in search for gold on tokyo streets : January 29 2025

yes, you heard that right, i was in search for gold. any gold will do, gold emblem or gold motif any as long as it has a golden sheen to it. it is the theme for one of the photo contests here in hive and i'm planning to submit an entry. today is the third day of the search, and i hope to find it soon. so off this nightwalker goes. let us start this adventure!

kanda river (神田川)

^{submitting this picture to Hive account@photofeed 's cityscape contest round 102.}

just walked past the akihabara area, there were so many drinking bars and small restaurants along the way but found no "gold". but right now, the main goal was to find a toilet. i knew from memory that there was one installed at the foot of the bridge before crossing the river, i remembered using it on the many occasions i crossed this river towards the iwamotocho subway station. but i just could not find any on this side of the road. there it was one the other side, but it was impossible to cross this road directly.

submitting to fate, i crossed the bridge and was mesmerized by the lights reflected on the river. can we call that "gold"? i guess not. but it was a priceless view. as i was enjoying this view, i couldn't help but recall the words of my high school history teacher. she said that rivers were always vital to humans and proceeded with the fact that the earliest civilizations in the world started on rivers: the mesopotamian on the tigris and euphrates, the egyptian on the nile, the indus valley on the indus river, and the chinese on the yangtze and hwang ho. that made sense, people will not survive without water so having a constant supply is the ideal place to settle in. i just hope this river gets appreciated more though.

higashi horidome (東堀留)

i finally managed to find a toilet a kilometer away. the larger the park in tokyo, the higher the chance of having a toilet: this was my mantra ever since i started becoming a nightwalker and this has never failed since. so after seeing the horidome children's park on the map i knew for sure i was saved.

it was a spacious and rectangularly long park with a toilet. at one end was a children's playground with a rubberized ground area very fitting for the lively children. the middle part was this dirt ground for playing catch balls or any sports. and at the far end was the toilet and a watering hole or a fountain waterway of some sort. at the park's entrance it said that this whole park was where the higashi horidome river once flowed. the river was reclaimed in 1948 and this small waterway was installed in 2022 to commemorate the old river in the area.

^{here was how the waterway looked like. picture sourced from here.}

streets of nihonbashi

sorry, i had to take a snap of this person on a bicycle. still not the million dollar shot i wanted so i guess the bicycle really needs to be in motion to satisfy my photographer self.

i was on my way to a shrine at this point. but let me share about it in future entries. from that shrine, i made a u-turn and headed back. i was distracted by these light decorated trees beside the mall though and headed to that direction instead. nihonbashi gave the impression of rich high end business lifestyle, i could name a few japanese companies with head offices in this area. here on the streets, there were more cars compared to people walking.

kanda rendezvous

^{this is my entry to streetphotography contest round 103 by Hive account@photofeed}

as i was walking the streets near kanda station, i noticed this couple headed in the same direction i was going. they were just happily and leisurely strolling the streets in their own little world with arms intertwined. the lighting just looked perfect so i took this shot. this shot made me happy but envious at the same time. oh how good must it have felt to walk these streets while clasping someone's hands.

so i poured my attention to this fashionable statue. so chic with that hat and so free with that dress. barefooted she walks the streets of kanda, quite elegant if you ask me. a lady touched her hand when i passed by as if channeling her carefree state and elegance. hope she got what she wants.

back to akihabara

the mansei bridge crosses the kanda river on this part of town. the neon filled town in front is akihabara, yes it is the geeky and techy district of tokyo. this bridge was apparently constructed in the 1930s. nothing much has been said of this bridge but it surely has a clear border of the very bright akihabara and the much subdued kanda.