no doko desu ka? (Yes, I know, but what part of Japan are you from?) LR: I'm from Osaka. Do you know Osaka? F: Mochiron! (Of course.) Etc. etc. And it was a sort of contest in a way, with each side determined to use the other's language. I had one 25-minute exchange with a businessman on a train, and throughout the entire 25 minutes, I refused to use any English and he refused to use any Japanese, but we were able to communicate that way. (Come to think of it, that must have been amusing to witness from the sidelines. I can imagine someone going home and saying "I saw the weirdest thing on the subway today...") At stores, you could ask for something in Japanese and the clerk would say with some urgency while waving a hand back and forth: "No English!! No English!!" (As in "I don't speak English!"), but if you said something in English, then they would answer in Japanese saying they didn't understand English(!). And at restaurants (I had several bad experiences at McDonald's, of all places) you would order one thing (in Japanese) and they would give you something else. Why? Your guess might be as good as mine, but what it *felt* like at the time is that some people were fiercely determined to believe that foreigners could *not* speak Japanese, even when they could, and they would kindly *remind* you of this. Maybe not, or even probably not, but that's certainly how it felt at the time (genba 現場 and ginji 現時 folks! - hop in a time machine if you can and go have a look for yourselves!) In short, it was often a rather difficult time to try to be a normal part of local society. And then the value of the yen shot up (more than doubling in a very short time) and suddenly Japan was a much more profitable (in overseas currency terms) place to work. In came foreigners from far and wide, and many of them didn't speak English, so the only possible way they had of communicating was to learn Japanese - quickly! So with that group of people, speaking English at them had no effect and locals began to view Japanese as a possible tool for international communication. I still remember the first time I went to a shop in a train station and asked for something, and the shopkeeper just responded as though I were a regular-issue biped. ("Far out! Very cool!" thought I.) And from that point forward, it began to feel more normal going about the city speaking Japanese... until recently that is. Maybe the stories of mass numbers of foreigners fleeing the country (to escape Fukushima emissions) are true, because suddenly I've begun having some experiences like those I used to have in the early eighties - a full quarter century ago. When I say something in Japanese, I'm increasingly getting "Oh, you speak Japanese!" comments, which I was blissfully free of receiving for more than two decades. I've also begun re-experiencing people in food selling places giving me something radically different from what I asked for. Just this evening I asked for one thing at a counter (and pointed very clearly at it), and the woman inside the shop very steadfastly refused to understand me. The high school students standing next to me understood what I was saying with no difficulty, but not the clerk. Finally, the combination of the high school students telling her she was putting the wrong thing into a bag and the shop owner coming over and telling her what I wanted got me my order. It was freaky. It took a team of four people (all speaking Japanese) - myself, two local high school students, and the store owner to force the woman to give me what I ordered. Weird. Very weird. And a similar thing happened last week at a different shop in a different area of town. Back to the weirdness of the early eighties? [Big, deep, heavy sigh....] Lyle 2012/02/11 "Historical Odds and Ends" I watched some WW-II documentary programs on the Discovery Channel today and they were interesting to watch, although I came away from the material (a couple of different shows) with a mixture of feelings and thoughts. First, I was struck with how simplistic parts of the coverage were - for example they went on about the Yamato and how it was an amazingly large ship, etc., but completely ignored the existence of the Yamato's sister ship, the Musashi, which was built after the Yamato and included some design changes as improvements. From Wikipedia: "Yamato (大和), named after the ancient Japanese Yamato Province, was a battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Flagship of the Japanese Combined Fleet, she was lead ship of the Yamato class. She and her sister ship, Musashi, were the largest and heaviest battleships ever constructed, displacing 72,800 tonnes at full load, and armed with nine 46 cm (18.1 inch) main guns." A different program about kamikaze attacks was quite interesting, although there was a weird situation where, when I tried to listen to the original Japanese of the Japanese survivors from the war, it was a Japanese translation of the English translation of the original Japanese! (You could just barely hear some bits and pieces of the original in the background.) Too bad they didn't have access to the original audio that used to be with the original footage, so they could have just used that. Some of the interviews were really interesting. A couple of things: A Japanese pilot who had been out in the thick of it and got shot up pretty badly - who expressed his irritation with a commander who led a last squadron of pilots off to die *after* the war was declared over. Three of the people in the squadron were the pilot's friends and he was obviously angry that the commander had thrown their lives away for no good reason. An American sailor who was on a destroyer that was hit by kamikaze pilots - commented that it was one thing to be trying to kill each other by shooting at each other, etc., but that there was something about the kamikaze pilots that made it personal. It's an angle I'd never thought of before. As a dispassionate concept, it doesn't seem like much, but hearing from a man who experienced it directly - personally - the full meaning of it came through pretty clearly. This is why I have the greatest respect for actual archival film footage and interviews with survivors. I hate the reenactments with modern actors that it's so popular to mix in with documentary footage. I think it's a horrible mistake to do that. If it's historical footage, that's one thing. And if it's a modern reenactment with modern actors, that's another. The two should not be mixed. Lyle 2012/02/04 "Entering Japan - 1959 and 2012" I'm continuing to read "All the Best in Japan" by Sydney Clark (published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited in 1959), and it's interesting to see how radically different control of currency was then compared to now (when there is almost no control at all). "Since 15 May, 1957, Japan has enabled foreigners to enter the country easily and with a minimum of red tape, for on that date the requirement that each incomer acquired a Foreign Exchange Record Book was abandoned. Now you need declare only foreign notes (which will be entered in your passport), not traveler's cheques or letters of credit, and you need not produce a Record Book or anything else when you wish to exchange sterling, or any other foreign currency, into Japanese yen. When you leave Japan you many take out no more foreign notes than the amounts you have declared on entering. ..... As the import and export of Japanese currency is not allowed except for a small amount for use on Japanese ships or aircraft, all funds for visitors to Japan must be carried in the form of traveler's cheques." At the time, it must have seemed restrictive and unnecessary to have the controls, but now that currency rates and whatnot have been left up to the bankster gamblers, the world appears to be falling apart financially. Seeing how the bankster gamblers are destroying the planet, the financial controls of a half-century ago seem like a better idea. "Upon arrival in Japan you will be given a Specified Stores Purchase Tax Exemption Card, and this card, be advised, is