3-day weekend to kill in Tokyo

[Kiran]

Too excited to sit down and plan. I have just been asked to conduct training in Tokyo in early June. Looks like I have Friday through Sunday and even a Thursday late afternoon. I will be flying in to HND Thursday afternoon.

 

I wonder if there are any reasonably priced excursion trains closer to Tokyo? Can't afford 7 stars for instance and it is probably booked up well in advance.

 

I will go back to Tenshodo as that is where my modeling journey started. I also wanted to check out the Kato Showroom in Shinjuku.

 

Any recommendations for blind friendly train related stuff to do? I am traveling with an assistant this time around and so getting around will be easier.

[Yavianice]

The Toreiyu Tsubasa AKA the Spa shinkansen? Sometimes it even leaves from Tokyo.

[railsquid]

3 hours ago, Kiran said:

I will go back to Tenshodo as that is where my modeling journey started.
 

 

FYI the Tenshodo shop is currently moving and is expected to open in its new location (also in the Ginza area) in mid-April, I'll update when I know more.

[gmat]

The Kato showroom near Shinjuku was a temporary move while the main showroom was being renovated. That was finished a couple of years ago. 

Hope that I’m not misunderstanding something.

Grant

 

[railsquid]

23 minutes ago, gmat said:

The Kato showroom near Shinjuku was a temporary move while the main showroom was being renovated. That was finished a couple of years ago. 

Hope that I’m not misunderstanding something.

 

The Kato showroom is and always has been in Shinjuku (the administrative district, which stretches northwards to within walking distance of Ikebukuro station), the temporary shop a few years back was in the area around Shinjuku station.

[bill937ca]

This is the new Kato Hobby Center Tokyo.

 

 

 

 

https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/ホビーセンターカトー東京/@35.721425,139.679975,16z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0xd4dc75a91eebb5be!8m2!3d35.721419!4d139.68002?hl=ja

[Kiran]

So is this the correct location for Kato Hobby Center?

 

https://goo.gl/maps/FTdoqpve6qugEF2G6

 

 

[railsquid]

1 minute ago, Kiran said:

So is this the correct location for Kato Hobby Center?

 

https://goo.gl/maps/FTdoqpve6qugEF2G6

 

 

Correct.

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

I've been to Tokyo many times  before 2012, and Kato's head office has always been at the location shown on the map above.

I found the Oiedo Line subway at bit confusing, one can get a train going in the opposite direction in one wishes to go.

Really worth visiting to see the full variety of Kato stuff available, even if you don't buy anything!

The red EMU car outside is a distinctive feature.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[paolo]

Hi Kiran,

the Kato Hobby Center is a really cool place to visit, there are are a couple of really huge layouts.

But I wouldn't recommend buying anything there, as it's really expensive.

If you wanna buy something, go to Akihabara; Yodobashi Camera is the best and cheapest place to shop for N-Scale stuff.

 

A place I really like is Tokyo Station; you can get a visitor ticket (it costs a few hundred yen) and you have access to all the platforms.

It's probably the best place in all Japan to watch Shinkansen.

Not far from Tokyo, in Saitama, there's the Railway Museum, amazing place.

Another cool place to watch trains is the Shimogoinden bridge next to Nippori station.

 

[ben_issacs]

Kiran,

For a day trip out from Tokyo, tourist, some railway, have a look at what was called the 'Golden circuit'

This is run by the Odakyu Rly.

From their Shinjuku station one take a Romance Car express to Hakone Yumoto, which is an interesting run out to the foothills around Fuji San.

From there one transfers to the Hakone Tozan Rly, this runs little two or three car EMUs up a mountainside through great scenery, with a coupleof zig-zags, to Gora.

Tozan means 'mountain climbing' and this railway certainly does that!

Another transfer here to a cableway (funicular), which takes you up to the first of two ropeways.

The second of these, the longer, does go over a valley with many escaping jets of steam from the volcanic activity underneath.

The valley is, I think, called the Devil's Valley

One can get views of Fuji San from the cable cars if the weather is good.

The second cable car dumps you at a tourist resort on a lake, here you can have a feed if you desire.

The next stage is rather kitschy, it involves a trip down the lake on a (diesel powered) Pirate Ship or Spanish Galleon, a pleasant, with nice mountain scenery.

From the ferry landing, one can then get a bus for a very hairy ride down winding mountain roads back to Hakone Yumoto, and so then by train back to Tokyo.

I think that one can buy a tourist one day pass for this trip.

Certainly easily done in a day.

The Odakyu Rly. web site will give you much more detail on this  .

Regards, 

Bill,

Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thi

[katoftw]

Easy single one day.

 

Hakone free pass is the pass you are thinking of.

 

Although I did the trip from Kamata station to Odawara station as I was lodging near Tamagawa.  I just got the Odawara version of the pass for 4000 yen as I had already paid to get to Odawara.

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, ben_issacs said:

The second of these, the longer, does go over a valley with many escaping jets of steam from the volcanic activity underneath.

The valley is, I think, called the Devil's Valley

 

Ōwakudani  ("Great Boiling Valley").

 

Be aware that occasionaly, like at the moment, ropeway operations may be suspended due to volcanic activity.

 

See website: https://www.hakoneropeway.co.jp/foreign/en/

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

Here's a couple of non-rail visits easily done from Tokyo.

No.1, go to Yokohama, here in the port is moored the Hikawa Maru.

This is a 10,000 ton motor vessel, which pre-war, ran from Japan to the West coast of the USA.

It must be the only large ship left of the once big Japanese merchant navy, almost of which were sunk during the war.

Hikawa Maru's survival is that it operated as an hospital ship.

It is displayed in its pre-war form, as a passenger-cargo liner.

The big Burmeister and Wain (Danish) diesel engine is very impressive.

Check its location on Googgly Earth.

No.2, at Yokosuka naval base, there is preserved Admiral Togo's flagship, the battle ship Mikasa.

This is not afloat, it is embedded in concrete, but every thing above the water line is as it  was during the Battle of Tsushima, when the Russian battle fleet was conclusively defeated by the  Japanese, led by Admiral Togo..

 Mikasa has the same place in Japanese history as does HMS Victory for the British and the USS Constitution for the United States.

The Mikasa is located in Mikasa Koen (Park), not close to any Yokokuska station, but if you say 'Mikasa Koen' to any taxi driver, that'll get you there, although you might have to walk back to the nearest station.

From my memory, there is a D 51 steam loco preserved alongside the Mikasa, so  there is a bit of rail interest there.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

 

 

[Kiran]

Hi All, Thanks so much for all the tips. I had an incredible few days here.

 

Firstly the Kato Hobby Center was great. But I did not buy anything from there as suggested and went down to Yodobashi in Akihabara. Also picked up some stuff from Yodobashi in Shinjuku. The Kato Hobby Center has a couple of layouts on the 2nd floor but you can't just bring in any Kato train and run it. You need to have purchased it from them only which was a bit disappointing but understandable I guess.

 

Took the Hikari to Kyoto and back. And also just came back from Hakone day trip. I even have an old 7000 LSE series 11 car set by Tomix that I picked up in an estate sale.

[ben_issacs]

Kiran, 

What are your thoughts on the Hakone trip?

Did you enjoy it?

Too touristy?

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[Yavianice]

You don’t need to have purchased a train to run it at the KATO center track, you can also rent it for an amount of money.