yamanote and lady luck : September 3 2024

this is most definitely the highlight of tonight's nightwalker adventure. but i had the hardest time reaching it, my mind was about to give up and it was not because of any knee related problem.

^{my entry to #aroundtheworld contest hosted by Hive account@bucipuci. the iconic tokyo tower at night.}

before that story, let us start at the beginning. oh, and this is part of a series i am trying to complete so if you have some time, hope you can also check these entries below.

strolling around the yamanote
urban walking along the yamanote : August 17 2024
along the yamanote down south : August 22 2024

tokyo (東京)

i thought this out quite long, the first two strolls i can do by foot from home. but it will be very challenging to complete this yamanote train line loop if i always start from home. so the most reasonable approach would be to ride the yamanote train itself, and continue from where i left the last time.

and that led me back to the 3rd busiest station according to the jr company's statistics. jr or japan railway is the company who handles most of japan's above ground trains. tokyo station is vibrant as always. this grand looking structure is the station and you may read more about it in the 2nd link above. the juxtaposition of the historical station amidst the modern skyscrapers still amazes me and is always a delight to capture in photos.

the roads around this station are very wide and everything seems like they are screaming with importance. you will feel the importance of tokyo to the world just by walking along the streets near tokyo station. i have never felt this small, massive buildings are in every block. even these planters look chic.

yurakucho (有楽町)

undoubtedly, this neighborhood is another business district. ranked 20th busiest in 2023, this station had two sides. the east side is more like the shopping district; the ever popular ginza area can be reached from the east side.

i happened to be on the west side where things are a little corporate. and a little laid back... more showing a glimpse of how life once was in the post war period with all the outdoor izakaya drinking shops. the whole area under the train tracks were filled with restaurants, bars, and all sorts of downtown entertainment.

very colorful and very lively, yurakucho is where the blue collared businessmen from the big tokyo buildings come and let loose.

shimbashi (新橋)

and such a huge crowd of office workers spilled over to the next station, the 8th busiest shimbashi. but before that, this area had a rather history of note. shimbashi was the original tokyo last stop of the very first railway line in japan, the tokaido main line; this line connected tokyo to the neighboring port city of yokohama.

the station was of course one of the oldest and originally operated from 1872. for some reason, the original station was torn down and this current one (which originally had a different name) was renamed shimbashi station. ^source

on its 100th year anniversary, a real steam locomotive was installed to commemorate the importance of the place to japan's railway system. this C11-292 train type was used in operation from 1945 to 1972. ^source

i have been here a couple of times before and this train installation was the usual meeting spot before traversing the ever colorful izakaya drinking culture of japan's salarymen. in this nightwalk, i was surprised at one intersection when i passed by a couple indulged in very deep kisses while leaning on a nook in front of a closed building. they were not shy at all and continued there task while i turned left hurriedly towards my next destination.

for this nightwalk, i brought a bottle of green tea to drink when my throat gets dry. and now came the point where i had to release all those liquids out. i know for a fact that most public spaces like parks in tokyo at least had toilets in it. hurriedly searched for a park, nearest one was around 300 meters away on the other side of the street. i bolted off, reached the park and searched for the familiar toilet sign. none... it was but a small park with only three structures, i couldn't find the sign. my mind was telling me to find a bush or just go to the convenient store across and hope for a toilet. i was about to the the latter, and passed by one structure and saw the familiar sign on the outside. i rushed and did the job. that gave me the scare!

tokyo tower

since i bolted off to a different area, i got derailed from the intended path and was now closer to an icon. it was unplanned, but a very bright and tall structure like this is not something to be ignored. like a moth to a flame, i approached the very iconic tokyo tower. built in 1958, at 332.9 meters tall this tower was japan's tallest structure until 2012 when tokyo skytree was completed. not some white elephant, this structure was built as a response to the growing communications boom as a one large tower capable of transmitting to the entire region, preventing each telecommunications company from building multiple transmission towers overrunning the city. smart solution!

hamamatsucho (浜松町)

just a few meters more came the 16th busiest station. i exited the zojoji temple main gate towards the more subdued hamamatsucho station. there is a park on the other side but i know that it is closed at this hour. this station also has a direct monorail to haneda airport, the other international airport serving the greater tokyo region.

there was a road construction when i was closer to the station. i don't know the extent of this one but usually, road constructions in tokyo are started at night when traffic is low and is completed the next morning as if nothing was ever done in the area.

there was nothing much of note, i have now officially entered the less active zone, quite far off from the entertainment areas. there are still office buildings in here making it very active in day time probably, but it is very quite at night. i happened to pass over a small bridge (kanasugi bridge) crossing some small river under an expressway. it was quite dark, and very easy to ignore. but i was surprised to see floating restaurants and house boats docked; these must have looked so alive when all the lights are turned on but looked to humble and ordinary after all the festivities are done.

alt

^{my entry to #pobphotocontest hosted by Hive account@friendlymoose where the theme for this week is "WATER". still waters do mirror well.}

tamachi (田町)

my walk got a bit lively once i neared the next station: the 24th busiest but had a bit of foot traffic now that people are on their way home. it is another area filled with office buildings.

i was surprised to see a shrine near the station though. it was small called mihokashima shrine, and a short research said that this was the result of a merger of two local shrines of the area.

i passed by a very artful representation of that famous coffeeshop chain, i'm not sure but it looks like a stained glass mosaic. by this point i was now concerned with time, it was around 22:30 and the next station was still far away.

takanawa gateway (高輪ゲートウェイ)

there was no way to dodge it, but there was a very long construction about 500 meters to the next station. i initially thought that it was but a short one, but it closed off parts of the road until the next station. i had quite a detour, that allowed me to see this shrine which was raised from ground level. kurumamachi inari shrine was the name, i was curious on why it was built that way but unfortunately not much is known about this shrine.

from this intersection, it was still quite a walk before i reached the entrance to the newest station along the yamanote line (technically it serves the keihin-tohoku line as well). takanawa gateway station was opened in 2020 just days before the announcement to postpone the 2020 tokyo olympics, quite a bad timing. luck seemed not on its side, you may say. nevertheless, this station was meant to be part of a development project in the neighborhood. that development project is surely ongoing as seen from the many construction projects around the area.

i remembered quite a huge backlash when the stations planned names was revealed to the public. jr company asked for name suggestions from the public and although not a popular choice, one of the fewest likes even, this name was chosen. how true, i don't know, but one of the reasons for this backlash was because of the use of kana characters (all the other yamanote station names used kanji characters). although the station has officially opened and in use, the shops and establishments inside are still under construction. and that probably made it not that popular ranking 260th busiest, quite low for a yamanote station. nevertheless, this wide and spacious station is here to stay, and will only keep getting busier once all the constructions are over.

i initially planned to end my nightwalk in the next station, but navigating through all these construction works is such a pain. i decided to end the journey in this new station and went home by train. in total, i have walked for around 3 hours for a distance of 11 and a half kilometers. not bad! i am quite excited for the next stations to be honest, i have lived in one of those and it would be so nice to reminisce those days. but i wonder when that would be.

hope you had a great time following this journey with me.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!