decidedly for your benefit, since it exempts, in the specified stores, various important purchases, such as cameras, binoculars, cultured pearls and cloisonne, from the heavy Japanese tax of 16 per cent. And an especially cheering thing about this is that the store deducts the 16 per cent from the price marked on the price tag, so it isn't merely a matter of not adding the tax but actually of deducting it. If, for instance, you should see a nice string of cultured pearls in the Mikimoto window or some other, marked 60,000 yen, which is 59 pounds, 10s, 5d, you'll actually pay only 50,400 yen, which is 50 pounds. Your Specified Stores Purchase Tax Exemption Card has saved you 9 pounds 10s, 5d." I was quite surprised to read about a 16 percent tax! When I came here in the early eighties, there was no sales tax; then they introduced a three percent tax, and then increased it to five percent. Recently it's frequently in the news that they want to increase it to 10, 15, or some higher figure, as a way of increasing tax revenue, but I hadn't heard any mention of it having been 16 percent in the past. "I have reported this good news first; but to go back to the beginning of your planning, I have to state that in the matter of securing a temporary visa in your passport the requirements have not yet been fully eased. You must wade through the business in some Japanese consulate, filling in a long form and producing a ticket (or other proof of your plans) indicating that your travels will take you out of Japan (after a stay of less than three months) as well as taking you in. For tourist purposes the consul requires to see your traveler's cheques or a letter of credit from your bank guaranteeing funds to cover the return journey and stay in Japan. For business purposes a letter, in duplicate, must be provided, signed by the managing director or senior official of the applicant's firm, showing his status in the firm, the purpose of his visit to Japan, names and addresses of the companies to be visited, and guaranteeing financial responsibility for the applicant's return journey and stay in Japan. ....." In the early eighties you still have to visit a Japanese consulate and apply for a tourist visa to visit Japan, but they didn't require you to provide all the financial information mentioned above. At some point, they made it really easy for tourists on short stays to visit. I think all you need now (depending on which country you're coming from of course) is a passport. For a work-related visa, naturally the requirements are much more stringent. "The customs formalities for tourists entering Japan on the standard temporary visa are simple enough, I'm happy to report, and you will be treated with the usual Japanese courtesy here as everywhere in the country. // One strenuous warning about money seems in order here. Don't try to buy black market yen in Hong Kong or elsewhere before entering Japan. You may have visited countries where the currency black market, or gray market, flourishes almost openly, with little or no effect made to curb it, but Japan is very strict in this matter and it is no part of Japanese politeness to let you off if you have offended. Punishment for evasion is severe, sometimes even involving a jail term. And, anyway, the difference between the legal rate of 1,008 yen to the pound and the black market rate is so slight as to make it scarcely worth while to tamper with the rules even if they were not strictly enforced. ....." There was no particular reason I needed Japanese currency before coming over, but I went to a bank and bought some before coming over (totally legitimately), as I was curious what the money looked like and it made the upcoming trip more real to have some of the country's cash in hand. Regarding the exchange rate - this 1959 book states it as "1,008 yen to the pound", and - having a look on-line - I see it's (as I write this on February 4th, 2012), 121 yen to the pound now. That's an incredible change! In fact, the overly strong yen is really hurting the Japanese economy now. It should of course be stronger than 1008 yen to the dollar, but the current rate - set by bankster gamblers - is ruining the economy. "... One of JTB's very practical accomplishments is the publication of guide-books to Japan. Its most comprehensive effort in this line is a 1,000-page Baedeker-type volume (which is fairly small and easy to carry despite all its pages) called 'Japan, The Official Guide'. For those who wish a smaller book containing most of the essentials, but no detailed listing of hotels and other such practicalia, it publishes 'Japan, The Pocket Guide', and the Bureau supplements this with an interesting little book called 'Quiz', with the sub-heading '700 Answers to Questions on Things Japanese'." I made use of a free tourist map of Tokyo in the early days (back in the early eighties), but ended up using strictly Japanese maps once I could read place names well enough to use them. There's a 1948 (or so) version of a tourist organization travel guide that I was sent some pages of via scanned images, and it seemed like a pretty good guide. "Japan on Balance - Beware of First Impressions // ...... // To come right out with it, Tokyo sprawls out from its center for miles and miles - and miles - in all directions, including that of Hanada Airport, where all overseas planes touch down, its outer reaches extending further, or so it seems to me, than do even those of London. The city boasts 8,345,404 inhabitants... ..... Because of earthquake hazards most buildings except in the solid center and some scattered secondary centers, where impressive American-type reinforced concrete structures exist in large numbers, are of one or two or three stories and thousands of them are unpainted and undeniably ramshackle. This sight greets the eager traveler." About the city sprawling out "for miles and miles - and miles - in all directions", this is something that seemed amazing to me for many years. I'd go to the top of the Sumitomo building in Shinjuku and look out over the city, and it astounded me that you couldn't see an end to the city in any direction - it seemed to go on endlessly - as though it covered the entire planet! "And then the streets! Tokyo has terrible growing pains. New construction is everywhere, especially all through the center, and a new subway, Tokyo's third, is causing added and drastic upheavals. The streets just haven't been able to keep pace with the phenomenal growth of the city and many of them are frankly awful, as are their so-called sidewalks, with bumps, holes, stretches of dirt or mud, and vast obstructions of building materials. They're bad in sunny weather, dreadful when it rains. Yes they are, and I can't honestly soften the picture." Fifty years on, and there is still construction in one area or another (that's a given in Tokyo, what with the voracious appetite of the construction industry), but the streets are all paved, and the sidewalks (where they exist) are usually in very good condition. The writer mentions that Tokyo's third subway is under construction, but from looking at a history of subway construction in Tokyo, I see this for 1959: "1959 - Mar. 15th - Opening of the Kasumigaseki to Shinjuku section of the Marunouchi Line (Completed the Ikebukuro to Shinjuku section of the Marunouchi Line)" Which would suggest that the "third" subway the writer refers to is actually an additional section of the second line - the Marunouchi Line. But then again, the current Ginza Line was originally two different lines, so maybe he's counting that as two? In any case, Tokyo now has - I think - thirteen different subways lines, and they're still expanding the system! This page explains the long history of Tokyo's subway system: http://www.tokyometro.jp/en/corporate/profile/history/index.html "And what about the traffic on these streets? There we have Pelion on Ossa. It is the maddest, shrillest, craziest city traffic I've ever seen and in the center it gets tied up in knots that a supreme scoutmaster of traffic could hardly undo. Private cars