the nightwalker and the central parts of the city jungle (yoyogi

this is what i love about tokyo, despite all the sky scrapers and the fanfare, huge parks with huge trees exist. parks like these are really necessary to lessen the stress of the city life, and with a very big and developed city like tokyo, i am pretty sure that stress levels of the people in it are also as high as sky scrapers. i suppose this is why parks have grown so wide to counter the high stress levels. this park was near the border between shinjuku and minato wards by the way and will be submitted to #fpc by Hive account@friendlymoose.

we left off the last time at shinjuku station, the housemate and i decided to continue from around that area and traverse the central stations along the chuou train lines.

yoyogi station (代々木駅)

this station is directly south of the massive shinjuku station making it a bit overshadowed or even forgotten by others. but i was frequent in this station back when our client office was still in iidabashi, it was here were i had my train transfer.

now the station stamp featured wildlife. we never passed by any wildlife in this nightwalk but i do know that 2 major parks are just within reach from this station, the meiji jingu park and the shinjuku gyoen.

tonight features the nightlife of the station. sorry for the blurred train but i was trying out some shots, i wanted to focus on the train. when you do that, the surrounding will naturally blur out. this is not a perfect shot but someday...

sendagaya station (千駄ヶ谷駅)

ranked at around the 200ths busiest, this next station looked quite futuristic from outside. it was designed well, and had the added benefit of an extended entrance area roof provided by the highway platform just outside.

this stamp makes you want to check what is near the area, and so i did. the mask was for the nearby national noh theater. and the dove? probably for peace?!? the japan national stadium, main venue of the 2020 olympics, is also nearby so probably it is related to that? the area was also the host of the 1964 olympics so maybe that? it is also close to another entrance to the shinjuku gyoen, but do they have doves there? please enlighten me if any of you know.

sadly, we were walking on the wrong side of the train line. we were on the residential side and not on the stadium side. saw the stadium roofs from afar though.

shinanomachi station (信濃町駅)

the next station is on the 160s ranking of the busiest among all jr stations in the kanto area. but look at that station building, cubic! it is one of the most interesting ones that i have seen so far.

the stamp was also quite explainable; as this station was just around 7 mins away from the previous one, still very close to the sporty part of the city. the national stadium is not the only sports related building in the area, the meiji jingu baseball field was also very close; thus, the baseball motif on the stamp. the gingko trees and leaf is due to it's proximity to rows of beautifully lined gingko trees which turn yellow on autumn. you have probably heard and even seen pictures of it: gingko avenue.

yet again, we were at the residential side of the town. those things were at the south side, but we were headed north-east toward the next station. at least we were going downhill on our way.

the next station was relatively farther, we had to pass by this heavily guarded akasaka palace which is still used as a guest house for state visits. all i could see clearly was the very high gate, the garden inside was very well kept. the palace is open to public and has tours on normal days for a fee. the very first picture of this entry was taken directly in front of this gate.

yotsuya station (四ツ谷駅)

the 45th busiest, i have been here on many occasions as well as it was close to a church. the station is mostly below ground level as the train tracks were situated down there on a dug up tunnel.

and the stamp featured those train tunnels as well, an engineering marvel built in the meiji era and still used to this day. unfortunately, i have no clue regarding the chandelier. i am grasping at straws here, this is probably inside the akasaka palace which is close by.

yotsuya happened to be a site which was later incorporated as part of the old edo castle. in fact, stone wall remains of edo castle's outer shell could be seen just outside the station. an installation regarding the history of the place could be seen on display just outside the station gates. you can read more of the history and what was uncovered from there.

ichigaya station (市ヶ谷駅)

just beside the kanda river is this station perched on one of it's banks. the 88th busiest, this station came as a surprise after we were traversing through a mini forested park overlooking the river.

the stamp featured the yasukuni shrine, quite infamous as the place commemorates all those who died in service from the different wars including those from the 2nd world war. the stamp also features the game of go, as the main governing body for the game wis also very near the station. and of course, sakura as the place is filled with blossoms in spring.

and here we thought that the tree lined park overlooking the river ended, but it only continues until the next station. it was surely a place of relaxation among those living nearby as marked by people having fun underneath the trees.

iidabashi station (飯田橋駅)

then came iidabash where i used to get off at for many years back then. this side of the station is near to a university and the hip and young kagurazaka neighborhood full of shops and restaurants.

the station stamp featured a boat probably because of a cafe on the river which offers boat rentals. a book is also featured, this i had to research about. i had no clue why a book was featured, which could have been explainable if that university near the station was a literary one, but it was a science university. then i came upon the iidabashi literary club.

Our group has its origins in a series of informal gatherings of individuals working with literature in one way or another.
...
Our group grew over time to include not just writers and critics, but also individuals involved in introducing contemporary Japanese literature to English, French, Arabic and other foreign readerships. And the place where we usually gathered happened to be in the Iidabashi area, so that’s how we got our name. ^source

here were some other views near the station.

this was a very familiar view to me, i often walked on these skywalks when our old office was here. that body of water is kanda river.

suidobashi eki (水道橋駅)

the station for tonight, although ranked 59th busiest, i have only used the station a few times. but i do understand why this station is busy, it is one of the stations surrounding the tokyo dome. every concert event, baseball game, and exhibitions will surely attract thousands of people and surely a portion of them will use this station.

true to it's core, the station stamp also features baseball. tokyo dome is home to a very famous baseball team, and tokyo is a baseball country. now there is a plant, wasabi. this i am not quite sure why. why is a wasabi present in the stamp? my research about this is quite dubious so someone has to tell me why.

a baseball game just ended when we passed by the station. i somehow knew about this while still in iidabashi as there were so many people with baseball related stuff walking by. true to prediction, the source of them all was tokyo dome. people in jerseys were everywhere.

i had to take a picture of the ad screens featuring the baseball team. this is truly their home court and i love how passionate people were. the ad is saying "thanks" so the team probably won the game. but even if not, i guess it is but proper to thank your supporters for coming.

homeward

the night was quite long and my feet still wanted to walk despite the lack of train stamps to collect in the area. i casually told my housemate to continue walking until ueno station. i immediately felt sorry after that as the we were walking up this uphill road. it was toward the end of the nightwalk and our legs were tired ready to hit the sack. i guess this last trial will really give us a sore.

as always, AMPING KANUNAY!

_{all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified}

^{all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra}

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