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Water Gate Mechanism
Jan 25, 2023
Along the Sumida river there are a number of gates that can be raised or lowered. Sometime the hardware and mechanisms are visible and, as ever in Japan, are clean and well maintained, as well as being fascinating. Not for everyone I guess, but I like these kind of things.
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The Kanda river from Yanagi bridge
Jan 19, 2023
When walking up the west bank of the Sumida river towards Asakusa you have to take a little detour up a short stretch of the Kanda river to the Yanagi bridge where this photograph of a scene from another era was taken.
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Blue Horizons
Aug 11, 2020
Looking south over Sumida and Koto wards from the Skytree on an almost cloudless April morning over countless homes and businesses all the way to the Tokyo Gate Bridge and Haneda Airport and the highrise cluster of Chuo City. It looks vast, and yet is still only a small slice of the whole of Tokyo. Below, in the long thin Sumida River Park where I had just walked, are chaperoned tribes of colourfully hatted kindergarten classes playing, and old men quietly fishing in a fragment of an old canal.…
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Pink, white and blue
Mar 30, 2020
This office block in Sumida City caught my eye, the very man made colour framed by the pink, white and blue of nature. It overlooks the Sumida River Park, a very pleasant long thin park whose pathways mark the boundary between many of the eastern and western districts of Sumida ward.
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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.…
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Sakura Waters
Sep 01, 2019
There is something almost overwhelming about the quantity of all things sakura in Tokyo. How can the most urban of cities find room for so many cherry trees? How can each tree put forth so many flowers? How can you not be awed at blizzards of pink petals in the air around you, and carpets of pink at your feet and in the city waterways. Here are a few petals on some still waters in the Sumida River Park.…
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Tracks and Skytree
Aug 27, 2019
The Skytree watches over vast tracts of Tokyo, much of which still has an older, smaller, more patinated atmosphere. Areas around train tracks especially have that feel. Looking across the Tobu-Kameido Line here in Oshiage is one such place. Though only taken a year or so back the red building opposite is now gone, soon to replaced with who knows what. That is another constant in Tokyo: Change.