are not unduly numerous but the city fairly swarms with taxis of three types, all seemingly so unconcerned with human life that they are popularly called 'kamikaze cabs'. The smallest ones, mere road bugs but wonderfully agile, have 70 painted on the front or side and this means that they will carry you 2 kilometers, which is a mile and a quarter, for a modest 70 yen, which is 19 cents, and the tariff for longer hauls is also the lowest. A somewhat larger type of vehicle is marked 80 and an American-type car too. Whatever their bracket these taxis race like four-wheeled devils for openings that are obviously as impossible to penetrate as is the needle's eye of Scripture for a camel. If they can't quite make it the driver jams on his brakes at the last second and you pitch forward against the front seat. To accent his urgency the driver keeps his hand on the horn at least half the time. All day and half the night the Tokyo air is filled with an unceasing symphony of motor horns, and these, I might add, are supplemented by the shrill wailing of the noodle vendors' whistles, sounding rather like perambulating piccolos. Far into the night one hears this weird whistling, intended to attract late trade." I think at the time the above was written (1958 or 1959), traffic was still often directed by a person standing in the intersection (not sure, but...). Now it's (naturally) all traffic lights. As for "kamikaze cabs" - you don't hear that these days (or at least I don't - maybe someone still uses the term), possibly because traffic jams are so dense, traffic just creeps along, so it's not generally possible to drive like that now. Out in the burbs, the taxis do drive fairly fast on narrow roads, but all-in-all, there's not a special image of them dangerously flying about these days. "The authorities are trying, somewhat timidly, to curb the motorists' horn madness and the papers are full of warnings about fines for 'needless sounding of horns', but that adjective is a wobbly one, hard to define, and the kamikazes, at least, seem to be little deterred by such gentle threats." This picture of Tokyo being full of honking car horns is hard to imagine now, so efforts underway in 1958 to get people to stop leaning on them appear to have succeeded - you hardly ever hear horns these days, and when people do use them, it's generally just a very light touch to warn someone the car is coming, etc. One exception to this is when someone parks on a street for a delivery, etc., and blocks the road. When a driver is blocked by such a car, some angrily go "BEEEP-BEEEP-BEEEP ... BEEEP-BEEEP-BEEEP" (endless repeat) until the offending car is moved. Regarding "Noodle vendor's' whistles"; that might have been for tofu, as there's a long history of tofu sellers tooting a small horn (not a whistle really) as they ride around on a bicycle with tofu for sale. I actually rather like the sound, but the writer may have experienced something else that I haven't experienced myself. (Come to think of it - I think there may have been a distinction, with the lower toned horn for tofu and a higher pitch for something else? What I clearly remember, and have even recently heard, is the tofu horn.) "I said I'd come right out with it, and certainly I have, but now I ask you: 'Kindly turn the page' and see what my second and third and nth impressions are." Indeed! Like any country, Japan has its good and bad aspects! Unfortunately, there have been many people in the past who focused on one narrow spectrum of life here and painted only part of the picture. I think Sydney Clark has done a good job of depicting things with wide-spectrum vision, and so people hopefully won't take offense at his comments about traffic in 1959 (actually probably 1958, as the copyright is 1958, with the first edition of the book coming out in 1959). "1959 & 2004 Japan" http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/LL_R/RArchive/LL328a.html#1959 "Getting to Japan - 1959 and 2012" http://lylehsaxon.blogspot.com/2012/01/getting-to-japan-1959-and-2012.html Lyle 2012/02/02 "Tobu-Tojo Line, Ogikubo, Tokyo Snow, Etc." This batch of video clips begins with side window views taken out the left side of an outbound Tobu-Tojo Line train, and then (after watching a river of umbrellas flowing away from a train station one night), goes over to Ogikubo, where I walk around a little checking out side streets on both sides of the station, as well as a food mall (or food court, although not the same as what are called food courts in the US). And then, a day after a big (for Tokyo anyway) snowstorm, several views out side windows (and a little through the front cab windows) of an inbound Chuo Line train showing much of the snow still lying about, which is an unusual scene in Tokyo, since it doesn't often snow here. There are also the typical (for me) scenes of Ginza, Kyobashi, and Shinjuku, with some walking scenes and (naturally) train and station scenes. Tobu-Tojo Line - Outbound Left Side View - (A) - (120118) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s96XRsAAtxs Tobu-Tojo Line - Outbound Left Side View - (B) - (120118) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9JrVhFOnpk Tobu-Tojo Line - Outbound Left Side View - (C) - (120118) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZv33NZ-cOM Looking out a left side window of an outbound Tobu-Tojo Line train. - (A, B and C) Evening Umbrellas - (120123) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO2eXKJLuAo Watching a river of umbrellas leaving a station. Departing Ogikubo Station - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9H4RNLtt7c8 Looking out a nighttime window of a Chuo Line train as it departs Ogikubo Station. Underground Ogikubo Food Mall - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmA_0oJgN74 Walking through an underground food mall in Ogikubo. Ogikubo Sanpo - (A) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHMYHN7UCcA Ogikubo Sanpo - (B) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u3jjyJ83AY Ogikubo Sanpo - (C) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Cdi07pfL-o Ogikubo Sanpo - (D) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVVi3VCvX6E Ogikubo Sanpo - (E) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCViSGL1rTU Ogikubo Sanpo - (F) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0gShqVsQ80 Ogikubo Sanpo - (G) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsUeq2F9I34 Walking around in Ogikubo - looking at side streets on both sides of the station (see series of clips, from "A" through to "L" +M). Ogikubo Station Platform - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS3Jgyj4i1s Looking around on a platform at Ogikubo Station while waiting for a train. Ogikubo Sanpo - (H) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeseBdxsJuY Ogikubo Sanpo - (I) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEEBAv52ZrM Ogikubo Sanpo - (J) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPxM-ix46yo Ogikubo Sanpo - (K) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIYS4gsfsWI Ogikubo Sanpo - (L) - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOD03FbTTtw Walking around in Ogikubo - looking at side streets on both sides of the station (see series of clips, from "A" through to "L" +M). Ogikubo Sanpo (M) - Underground Food Mall - (120122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lQRSG0mT2o Walking through an underground food mall in Ogikubo (Sanpo-M). Chuo Line - Day After Snow (Kokubunji to Musashisakai) - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv0fnWWoHMI Riding the Chuo Line the day after a big snowstorm from Kokubunji to Musashisakai. Chuo Line (B) The Day After a Snowstorm - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvnX8SfCYrU Chuo Line (C) The Day After a Snowstorm - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZWvcY5tT6w Chuo Line (D) The Day After a Snowstorm - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqC95QHQArc Chuo Line (E) The Day After a Snowstorm - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1y3EOJ_IBw Chuo Line (F) The Day