sahara nightwalking : November 13 2025

oh forgive me for the clickbait-ey title, but that is fairly inaccurate. but i did earn the sahara badge of my fitbit app for walking the length of the sahara desert. 4800 kilometers walked in less than 2 years! that is really not bad! but i will surely die of thirst and heat if i walked at that pace at the sahara. i'm just proud to share you this achievement.

for the nightwalk... chirp chirp... we have finally ran out of ideas. i honestly don't know where to go. good thing that by 6 pm, housemate js tinkered that station collecting app and found that new stamps were released. hurrah! we have a route.

nagatacho (永田町駅)

the new station stamps had 1 unique stamp for each of the participating metro subway lines. so for nagatacho station case, since yurakucho, namboku, and hanzomon lines use this station, they each have a unique stamp. we initially thought that we might have to go to each of these lines' gates to get each stamp. that would have been very problematic. but we got all the available stamps for that station in just one tap claim.

we were at the yurakucho ticket gate side so this stamp opened, but i got all the other 2 in my collection. what is cool about these new stamps was that all the other train lines were also featured, the purple hanzomon line series 8000 and the blue-green namboku line series 9000 were featured although smaller beside the yellow yurakucho series 7000. this series 7000 trains were already discontinued as of 2022 but some of it are still used in jakarta, indonesia.

akasaka mitsuke (赤坂見附駅)

not far is the next station with the ginza line and the very vibrant red marunouchi line (series 2000 featured). let us talk about the series 1000 for a bit, it is the currently operating train series in the ginza lines since 2012 and the bright lemon yellow is a nod to the original trains used when it first opened in 1927, the oldest subway line in asia.

the area for some reason was full of tourists. it could probably be because of the nice blend of history, business yet fun.

akasaka (赤坂駅)

let us briefly talk about the single train line which passes thru, the chiyoda line. featured in the stamp was the 5000 series which ran from 1964 to 2014.

akasaka is hogwarts! you heard that right, the station was one exit which leads to the harry potter themed place. the cursed child play is also staged around here.

the buildings were quite grand looking, fit for the fantasy book's theme. it also has shops themed after the series.

roppongi - itchome (六本木一丁目駅)

right before we reached the station, we passed by two significant figures in the late edo period. katsu kaishu was known for his peaceful negotiations which saved edo (now tokyo) from destruction. and his disciple, sakamoto ryoma, a samurai who was instrumental in the peaceful negotiation for the restoration of imperial rule. (thanks to google for these info)

here we are finally at the station with the lone namboku line. series 9000 was featured in the stamp which was still in use today since 1991.

the station was quite deep under ground compared to others. we had to climb up several flight of stairs before reaching ground level, but this modern looking area kept my eyes busy.

toranomon hills (虎ノ門ヒルズ駅)

we actually passed by familiar places, the azabudai hills complex was just a stone's throw away. we chose a fresh route just to explore the area more. and that led us to this equally modern and breathtaking complex directly above a subway station.

toranomon hills just opened in 2020 making it the newest station in the entire tokyo subway system. the hibiya line which passes thru is also significantly new, introduced since 2017 and fully running till this date. it may not look like it in the pictures but the station gets pretty chaotic with all the office commuters in nearby buildings.

never leaving the modern underground passages, we walked more than 500 meters to reach the next station.

toranomon (虎ノ門駅)

now this is quite an old station sharing the name. only one train line pass thru here, the ginza line. the stamp still shows the series 1000 with the bright lemon yellow exterior.

we spent quite some time underground, it is finally time to go up ground level.

hibiya (日比谷駅)

we passed through a wide park and passed by some old historical hotels to reach the station. we are now back at the imperial palace grounds.

aside from the non-metro subway line (mita), this station houses both the chiyoda line and the namesake hibiya line. yes, that hibiya train featured is an older series from the toranomon hills stamp, the original series 3000 which ran this line.

we were walking beneath ground searching for the exit, passed through paintings related to the sea in an exhibit-like fashion. these were just some of the cool art i found. in no time, we reached the next station without leaving underground.

ginza (銀座駅)

this station was quite the low ceiling type compared to the others. and the station stamp featured the marunouchi series 02 (the predecessor of the current series 2000), ginza series 01 (the predecessor of the current series 1000), and hibiya series 03 (the predecessor of the current series 13000). the predecessor stamp series!

otemachi (大手町駅)

we had to backtrack for a bit and got out the marunouchi area, a classic rich area. portions of the street were closed to car traffic to make way for this annual light up. street illuminations! here we are again! i hope lights also make you happy as much as it made me.

the stamp for this station featured all the newest and currently used train series for each of the lines. the creme de la creme, i wonder why they chose this station as the flagbearer. the newest marunouchi series 2000, newest tozai 15000, newest hanzomon 18000, and newest chiyoda 16000 all featured in the stamp.

that was a pretty exhausting walk. and right at the station just when we were about to board the train home, i got the sahara badge. i wonder what the next badge is and how much long it will take to get it.

anyway, that is all folks!
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!
take care!