district

Tokyo Station

Jan 25, 2020

Tokyo Station is an immense building with an amazing history. Here is the south side of the station, and the central dome. It sits astride a massively complex transit system nexus and a vast underground shopping mall. With trains and metros, taxis, busses and coaches it truely is a location where journeys begin, end and transition.

Count the buildings

Jan 10, 2020

The variety in size, design, colour, texture and function of buildings in Tokyo never ceases to amaze and fascinate me. Looking east from the superb vantage point of the Skytree out over Kyojima and Yahiro, I wonder how many buildings there are in this one small area of the city. I wonder if any two are the same. The windows are like stars in the sky or grains of sand on a beach - uncountable.…

Shibuya in the rain

Dec 26, 2019

The night time city is always aglow with its endless neon (or more likely LED) lights, but when it rains the streets are covered with rivers of reflected lights that are quite otherworldly. The Shibuya Scramble Crossing is always a special place to be, but at night in a quiet warm rain with my combini umbrella there are few other places I would rather be.

Joyful Shopping Street

Dec 10, 2019

Whilst not necessarily “Joyful” as such, I always find it a joy to discover these covered shopping streets, or shotengai, that still cater for their local communities. There are numerous little stores selling all manner of produce and services. And above them are often the residences of the store owners. This one, actually called the Joyful Minowa Shopping Street, is in Minamisenju and my favourite way to get there is to take the Arakawa Tram to the terminus at Minowabashi.…

Towards Marunouchi

Nov 25, 2019

Around the Imperial Palace there is open space that allows you to step back a little from the tall, close set forest of concrete, metal and glass. This is a view up Gyoko Dori towards Tokyo Station and Marunouchi. The people lucky enough to work at or near one of those myriad windows must surely have a splendid view of the Palace grounds behind me.

Giant Plush

Nov 08, 2019

There is one thing you can be sure of in Tokyo, and that is that you do not have to go far before something stops you in your tracks as you try to figure out the what and the why of it. This is one such item I came across deep inside Tokyo Station. I can only assume people used to walk into the pillar it surrounds.

Kinshi Park

Oct 27, 2019

Kinshi Park is a well maintained and interesting park area with a wide avenue of cherry trees running across it. The clocks and the childrens activity area especially caught my eye, but there are lots of unusual little things, like the tap, and the small, rounded, open sided cubes seen here.

Dawn over Nihonbashi Hakozaki-cho

Oct 14, 2019

There must be three dozen different buildings visible in this tiny sliver of Tokyo looking south west over Nihonbashi Hakozaki-cho. Each has its own architecture, scale and texture, standing on its own uniquely shaped plot of land. It was dawn on an April weekday when this was taken and most of these buildings were filling up with daily commuters as they began their working day.

Mukojima district

Oct 14, 2019

Mukojima is a shitamachi district, meaning that it is comprised lowrise buildings in a somewhat less affluent area. The nearby Skytree looks over it now, and is a great place to view the district from, especially on a brilliant sunny day like this was. Remember you can right click on the image to access it full size - something I especially recommend for photographs like this one.

Colourful Play Park

Sep 29, 2019

There are countless play areas for kids in Tokyo and often they appear in the most unusual locations. This one, however, is in a corner of the larger Kinshi Park in Sumida City. I love its bold bright colours and futuristic theme. Shame there were no children around to enjoy it that Tuesday morning.