After a Snowstorm - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3_14qtJSNM Looking out a side window of a Chuo Line train the day after a snowstorm. - (F) Chuo Line - Yotsuya to Ochanomizu - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l5FnmMTK1w Riding a Chuo Line train from Yotsuya to Ochanomizu. Ochanomizu to Tokyo Station (Via the Chuo Line) - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqWGpM5Qrv0 Riding a Chuo Line train from Ochanomizu to Tokyo Station and then walking through Tokyo Station. Afternoon Tokyo Platform - Ride to Yurakucho - (120124) http://youtu.be/4iRXdNmmBDo Looking around on a Tokyo Platform one afternoon, and then riding a Yamanote Line train to Yurakucho. Afternoon Yurakucho Platform In January - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VIbu5wIA4 Looking around on the Yurakucho Station platform one January afternoon. Yurakucho Plaza Melting Snow in January - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0aTfyapKe4 A look at a wet and partly snowy Yurakucho Plaza in January 2012. Walking Through Tokyo Station - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WafV8UFLCNc Walking through Tokyo Station in the evening. Tokyo to Kanda - Night Side Window View - Chuo Line - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esVurWlr2Hw Looking out a Chuo Line side window on a nighttime Chuo Line train between Tokyo and Kanda. And for the following clips, the titles explain what they are (there are no descriptions). Ochanomizu to Yotsuya - Night Side Window View - (120124) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7WcYG25qo4 Riding a nighttime Chuo Line train from Ochanomizu to Yotsuya. Chuo Line - Nighttime Left Side Window View - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJZnaB-DQS0 Kyobashi-Bound One Evening - January 2012 - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRMFcrNmtDg Nihonbashi Station Platform Walk - Tozai Line - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lZ2DO_culU Inside Outbound Chuo Line - 1130pm - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb6QQ78jQF0 Takadanobaba - Waiting for Tozai Line - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_fFp8a8cjI Yurakucho to Tokyo - 725pm - Yamanote Line - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCHaybw03gw Shinjuku Station Area - Then Walk Down Hill by South Exit - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_0M0womb7k Yamanote to Chuo Transfer at Tokyo Station - Ride to Kanda - (120131) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgeCASP9CvM Scenes of Tokyo and other areas in Japan by: Lyle 2012/01/25 "Variable Frame Rate + Semi-Fixed Playback = Fluid Time (VFR+SFP=FT)" When recording moving pictures, the film is composed of a set number of frames recorded per second (24 for most films), with each frame exposed for a set amount of time (shutter speed). It seems to me that human vision is more fluid, both not locking onto rigid frames and not locking onto a set "frame rate" (for want of a better term), or recording at a set (effective) shutter speed. So - assuming that we take in information on an as-needed basis, it stands to reason that the brain would automatically dial up the effective visual frame rate in times of danger, high-speed action, etc., and dial it down in situations/scenes with little need for attention to surrounding visual details. Nevertheless, in spite of having variable speed visual perception, there's a sense/belief/perception of seeing at a constant rate, so when you combine that with our assumption that time flows forward at a set rate (watch the second hand on a watch for a demonstration); when we are in increased-frame-rate mode, it distorts our *perception* of time passing and very short intervals can seem to last a very long time. Conversely, when in reduced-frame-rate mode, it distorts our perception of time passing and rather long intervals of time can seem to last for a very short time. Another factor of reduced-frame-rate mode is that as people get older, their vision gets less sharp, so they're taking in less detailed information, and this also pushes perception towards reduced-frame-rate mode. There are mountains of details to go into, but I'm out of time today, so I'll post just this for now. Here are a couple of links to time-perception that are basically the same thing - from a wide-field perspective (not confined to vision): Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older? http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122322542 Time Perception http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_perception Sore dewa, mata! Copyright 2012 by Lyle H Saxon Lyle 2012/01/22 "Getting to Japan - 1959 and 2012" I've been looking at the opening pages of "All the Best in Japan" by Sydney Clark (published by Sidgwick and Jackson Limited in 1959), and it's interesting to contemplate how much things have changed over the past half-century. "The first question for all intending passengers to the Far East is how to get there. Now that we have entered the age of jet air travel, this does not present much difficulty. ....." This was the period when jet travel began taking off, yet travel by ship was still very common. I often think how nice it must have been to travel by ocean liner if you had a private cabin and access to the better restaurants on board. Time to contemplate the great distance traveled and the transition from one culture to another. Airplanes are nice in their own way, but are too much like riding in an elevator - you get in, hold still for a bit, then the doors open and suddenly you're in a very different place. There's no proper sense of the distance traveled on the way. "Having chosen the route it is then necessary to choose the airline. All the main airlines of the world connect London to Tokyo. B.O.A.C. schedules four flights weekly at present by Comet IV Karachi, Delhi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong, to name every city covered by the various routes. The Hong Kong to Tokyo section increases to daily flights in conjunction with other airlines - and there are plans to introduce several new services to Japan and the Far East." This was before direct flights to everywhere, so the planes made stops along the way - similar to ships visiting ports in a way (thus the name "air-port", come to think of it). It's also interesting to read of an airline scheduling four flights a week from London to Tokyo. "Tokyo is now some 28 hours from London compared to 38 to 40 by previous schedules. Singapore and Hong Kong can be reached in 22 hours." 28 hours - down from 38 to 40 previously! Now it's down to something like 12 hours (depending on flight direction, winds, etc.). "..... Winter is to be avoided in Japan, especially if you plan, as certainly you should, to make some stays in Japanese inns. Central heating is a rarity in therm and they'll be *cold*." This is something I thought when I came here in the early eighties, but the idea of cold rooms doesn't bother me now. What suddenly seems strange to me, is how just as I have become used to cold rooms in the winter (basically you just leave your coat on inside), people have begun getting used to being warm all the time, and the locals seem to want everywhere to be warm (or what often feels rather hot)! ".... Japan, like Chile, is shaped something like a string bean or a pea pod, though is is not so tenuous as this sounds, being 170 miles wide at tis widest point. Its length from north-east to south-west is 1,300 miles...." I've often heard multi-generation residents of Japan say how Japan isn't a very big country, but people don't seem to realize the uniqueness in how much distance there is from north to south, considering the total land area. "..... This Company [United Netherlands Line] also advertises a reduction of 15 per cent in the sum of single fares for passengers making the round trip to Japan by the same ship, and during the ship's stay in Japanese ports, usually Kobe, Nagoya and Yokohama, the ship is their hotel at no extra cost." That could be a fun way