April 2000... the first month for me to have a digital camera. All my photo-taking life to that point (since about the age of eight) I had wished I could take more-more-more photos. Suddenly, instead of the limits of rolls of 36-exposure film (and the cost of having the film processed), I could take hundreds of photos per day with no processing costs. Twenty years of frustration were suddenly gone...
I, for one, have very few regrets over the passing of film photography. I consider myself fortunate to have learned the concepts of photography with a fully manual camera, but almost no desire to use film now. I mention this in an attempt to express some tiny bit of the extreme joy I had in taking these pictures in April 2000.
Notice the smoking area with the four smokers standing on the white square with the ashtray in the middle. The stations went from smoking everywhere (people would typically smoke a cigarette while waiting, and throw the butt onto the rails as the train approached - there used to be a lot of cigarette buts on the rail bed), to no smoking almost everywhere.
Irritatingly crooked, but this captures somewhat the constant motion of major train stations in Tokyo.
Taken not long after this plaza had been created (where a bunch of squatter buildings had been). That tree has grown quite a bit in past 14 years.
A night area of Shinjuku (east side) in the bright light of morning.
Construction... I can't think off-hand what they built there. It was under construction while I was working in the area; then I began working in another part of the city, and by the time I went through this area again, it was finished.
Shinjuku / 新宿
This is next to Shinjuku-Gyoen - they put a fire-breathing machinery black road into a tunnel under this, which was a sensible thing to do, so they wouldn't ruin the park.
Yotsuya / 四谷
Yotsuya & Shinbashi / 四谷と新橋
The end of this platform (above) at Shinbashi Station was blocked off, so it retained the old white dots forming the line to stand behind when waiting for a train. They've gone from this to wide yellow lines, to platform walls.
Shinbashi Views / 新橋駅ホームからの眺め
Shinbashi Views / 新橋駅ホームからの眺め
Shinbashi Views / 新橋駅ホームからの眺め
Shinbashi Views / 新橋駅ホームからの眺め
The old-type Tokaido Line trains had a lot of atmosphere. I'm not sure of all the reasons for this, but three things that come to mind while looking at this interior photo (below) are: 1) higher ceilings on the sides of the (added in) air-conditioning units, 2) fewer florescent tubes that are higher overhead so the lighting isn't as harsh as on newer trains, and 3) the variation in surfaces in the train is more pleasing to look at (for some reason) than the more uniform shapes of newer trains.
Tokaido Line and Kawasaki Station / 川崎駅
Kawasaki Station and Yotsuya
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Main street in Yotsuya / 四谷
Yotsuya / 四谷
Looking over the city from a building in Yotsuya.
South exit area of Shinjuku Station. The station here hasn't changed much, but they've widened the walkway, so they don't have things on the edge of the sidewalk so close to the station now.
Shinjuku / 新宿
Advertisements - I'm not sure what the "Internet Initiative Japan" was about, but considering the year - 2000 - this was when Internet usage was becoming universal.
Shinjuku Station / 新宿駅ホームの眺め
Shinjuku Station / 新宿駅ホームの眺め
Shinjuku Station / 新宿駅ホームの眺め
Shinjuku Station / 新宿駅ホームの眺め
Seibu-Ikebukuro Station / 西武池袋駅
Lyle (Hiroshi) Saxon
http://www5d.biglobe.ne.jp/~LLLtrs/
http://youtube.com/lylehsaxon
http://lylehsaxon.blogspot.jp/
http://lookback1997.blogspot.jp/
http://tokyoht.blogspot.jp/
