"Yurakucho, Asakusa, Akihabara, Ginza, Shinjuku Etc."

As I write this, it's 37C/99F in Tokyo, with very little wind and high humidity. The room I'm writing this in doesn't have air conditioning, so I have the window open and am at the mercy of the current outside weather conditions. I mention this, because I'm realizing as I put this together that I'm kind of in a stupor due to the heat and it's an effort to do anything, which is not exactly conducive to writing, which is why this post is somewhat lacking in text.

Facing Shinbashi, in front of the Yurakucho Station exit near the corner entrance to Bic Camera.

[Below] One of the fast disappearing wooden roofs still in use at train station platforms in Tokyo.

[Below] Yurakucho near the YSB.

Yurakucho Night

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Asakusa 浅草

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Akihabara - used junk above and squeaky new mega-store (Yodobashi Camera) below.

Akihabara

[Below] - Looking out a window on the Yamanote Line.

[Below] - A relocated piece from the past.

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Summer Nights in Tokyo

Yurakucho Station 有楽町駅

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[Above] - Nearing Tokyo Tower (from the Hamamatsucho Station side).

Tokyo Tower 東京タワー

[Below] - Summer green in a park not far from Hamamatsucho Station.

[Below] - Fire escape from the past.

[Below] - Yurakucho 有楽町

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[Below] - A time-slip zone seen from a station platform while waiting for a train. There are so few old things in Tokyo that this type of thing stands out.

[Below] - Looking out a window - the double-exposure effect is caused by (I think) the outside tinting on the glass that then produces an added reflection from the inside of the train when you're looking out (one reflection off the inside surface of the glass, and one from the other side of the glass, reflecting off the back side of the outside tinting.

[Below] - Otsuka 大塚

[Below] - Station platform-side advertising. This must be a good spot for advertising, as a lot of advertising space in stations is just blank these days. There are a couple of blank panels in this array of advertising boards, but most of them have something on them.

[Below] - Summer green... I don't know what kind of plant that is in the middle, but it has really huge leaves.

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Waiting for trains...

[Below] Looking down on the arched roofing for the former Toyoko Shibuya Station. I don't know the specific plans in the works for this space which has been opened up by moving the station underground (simultaneously connecting it to the subway system), but presumably they'll be putting up an office tower or something of that nature there. (I'll try to research this and come back to this page and edit it accordingly later.)

[Below] - An atmospheric hallway in a 1930's building in Ginza.

[Below] - A major road that runs through Ginza (or on the edge of Ginza - depending on your definition of what areas are the real Ginza). When I see massive amounts of dead black asphalt like this, I can't help but think how much nicer Tokyo would be without the horrible fire-breathing machinery running around on dead black asphalt. I think personal automobiles should be illegal in a megacity. Out in the countryside, sure, but not in the middle of a megacity.