to travel! Basically cruise ship style - which would mean you wouldn't have to worry about luggage at all, since you'd have the same room throughout the trip. "The company [NYK - Nippon Yusen Kaisha] also has a trans-Pacific liner that runs from Vancouver via Honolulu to Yokohama and Kobe. This is the luxury ship M.S. Hikawa Maru, 11,600 tons, carrying 80 first-class passengers and 69 third-class A or "Tourist Class". The accommodation in the first class is of considerable luxury, and the service is courteous and excellent. ....." The Hikawa Maru! This ship still exists - permanently docked by a park in Yokohama. I've gone on-board several times and always find myself wishing I could pop back in a time machine and experience crossing the Pacific on this ship. (Naturally such daydreams include a first-class cabin, access to the first-class lounges, etc.) I have a few pictures of the external appearance of this ship here: http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/PhotoGlryMain/PhotoGlryA/Yokohama01.html Incidentally, I bought the 1959 travel book in 2004 and wrote a little about it [here]. Lyle 2012/01/19 "Tobu-Tojo Line, Ginza, Nihonbashi Side Streets, Kanda, Etc." This batch of video clips begins with views on the Tobu-Tojo Line, followed by views on the Seibu, Tozai, and Ginza lines. Then there are street views of Ginza, a walk in an underground shopping mall in Nihonbashi, and views of side streets in Nihonbashi. After that I walk around in Yurakucho and Ginza, and ride the Chuo Line. There are also a couple of art exhibition views, and a 1990 look at the morning rush in Ikebukuro. Wrapping up this batch are a couple of views of the Kanda Station area (under construction) and a few other odds and ends. Dry Winter Window View - Tobu Tojo Line (B) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7fM4FSaQYE Dry Winter Window View - Tobu Tojo Line (A) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OWOWtmEOzE Looking out on a dry winter view from a Tobu Tojo Line train. - (A and B) Inside Nearly Empty Tobu-Tojo Line Train - (120103) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM7OtBPk-sI A look down a mostly empty car of a Tobu-Tojo Line train. Ogawa-machi Station Platform - (120103) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ScNKXH93s Looking around on a platform at Ogawa-machi Station. Ogawa to Hagiyama - (Construction Zone) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKMs3yEGUEQ Riding a Seibu Line train from Ogawa to Hagiyama (past a rail construction site). Boarding Tozai Line Train at Takadanobaba - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AiBYAZfo5o Waiting for and then boarding a Tozai Line train at Takadanobaba Station. Tozai Line - Takadanobaba to Waseda - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa9WsWzWzsQ Riding a Tozai Line train from Takadanobaba to Waseda. Ginza Line - Departing Nihonbashi - (Rear Cab View) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thrP9Nv42Ps Looking out the rear cab of a Ginza Line train as it departs Nihonbashi Station. Inside Ginza Line - Arriving at Ginza - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_al4uqDPw2M Inside a Ginza Line train - and then getting off at Ginza Station and heading for street level. Ginza Chuo-Dori Afternoon Stroll - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI2BLhDSJ-I Walking down Chuo-Dori in Ginza one afternoon. Nihonbashi 2F Post Office - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6NMssGgam8 A quick look at a second floor post office in Nihonbashi. Nihonbashi Underground Shopping Mall - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K07ST41EAlw Taking a look at the underground shopping mall in Nihonbashi near Tokyo Station. Nihonbashi - Underground to Street Level - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkUfb_Sd69s Going from the large underground shopping area in Nihonbashi up to street level. Nihonbashi Twilight - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0O6Q4WN7bU Twilight in Nihonbashi in January 2012. Nihonbashi Side Street Stroll - (A) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmyEPw0IEXY Nihonbashi Side Street Stroll - (B) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF1DaFhbsKE Nihonbashi Side Street Stroll - (C) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmiQL4u7Y8E Nihonbashi Side Street Stroll - (D) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7upFEzspII Nihonbashi Side Street Stroll - (E) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcrH7mR2DS8 Walking around on side streets in Nihonbashi. - (A-E) Yurakucho Wrong Turn - (A) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHv-nmUcxrg Yurakucho Wrong Turn - (B) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2MGUNoYIyw Returning from a wrong turn stroll in Yurakucho. - (A and B) Tokyo to Kanda (12:01 A.M.) - (120107) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVpHiB0Lk6c Taking a Chuo Line train from Tokyo to Kanda at 12:01 A.M. Yurakucho Station Platform - Midnight Ride to Tokyo - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHdLJ4q7IlI Looking around on a platform at Yurakucho Station and then taking a midnight train to Tokyo. Tokyo Station Highway Bus Area - (Under Construction) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liOp9P5X8n0 Walking through the Highway Bus Area at Tokyo Station (which is still under construction). Light-show Sidewalk (Near Tokyo Station) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGEutlfgZFA Walking over a light-show sidewalk not far from Tokyo Station. Rail-bridge Underpass (Near Yurakucho) - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlP-dnoC4LU Watching a shinkansen train pass by from under a rail-bridge near Yurakucho Station. Entering Kokusai Forum in Yurakucho - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73bAaL4crtI Walking into Kokusai Forum in Yurakucho. Kokusai Forum Walk-though - Yurakucho - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVjjTaol_sI Walking through the Kokusai Forum in Yurakucho. Ginza 4-chome Evening - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbkVBdt4MrI Walking across the Ginza 4-chome intersection in the evening. Yurakucho Track-side Walk - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXfgln9zBZE Walking along (on the street, below the rails) the elevated railway near Yurakucho Station. Ginza Evening Stroll - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwDFC7PqasI Walking through Ginza in the evening. Yurakucho Side Street - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPBIaKby-Tc A look at a side street in Yurakucho. Ginza Side Street Stroll - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLzoZTmCAts Walking along a side street in Ginza. Yurakucho Evening Stroll - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvJGdp6wz-0 Walking through Yurakucho in the evening. Ochanomizu to Yurakucho - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4v_iADlJcw Riding Chuo Line and Yamanote Line trains from Ochanomizu to Yurakucho. Free Bananas at Izakaya - (120106) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXUQgYXKchw People leaving an izakaya receiving free bananas... as part of some kind of promotional offer at the place? Exiting Yurakucho Station - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb69dYYdbHo Walking from the platform of Yurakucho Station and then out across the plaza and towards Ginza. ふらんそわーず こげちゃとら Exhibition at Ginza Ono Gallery-2 小野画廊-2 - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfaiXD11UTg Artist ふらんそわーず こげちゃとら explains her exhibition at Ginza Ono Gallery-2 (小野画廊-2). Musashino Line to Chuo Line Transfer - (120111) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PoD0JSNPU4 Transferring from the Musashino Line to the Chuo Line. Crossing River - Outbound Chuo Line - (120111) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcGhLCBatc8 Looking out a side window of a Chuo Line train as it crosses a river. Walking Through Tokyo Station - (Temporary Bus Area, Etc.) - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jUbyxcWf5g Walking past the temporary bus area in front of Tokyo Station, and then walking through the inside of the station. Chuo Line Departing Shinjuku Station - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdg_3zOxE7A Watching a Chuo Line train departing Shinjuku Station. Ride in Train Tunnel - Light, Dark, Exit - (120111) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq-jjKdzkQE Looking out the front cab of a train running through a tunnel. (For some reason, the driver turned the train's headlights off rather early, while the train was still running in the blackness of the tunnel.) Exiting Shinjuku Station via South Exit - (120110) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Bxz_Dj9Juw Exiting Shinjuku Station via the south exit. 1990 Ikebukuro Morning Rush - (900419-0817) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE8Kt9J5u9U A look at the river-like flow of people from various lines, mostly headed for the Yamanote Line. I took this beginning at 8:17 a.m. on April 19th, 1990 in Ikebukuro Station. (Copyright 1990 by Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon. All rights reserved.) 