expectedly unexpected : June 25 2025

this is the best photo that night. in my eyes at least, i loved the blues against the greens. i guess i am just easily persuaded by blues and greens, that is my thing. those bright lights are just bonuses. now on to the blog.

the day started not pretty, it rained. then got sunny. then rained again. and got sunny again until the sun set. i was ready to just head to the gym for a treadmill. i even tried to capture a shot of the rain while indoors, it wasn't great though. it was worrying not to have decent pictures for the day. but i guess there was no need to worry as we are having a nightwalk tonight.

early stroll

i was formulating a path as i was walking outside. it was definitely earlier than usual, the sky was still bright. but wait, summer is here and the sun sets late. so... it was still after office hours though, not that much difference for sure.

i was worried for a second when i saw these people who seemed like walking on the train tracks. but then i remembered that this station was a bit weird with sections under the elements having no roof. of course i have used this station but i stayed roofed. can you blame me for that?

these flowers made my early walk a bit entertaining at least. the second flower was rather commonly planted at street boxes along these road. hibiscus are very pretty. we call these gumamela in my country, at least the red ones i'm pretty sure are called gumamelas. how do you call these flowers in your language?

the new exciting(?!) path

i decided to just continue following the train tracks until i reach a specific park which had a waterfall; the name caught my attention for sure. this path meant that i will be on a new, never been explored path. it looked simple to follow according to google maps, it was a pretty boring straight path. at least it started with some green sidewalks, these were sakura trees so this path will surely look good in early spring.

yes, the header picture was taken around this area. apparently, it seemed like a service area for train cars. it would have been better if there were more train cars though, but i only saw this one. and then everything was covered by tall walls of vines. at the right seemed like housing units for employees of this train company, very much uniformly shaped and painted.

but the worse part, i was alone most of the time. initially i was trailing this woman on a bike. of course she sped up and was nowhere in sight after a few seconds. i was alone. the housing units were soulless. no stray cats nor dogs, empty streets except for the occasional taxi cabs passing by which made it even scarier. and gone were the ground tracks, hello to these ones high up the ground.

oji station

as i was nearing the next station, signs of life were visible again. joggers and cyclists were everywhere. and i was near my destination, too. just a few more blocks ahead.

there was one tunnel under the train tracks which had art drawings on display. all were using pencil or even charcoal; people around these area sure were talented. these two were my favorites. those soft wispy feathers on that bird was just breathtaking. for a non-drawer like me, that alone would be very hard to draw.

surprise shrine visit

the park i initially set my eyes on was closed; it even had a locked gate. so what did i do? i visited the next door shrine, oji inari shrine (王子稲荷神社),

Oji Inari Shrine is a famous Inari shrine that appears in the rakugo story “Oji no Kitsune” (The Fox of Oji). Legend has it that every year on New Year’s Eve, the foxes of Kanpachishu prepare their costumes and gather at Oji Inari. At the end of the year, the local people hold the “Oji Fox Procession,” which has become a new tradition. The shrine was founded before the Heian period (794-1185) and was given the title of “Kanto Inari Soji” by Minamoto no Yoriyoshi during the Kouhei period (1058-1065), and has a long history of being a place of prayer for the Tokugawa shoguns. ^source

i think i have mentioned in a blog before, a housemate once said that there was a festival at the shrine in oji. i went to that shrine but there was no activity at all. and on my way home, he messaged me that i went to the wrong shrine. well, the correct shrine was this one, the shrine known for foxes. it was my first time seeing a shrine with lots of differently colored cloths hanging in front; those were tied to bells held at the top. by the looks of it, this shrine surely had some great importance.

way home

after reaching the area, although not the park, i decided to head home. one part had a downhill slope with these two bikers zooming quite fast. i was taken a back at how dangerously close they were.

passing by otonashi water park on the way home was a must. i was pretty that this area will give me great photos to share, and it sure did. there must be some smudges on my camera lenses, the light flares were just intense. but sadly i was wearing synthetic clothes, these wouldn't help clean the dirt at all. the effects were fine i guess, more dreamy.

this incredibly narrow building came into view on my way back. it was pretty long though but it surely started out very thin. at the end it was probably just less than 3 meters wide. this just shows how valuable a piece of land here in tokyo is.

to conclude, it was an unexpected journey and i love surprises. what i hated though was the very humid weather. it must be because it just rained, or it will still rain later. but i was drenched in sweat when i reached home.

hope you enjoyed this little journey with me.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!