Tokyo - Here and There: 2000年5月

I used to periodically go to Shakujikoen, but since I haven't been there in a while, the Shakujikoen of 2000 (when these pictures were taken) is the one I remember. The scene above shows the street leading away from Shakujikoen Station towards Shakujikoen Park.

Shakujikoen Station has been completely rebuilt, so the station shown here exists only in memory, photos, or via time machine (if you have one, let me know).

Getting to Shakujikoen Park, this was the first thing I generally saw - coming into the park on the corner where the rowboats were rented out. // I pulled the first three photos above out of sequence as the three views that best represent the Shakujikoen I knew. The pictures below are in chronological order - starting with a view from inside Shakujikoen Station, and then showing the walk to Shakujikoen Park, time in the park, the walk back, and finally a few more views of the old station.

石神井公園駅と石神井公園 - 2000年5月 - Shakujikoen

The view from a rowboat on the lake inside the park. (The land on the right side of the bridge in the picture above is an island.)

石神井公園駅と石神井公園 - 2000年5月 - Shakujikoen

The paddle boats look interesting, but if you're tall, they are truly excruciating! The foot pedals are so close to the seat, that your knees almost hit your chin.... The rowboats are so much nicer anyway - with nothing blocking the sky above.

石神井公園駅と石神井公園 - 2000年5月 - Shakujikoen

Both the picture above and the one below are pictures I would generally not use (as pictures, they're pretty bad), but I'm leaving them in here as content pictures. The one above showing the florescent tube internally illuminated signs and the old platform on the ground, before it was elevated. The picture below shows how they welded two old rails together to form a post for the platform roof (after they were used on the railbed and worn down).

石神井公園駅と石神井公園 - 2000年5月 - Shakujikoen

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/

It's hard to explain... maybe even impossible, but there was something magical about this generation of Tokaido Line trains. What I can say is that the combination of steel, glass, and (very important) good ventilation was (from the standpoint of the feeling of being on the train) vastly superior to the newer types of rolling stock. And then there was the magic factor... whatever it was.