1990年4月19日, 午前8時17分 - 池袋ラッシュー Dual-Perspective Painting by Yokko (Yoshihiko Tsutsumi - つつみよしひこ) - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9QJ1Lg_Hws A look at some dual-perspective paintings by Yokko (Yoshihiko Tsutsumi - つつみよしひこ) - shown in the Okuno Building in Ginza, Tokyo. Ginza Okuno Building Y's Arts-101/508: http://www.ysarts.net/ Chuo Line Inside View - Arriving at Shinjuku - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn9rz0vI6fM In a Chuo Line train as it arrives at Shinjuku Station. Departing Shinjuku on the Chuo Line - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhPB77jO6aM Waiting while people board the train, and then departing Shinjuku Station on the Chuo Line. Kanda Station Construction Zone Walk-through - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f62nqkImsc Walking through under-(re)construction Kanda Station. (I'm not sure exactly what the construction is, but it's probably related to the construction of new Shinkansen tracks above.) Yurakucho to Kanda via Nighttime Yamanote Line - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MTgNh-SCms Riding the Yamanote Line from Yurakucho to Kanda at night. Kanda - West Exit Street View - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBCLwlTsexw Walking out the west exit of Kanda Station and looking around on nearby streets. Moving Melody Clock in Yurakucho (Last Part) - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J6NAFDIQRY A look at the very last part of the musical moving clock in Yurakucho. Evening Musashi-Kogane Platform (夕方武蔵小金井駅ホーム) - (120116) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_UjxgBhrTE A brief look at one of the platforms at Musashi-Kogane Station (夕方武蔵小金井駅ホーム). Yurakucho Under-Bridge Izakaya - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5n10VXxymE Walking under the tracks in Yurakucho - past an under-bridge izakaya. Ginza Chuo-Dori - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIYAAJJ5i2Y Walking down Ginza Chuo-Dori in Tokyo. Reserved Seat Express Passing Kanda Station - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc6i1g70lMc Watching a reserved seat express train passing by Kanda Station. Inbound Chuo Line at Musashi-Kogane (武蔵小金井駅での中央線) - (120116) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO8SeRaOR6c Watching an inbound Chuo Line train at Musashi-Kogane Station (武蔵小金井駅での中央線). Entering Kanda Station at Night - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufKs8m7m3dw Walking into Kanda Station at night. Kanda Station - Waiting for the Chuo Line - (120117) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1SZLoYAUCE Waiting for the Chuo Line at Kanda Station. Lyle 2012/01/15 "Tokyo - 1932 and 2012" In reading an old article about Japan entitled "Tokyo To-Day" (by William R. Castle, Jr. - Under Secretary of State, formerly American Ambassador to Japan) in the February 1932 edition of National Geographic, I found it interesting how some things were basically unchanged between 1932 Japan and 2012 Japan, and other things quite different. Aside from the progression of modern architecture and technology though, I'd say things haven't really changed all that much culturally. Let's take a look at some quotes from the 1932 article and see how they compare to 2012. Re: "To-day Tokyo is a city of broad streets, of many splendid buildings, of spacious parks. For the tourist it has lost much of its charm; but, after all, it belongs to the Japanese, not to the tourist." In 1932, Tokyo was remarkable for the number of modern office buildings it had - signaling a departure from centuries of tradition. At this point, Tokyo is awash in high-rise buildings, and what is surprising to a resident of this mega-city, isn't that there are many modern new buildings, but rather that any old structures remain at all! And as for the comment "... it belongs to the Japanese, not to the tourist", this is true enough, although many locals these days would also like to see a little more of some historical aspects of the city being preserved, rather than systematically razing everything to the ground in a fever of endless construction. Re: "Except for the huge, gaudy advertisements everywhere, there is not as much color in the modern streets as one who has received presents of gay kimonos bought in shops run strictly for tourists might expect. Little girls, as I said, wear the most brilliant colors, but the street costumes of all others are restrained in the extreme. The men's clothes are always somber." Certainly this applies for winter, although less so for summer. I've fallen into this habit myself - wearing basically dark clothing most of the time in the winter (which is the typical winter attire here). For summer, people wear light-colored shirts and visible ties (as opposed to ties buried under a sweater), but still avoid overly bright colors. If everyone wore bright colors, it wouldn't be any big deal, but when most people are wearing predominantly dark colors, if you do go out into that backdrop in very brightly colored clothing, you then really stand out! Re: "A good-natured crowd, each unit a little inclined to ignore the existence of other units, but rather through self-absorption than because of rudeness. I never saw an instance of conscious rudeness in the streets of Tokyo. One goes to the Ginza again and again, partly because it is the place one naturally goes to buy anything, from fruit to a Mikimoto pearl or an umbrella; but principally, I think, because it is a wonderful place to get a cross-section of the life of the city." This is an important observation. While people here, as anywhere, have their likes and dislikes regarding other people, on the whole, people place civilized behavior in public above personal feelings, and the inclination to "ignore the existence of other units" as Castle puts it, makes it possible to enjoy oneself with friends, etc. out in crowded spaces. Where there is space to spare, you can go and find a private spot to spend time with friends, but when there is very little private space, "ignoring the existence" of people nearby actually works really well - once you're used to it. (Lest the concept be misunderstood: It goes both ways. When you are quietly sitting somewhere and there is a noisy group nearby, you let them be noisy, and when you are part of a noisy group, you don't worry overly much about your surroundings as people leave the group alone. Over time, it's basically a give and take arrangement.) Re: "The earthquake made Tokyo realize, as never before, the value of parks, not only for beauty, health, and recreation purposes, but as places of refuge for fleeing crowds and as obstructions to sweeping conflagrations. Since 1923, therefore, plans were made for three large new parks and some 50 smaller ones." This is referring to the great 1923 earthquake (about the same strength as the 2011 quake), which destroyed much of Tokyo and Yokohama. I hadn't