the dramatic photo of a "train passing by with seemingly normal people waiting for it to end" continues. i guess i will never get tired of this saga. and this time we captured a police with a bicycle, pun intended there. this was "captured" (and yet another one) on the way to takadanobaba station.
now here is what happened this night. my housemate co-nightwalker invited me for a nightwalk yet again. she has grown accustomed to the practice, i guess. she was even prepared for another long walk, the last one took over 3 hours she said. i guess she really anticipated this walk to be equally long as well. and since she already thought of that possibility, i was only here to comply. welcome to the around 13 km walk starting at:
komagome station (駒込駅)
we immediately went straight to this mentioned station via train. this was the starting point for tonight's nightwalk. i really had little knowledge of this station, i even told my co-nightwalker that i would probably never have gotten off this station in my normal life if not for nightwalks like this.
my collector's mindset really pushed this nightwalk, train station stamps were collected. and when i checked the stamp for this station, sakura motifs were very evident. naturally the next question is, why? that was immediately answered by the map stating where the find the sakura trees around this station.
komagome apparently is the sight where the most common type of japanese sakura variant, the Somei Yoshino (染井吉野), was developed. this was developed way back in the edo period of japan, komagome was still called somei back then. source
sugamo station (巣鴨駅)
the next station visited was quite a quiet one, i did not even saw it coming. although that was the case, i have been to this station on numerous times. this was the station where i would make a train transfer when going to a favorite onsen place.
the stamp still still had the sakura flower, understandably so because of it's close proximity to the previous station known for sakura plants. the stamp also displays the very big duck. my co-nightwalker asked me about this and my answer was that, the kanji for sugamo literally means duck's nest. i was correct on that part but it was only upon the writing of this entry were i found out that the place had lots of duck nests back in the day. now, numerous duck motifs can be found in the area. source
sadly, we could not see any ducks. they were probably located in the shopping streets. but we were unfortunately headed to the next station while following the train tracks.
otsuka station (大塚駅)
i could still remember the first time i got off of this station, it was for a bus ride to nagano from sunshine city bus station. i was so bewildered that time because i knew that sunshine city was in ikebukuro, but googled suggested that we got off in this station because of the closer proximity. that was my only memory of this station, aside from my nightwalks.
the stamp featured a rose, and that was probably because of the rose road in this area. that had a pretty unique story to it though as later found out. the area was quite dilapidated back then and when volunteers helped clean the area, they found out that there were rose bushes under the pile of rubbish. they then decided to maintain those roses and even expanded the area until present. source
it is the middle of summer so the roses were wilting when we were there. no rose pictures for now, but here are some of the beautiful spots around the station.
higashi ikebukuro station (東池袋駅)
here is a new station, a subway train station close to a major jr one. it was my first visit here and i was surprised by the historical train pictures they posted on the walls.
similar to other subway train stamps, the station shows historical train styles. this specific one showed the 7000 series which were in use between 1974 and 2022.
there was no doubt what the next station is, and we arrived in no time. loved this tent which looked like an ice-capped mount fuji from afar. i don't know if that was the intention or just my brain making the relation.
ikebukuro station (池袋駅)
the gateway station for people from the north, ikebukuro. this station needs no introduction at all. it is a big place with lots of connecting train lines. i had overnight karaoke sessions in here in several occasions, i shared to my co-nightwalker.
now this i just learned via google. i searched "why are there owls in ikebukuro?". google replied that ikebukuro is often shortened as "bukuro" which also translates as owl. the kanji is different of course, but the homonym stuck and the mascot for the station was also that of an owl.
one section of the station had these large "mascot" installations of chiikawa. i don't know much of these mascots though but there were long queues just for taking pictures for each of these. there was another one but sadly the picture was ruined by a passerby.
mejiro station (目白駅)
proceeding to the next station, we are back to silent and quiet territory. mejiro, literally translated as white eye. i could still remember that there was a huge university around the area. unfortunately, the university grounds is closed at night.
as for the stamp, that bird is probably the "white-eye" bird. don't really know if this station was named after that though. one thing i am sure of is that structure at the bottom is surely that stained glass of the station building.
this side road was beside the university grounds, very peaceful. but i did found this cute mailbox outside one building.
takadanobaba station (高田馬場駅)
the roads were again residential leading to this station until it got busy. i would have liked to take a picture of the river below this bridge but it was just so dark, a sign that there was nothing special on it. we were following this shopping street with opening arches right across the stations. at one point the train stopped as we were nearing, that was a clear picture moment.
and here is the humble jr train station with the subway line just beside it. this time, the subway line also had a stamp featuring the 5000 series which was in operation between 1954 to 1986.
the jr station stamp featured a horse and some archery related stuff which probably refers to the station's history with equestrian. the 3rd and 4th kanji character of takadanobaba (the "baba" part) literally translates to "horse area". i just learned today that this area was linked to the horse riding and archery grounds of the takadas for the shoguns and samurais of the edo period. source
shin-okubo station (新大久保駅)
i told my co-nightwalker that we will soon be arriving in korea, she was confused. it got clearer when she finally saw restaurants with korean hangeul on them. i was referring to korea town.
now this is just my guess. shin-okubo is famous for korean culture including kpop and food; thus, the saxophone is in the stamp. that is a far cry but i really found nothing as to why the stamp had this instrument.
one side of the station had the usual korean culture, but the other side apparently had other foreign restaurants. i saw lots of thai and vietnam flags outside these restaurants.
okubo station (大久保駅)
not far on the same road was the okubo station. for sure this was the original station around this area, but is the lesser known and less busy of the two stations. this one is ranked in the 150s busiest jr station while it's brother is in the 90s.
the stamp would have also been very inconspicuous but the mural across the station explained it a lot. the area must have been a military training grounds back in the day.
shinjuku station (新宿駅)
and now we reached another giant, the busiest in the world. there is no competition for sure. the station really needs no further introduction. but the godzilla picture on the wall of the toho building needed the intro. yes, that was a godzilla, my picture taking skills was not enough to capture it's glory. and of course we were passing by kabukicho the entertainment district of this huge entertainment area. i shared this picture to my cousin who was asking how it is to be booking a hotel in kabukicho. she was planning a vacation trip this september. "Ah ok. Alive diay kaayo" (very very alive) was her reply.
we finally entered the station and yes, it was crowded as always. no surprise. it has always been crowded no matter the time of the day. the city never sleeps after all.
the skyscrapers are self explanatory, shinjuku has lots of famous buildings. but i was really confused about the chili peppers. a confused me would mean that a research will soon happen and yes it did. the chili refers to the historical naito togarashi, a variety of chili peppers cultivated by local farmers in this area during the edo period. it was believed that the fields would turn red during the harvest season. this variety was revived and shinjuku is making efforts to spread it. source
afterthoughts
now that was a pretty long walk, ended at around 11:30. but i was really happy with this tour. it offered some new insights on these locations just based on the train stamps they have. if sharing history was one of the main purpose for making these stamps, it worked with me. this was just a fun way of learning things.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!
all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified
all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra
This report was published via Actifit app (Android | iOS). Check out the original version here on actifit.io
Height168.0 cm |  | Weight71.7 kg |  | Body Fat% |  |
Waistcm |  | Thighscm |  | Chestcm |  |
