Ueno Alley
Today’s photo is of an alley near the Ueno Train Station.
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Posts tagged bikes
Tokyo bikes at night
When I got my TZ10 back in May I went out one evening with Ellie to do some test shots using the night settings. This was one of the results. I don’t remember what Ellie was doing (maybe jumping rope?), but this 6-second exposure is kind of neat for how the bikes came out, even in very low light.
Japanese restaurant at night
The previously mentioned chanpon restaurant near our apartment has recently become popular. The seats are usually full now, and sometimes there is even a line out the door. There was no line at Chanpon Taro on this evening, but some bike riders appear to have been enjoying a meal inside.
Shichi Fukujin (七福神)
I spotted the Seven Lucky Gods being turned into something of a bike parking lot near the Horikiri Shobuen Station (堀切菖蒲園駅).
Tokyo tram
“Three old women were the only passengers on the Sunday morning tram [from the end of the line at Waseda]. They all looked at me and my flowers. One of them gave me a smile. I smiled back. I sat in the last seat and watched the ancient houses passing close to the window. The tram almost touched the overhanging eaves. The laundry deck of one house had ten potted tomato plants, next to which a big black cat lay stretched out in the sun. In the garden of another house, a little girl was blowing soap bubbles. I heard an Ayumi Ishida song coming from somewhere, and could even catch the smell of curry cooking. The tram snaked its way through this private back-alley world. A few more passengers got on at stops along the way, but the three old women went on talking intently about something, huddled together face-to-face.
I got off near Otsuka Station… None of the shops along the way seemed to be doing very well, housed as they were in old buildings with gloomy-looking interiors and faded writing on some of the signs. Judging from the age and style of the buildings, this area had been spared the wartime air raids, leaving whole blocks intact. A few of the places had been entirely rebuilt, but just about all had been enlarged or repaired in places, and it was these additions that tended to look shabbier than the old buildings themselves.” Norwegian Wood p. 84
Biking in Tokyo
We recently inherited a couple of bikes (自転車) from a foreign couple who were leaving Tokyo. I’m not sure how we got along without them for our first seven months here as they have quickly become indispensable.
If you would like two used bikes (for free), or a partially used yamanote line commuter pass, in August let me know.