realized that many parks came about as a result of that. I wonder which parks the planned "three large new parks" are. Re: "You walk along the straight, dusty street which leads into the Yokohama boulevard. You see modern buildings and modern shops; the street cars make just the same unpleasant squeaking that they make in Boston or New York and look just about the same. The Orient, always except for the people, seems pushed far into the background; and then you come to Shiba Park, walk through the great gates and pass under the shade of ancient trees into the group of temples, shrines of some of the Tokugawa shoguns." This has fundamentally changed, as "the Orient" is more well-known for steel and glass towers now than the old wooden buildings the area used to be known for, but there are still a few areas in Tokyo where you can do a slight time-slip maneuver and slide into what feels like a different era. But those areas are fewer and fewer as Tokyo's habit of relentless destruction of nearly everything in the pursuit of endless new construction has resulted in there being very few old things and areas remaining. As for street cars, they were mostly eradicated. There is one that runs exclusively on its own right-of-way (thus making it a train more than a "street car", since it doesn't run in the street), and one that only has one small section where it actually runs in the street. The formerly vast street car system of Tokyo was replaced with subway trains and standard surface street buses. Re: "And then the movies are just as crowded as the theaters. There is a movie industry in Japan, but this does not detract from the popularity of the Hollywood productions. Talking pictures were hard to deal with at first, but now a solemn individual sits at the side of the picture and translates, apparently to the satisfaction of the audience, as the play progresses. The translator's endeavors to keep up are more interesting to the foreigner than are some of the plays." I hadn't thought of this before, but with silent movies, you could just insert new frames between the scenes with whatever language you liked, but once a sound track was added, apparently they didn't initially have a way to overlay text on top of the picture. It's hard to imagine someone sitting by the screen doing simultaneous translations throughout the movie though! That would be a difficult job I imagine! I wonder if they tried to say each line right after the actor said it, or to say it (with a script) at the same time? I tried Googling for something related to this, but didn't find anything. If someone knows about this bit of history, I'd be interested hearing more about it. Re: "These great papers are thoroughly up-to-date. They have regular airplane services of their own to carry pictures from Osaka to Tokyo, and transmission of pictures by wireless or by wire is as much used as in the United States. Moreover, the papers carry on large humanitarian work in the maintenance of hospitals or welfare enterprises." A couple of things caught my attention here. First, that newspapers had their own aircraft back then for carrying pictures from one area of the country to another. And the "transmission of pictures by wireless or by wire" part! I hadn't realized that fax machine technology was already in regular use in 1932. According to Wikipedia: "Scottish inventor Alexander Bain worked on chemical mechanical fax type devices and in 1846 was able to reproduce graphic signs in laboratory experiments." 1846! Wow! And the article goes on to say that commercial telefax came about before the invention of the telephone! I had thought that telephones preceded telefax machines. Re: "Tokyo is full of cafes, always crowded, modeled somewhat on the cafes of Paris. In former days people gave geisha parties, those rather solemn affairs at which geisha's danced their symbolic dances. They were very expensive, and those who could not afford the expense contented themselves with picnics. Now the cafes are crowded, their principal patrons being, perhaps, the 'mobos' and the 'mogas'. (The Japanese, more than any other nation, love to abbreviate, and 'mobo' is the abbreviation for modern boy, and 'moga' is the abbreviation for modern girl. Indeed, these mobos and mogas, dressed almost always in European clothes and trying to adopt the freedom of European manners, are about the most modern aspect of Tokyo.)" Well here's something that hasn't changed! The terms "mobo" and "moga" aren't used any longer, but the statement "The Japanese, more than any other nation, love to abbreviate" may actually be true. If not "more than any other nation", then certainly "one of the top abbreviation-loving nations"! Re: "So far as ideas are concerned, Kipling was wrong in saying that the West and the East could not meet. In Tokyo the West has met the East, and out of the meeting is growing a new kind of civilization, in which the ideals of the two hemispheres are fusing." Indeed! In 1932 it was more Japan changing with things imported from the West, but in 2012, there has been a lot of influence in both directions. The two certainly do meet. Completely mesh? Obviously not, but a lot has been learned on both sides, and there is much to be learned on both sides still. One of the things that's interesting to me about this 1932 article, is that it shows the level of western-inspired change before WW-II, in contrast with some people's idea that Japan's westernization began after the war. Lyle 2012/01/05 "Kawagoe, Gallery Discussion, New Year's Day Shrine View, Etc." This batch has some of the usual scenes out and about in Tokyo, but mainly has several videos of Kawagoe, including the old area with buildings from the Edo era, and a series of video clips of a gallery discussion in Ginza. There are also a couple of views of a grocery store on December 31st, 2011 and a shrine on January 1st. 2012. Majima Sachi Installation at Gallery Shorin (111122) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lliWIf348o A look at the Majima Sachi (間嶋沙知) installation at Gallery Shorin (ギャラリー松林) in Room-505 of the Okuno Building (奥野ビル505号室) Kawagoe - Old Section (A) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGQQjxNenEE Looking around in the old section of Kawagoe. (A) Kawagoe - Old Section Side Street - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhk7CbVo1UY Looking down a side street in the old section of Kawagoe. Kawagoe - Old Section (C) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oPkYYDnGtk Kawagoe - Old Section (B) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnDjv_0aKv4 Looking around in the old section of Kawagoe. (B and C) Looking Up - December 15th 2011 - (111215) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOEj0YKb6X4 Looking up (while walking) at trees in the early winter on December 15th 2011. Kawagoe - Hon-Kawagoe Station - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIU9CVkI6lw One of the entrances to Hon-Kawagoe Station in Kawagoe. Kawagoe Shotengai - (C) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODkR5zvpR8g A fringe area of one of the Kawagoe shotengai streets. - (C) Arriving at Shinjuku Station - Chuo Line - (111213) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbfp537RP8 Arriving at Shinjuku Station on the Chuo Line. Ginza-OBP Exhibition Tajima Yu (田島木綿) December 2011 - (111213) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVBu8IE9_88 A look at the mid-December Ginza-OBP Installation by Tajima Yu (田島木綿). Y's Arts-508 December Exhibition/Installation - (111213) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT9plPYYlhg A look at an interesting two-person installation/exhibition at Y's Arts-508. I don't have the two artist's names right now, but will add them if (when?) I get the information. There were hand-made bags by one artist and hand-made shoes by the other. Nihonbashi Stroll - (111213) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISq7SvePN70 Walking around in Nihonbashi. Kawagoe Shotengai - (A) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yuqh6KiinZU Kawagoe Shotengai - (B) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6qLV4YsWBQ A fringe area of one of the Kawagoe shotengai streets. - (A and B) Kawagoe - Fringe of Old Area - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMu9N28bM4Y Walking through the fringe of the old section of Kawagoe. Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (A) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AP1mux7V7KQ Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (B) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZIDg27pGX0 Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (C) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdC6JP9Z49Q Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (D) - (111214) - Temple-A http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iw_QvStYx3I Walking around in the old traditional area of Kawagoe. - (A, B, C, and D) Kawagoe Temple Grounds - Autumn Colors - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjW0KGiFmvw A look at late autumn / early winter colors at a Kawagoe temple. Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (E) - (111214) - Side Street http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0ZmYopegPo Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (F) - (111214) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yl1d1nOKvRA Kawagoe - Old Area Sanpo - (G) - (111214) - Temple-B http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd5XPnRoFgQ Walking around in the old traditional area of Kawagoe. - (E, F, and G) Outbound Chuo Line (Late at Night) - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAe5mwr_q5Y Riding a late-night outbound Chuo Line train. Kazuki Gallery Discussion (A) - (111210) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0eWpuVzQDU Kazuki Gallery Discussion (B) - (111210) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENYBfcvup_o Kazuki Gallery Discussion (D) - (111210) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dELlRQoZwwM Kazuki Gallery Discussion (E) - (111210) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EmuxHzVwz8 Kazuki Gallery Discussion (F) - (111210) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WuzdjiSME0 Part of a gallery discussion at Gallery Kazuki in Ginza, Tokyo. - (A, B, D, E, and F) Nighttime Chuo Line - Yotsuya to Shinjuku - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSVEuL5GYNc Riding a nighttime Chuo Line train from just after Ochanomizu to Shinjuku. Seibu Line - Construction Zone - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEQ6i4beKE Riding a Seibu Line train past a rail construction zone. Y's Arts - 508 Exhibition - (A) - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pf9vBuTZqBo Y's Arts - 508 Exhibition - (B) - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtFW7HmcX10 A look at an exhibition in the Room-508 of Y's Arts (which is in Room-101 and Room-508). - (A and B) Hagiyama Station Arriving and Departing - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWR9_sXAMg0 Arriving and departing from Hagiyama Station on the Seibu Line. Exiting Ginza Station - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF6dUcaC208 Exiting Ginza Station to Chuo-Dori. Chuo Line - Tokyo to Ochanomizu - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7ab7yqO7pM Riding a Chuo Line train from Tokyo to Ochanomizu. Y's Arts-101 Old Clock Chimes - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSv-2PeYZhI Looking around in the Y's Arts-101 antique shop, and then listening to the chimes of old Clocks. Ginza Chuo-Dori and Side Streets - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvGlQcdMSYw Walking down Ginza's Chuo-Dori and then turning off into side streets. Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (A) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=givCZJCdr4w Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (B) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiByaXDXJbI Listening to the first part of a discussion at Gallery Kazuki in Ginza. - (A and B) Seibu Line - Ogawa to Hagiyama - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9muf3zwDynE Riding a Seibu Line train from Ogawa to Hagiyama. Waiting for Tozai Line at Takadanobaba Station - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL4SPpLS45w Waiting for a Tozai Line train at Takadanobaba Station. Shinjuku Crosswalk - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZEpgvCELLjE Walking across a crosswalk in Shinjuku - crossing from Shinjuku to Nishi-Shinjuku. Tokyo to Yotsuya - Late Night Chuo Line - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZxupMIqyIU Riding a late-night Chuo Line train from Tokyo to Yotsuya. Tokyo to Kanda - Nighttime Window View - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-IWrAL8VHo Looking out a nighttime Chuo Line window while riding from Tokyo to Kanda. Closing Party at Ginza Gallery - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=023GhvtGCE0 A view of an exhibition/installation at a closing party (last day of the exhibition) at a Ginza gallery. Seibu Line - Rear Cab View Leaving Station - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwdjULRNCYg Looking out the rear cab of a Seibu Line train as it leaves a station. Shinjuku Station South Exit - Yamanote Line Delayed - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPdNIaIHmu8 Exiting the south exit of Shinjuku Station when the Yamanote Line was delayed. Ginza Chuo-Dori Stroll at Night - (111227) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDz4td-6Ins Walking down Ginza Chuo-Dori at night. Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (C) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isZPWnA_TVU Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (D) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHwWx2ZABEY Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (E) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf5CEq1eqmw Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (F) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-Lkg7MwL-E Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (G) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKUO5gbb7W0 Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (H) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZwzdJgL-6s Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (I) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AXGyw7NuoM Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (J) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj1QpTCaCjw Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (K) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzivtvfC7GI Kazuki Gallery Discussion - (L) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI58yybA2LU Kazuki Gallery Discussion (Pose After Event) - (M) - (111223) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIz0ifH83rI Listening to a gallery discussion at Gallery Kazuki in Ginza, and then a short clip of a few of the people posing for pictures afterwards. - (C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, and M) Watching Trains at Kodaira Station - (111220) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIgQ_LLru0g Watching trains arriving and departing at Kodaira Station. Shopping on December 31st 2011 - (A) - (111231) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_D6HcqHZec Shopping on December 31st 2011 - (B) - (111231) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACzSkop81Vo Shopping on December 31st 2011 - a time that used to be really busy, but not so much these days since stores don't close from January 1-3 as they used to. (A and B) Shrine Visit on January 1st, 2012 - (A) - (120101) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9155hyz1j_0 Shrine Visit on January 1st, 2012 - (B) - (120101) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2JEYcyJxHs Shrine Visit on January 1st, 2012 - (C) - (120101) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rhQXL_epTE Views from a shrine on January 1st, 2012. - (A, B, and C) Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/ http://youtube.com/lylehsaxon http://tokyoartmusic.blogspot.com/ . . .
|
|