Random photos of stations I have visited

[mojo]

On 1/14/2024 at 7:14 PM, miyakoji said:

 

I think that's a KIHA 25, which are not very old.  The plow looks retrofitted, kinda rough.  I suspect the floor level would match most platforms, but that one is low for whatever reason.  Is this the Kisei Line?

 

 

Wikipedia indeed 🙂  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oda_Nobunaga

 

Nagaragawa Railway I believe. I will check, sorry I'm still processing all my photos and it's taking a while. I have some more to come, and lots of video, and some other recordings I made. It was on the way to Mino-Ota Station.

 

One random thing I've noticed, Google Maps timeline doesn't cope well with the Shinkansen. Instead of following the track, it just jumps between a few stops. Next time I will have to make a GPS log to force it to keep updating position. I think that it doesn't normally use GPS for location when you don't have the Maps app open, it just passively listens for WiFi networks and Bluetooth beacons, and estimates location from those. As it as connected to the free Shinkansen WiFi and zipping past any outside networks at 270 KPH it probably just never had much opportunity to locate itself.

 

Still, overall the location data is a lot better this time round. Previously it was poor later in the day when I turned on power saving mode on my phone. This time I carried a mobile battery to top it up. I got a 10,000mAh model, but could mostly get away with a much smaller and lighter one. The only time I needed it was when I forgot to charge my phone overnight, and had to leech a bit of power on the Shinkansen going up to Utsunomiya.

 

About Utsunomiya, it's an interesting place. The public transport seems to be quite bad though. Maybe it was just the time of year, but the bus services were few and far between and I ended up doing a fair bit of walking. The Hard Offs there are decent but maybe not exceptional, not like Nagoya and Yamanashi. I hope I can visit Niigata next time, and see more of Gunma. I want to visit Nagano too. Nearly did, I was trying to figure out how to do it on the way back from Nagoya, but Chuo Line services seemed sparse and it would take a very long time. I think ideally I would rent a car and drive around that area.

 

Anyway, a bit more to come, give me some time to sort it all out. I need a new hard drive to store it all.

[mojo]

 

A manhole cover in Musashi-Sakai.

 

 

And one in Nishi-Chofu.

 

 

They included a step to make it easier to climb back onto the platform, and a sign explaining it. I wonder what the story is. On the one hand, it could just be the Japanese way of doing things, everything must be labelled and signposted, on the other maybe they had problems with people falling onto the tracks for some reason.

[mojo]

 

Hard Off even has manhole covers for sale.

 

 

I don't know what the "Oil Love" is for, and I don't dare to speculate.

 

 

Some unlicenced Famicom Disk System games. The FDS discs had a recessed Nintendo logo cut into the bottom part of the disk, and the drive had little plastic teeth that fit into parts of the logo. The idea being that if the disk didn't have the logo, the drive wouldn't allow it to be inserted, and the logo being copyright would prevent unofficial disks from using it.

 

Unfortunately for Nintendo, there was an obvious flaw in the plan. Since the teeth only checked for certain holes in certain places, all you needed on your unofficial disk was some holes and not the actual Nintendo logo. Maybe if the FDS had lived longer they might have moved the teeth and all the older unlicenced games wouldn't fit, but they never did.

 

 

I wish I had bought some of these books now. Was worried about weight and fitting it in my suitcases, but in the end I had room. That's what I get for being lazy and not going to the Post Office, or packing well in advance. Well, to be fair, with the Post Office, the problem is mainly that I'm too busy going to Hard Off to find the time to go buy a box, and then go post it. I need to plan better and make more effort to sort this stuff out, but it's difficult for health reasons.

 

 

CoCo curry place. Their curry is really nice, and pretty cheap. They also have power sockets at every table, at least in Kichijoji. I thought the fried chicken side was a bit random, but it complements the pork cutlets really well.

 

 

Changing lines at Ochanomizu.

[mojo]

 

I'm building a new PC and spotted this case in Yodobashi Camera. The exchange rate is really hammering Japanese consumers buying computer stuff. I only mention it because we just don't have much like this in the UK, i.e. shops where they have a decent selection of cases you can actually look at. I'm probably going to import one from the manufacturer in China, via the AliExpress store. Nobody else seems to make something mATX compatible, but also this compact.

 

 

And that's it for this year.

 

Well, not quite. I have some more videos. I'll upload some of them as-is, others I will edit first. And I will re-edit some I already posted.

 

I also made some sound recordings. I haven't listened to them yet, but all bar one are just me entering a station, getting on the train, travelling, and then exiting the station. Or some part of that, I usually forgot to start recording early. Some are an hour long.

 

I need to check them for stuff like overheard conversations. My thought was that I could use them as a bit of background noise or something. Perhaps they will be of interest. I'll get them on YouTube at some point.

 

I'll probably do some wallpapers too.

[Tony Galiani]

Sent my wife that picture of your curry dinner.  Haven't tried CoCo Curry yet but that looked pretty good to me.  Looking forward to my upcoming trip (even though I have not sorted out all our travel plans yet.)

Cheers,

Tony

[cteno4]

5 hours ago, mojo said:

Hard Off even has manhole covers for sale.

Wow! Try bringing that home on the plane with you! 
 

jeff

[mojo]

On 1/24/2024 at 4:52 PM, cteno4 said:

Wow! Try bringing that home on the plane with you! 
 

jeff

 

I'm reaching the point where I need to carry scales with me on trips to Hard Off 😅

[railsquid]

On 1/18/2024 at 11:01 PM, mojo said:

 

It says you are not allowed to wait on the train while it turns around and goes back in the other direction. My guess is that some people were getting on the wrong direction and going a few stops to the terminal, and then remaining on board to go to their intended destination. Reason was probably to get a seat, as they are probably all filled up by passengers getting on at the terminal.

 

The staff were probably not very happy either, as they do a sweep of the train before it turns around.

 

It's a common "hack" which is increasingly being cracked down on.

[cteno4]

On 12/31/2023 at 4:40 PM, railsquid said:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sledge_Hammer!

 

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/俺がハマーだ!

ok it took state wide library search for this, but interlibrary loan turned it up. It’s so bad it goes around to good then goes back around to bad… it does have a ton of famous character actors and not a cheap production but sooo awful… insidious and disgusting laugh track that is many notches down from the rest of the productions. It’s almost a spoof of a police drama spoof. Made it through two episodes and had to return. Surprised it exported, some strange cult I guess.

 

curiosity satisfied, but stomach turned.

 

jeff

[mojo]

Thanks eteno4, once I get set up for making archival grade backups of laserdiscs I may well be tempted to grab stuff like that.

 

Here is the first of my audio recordings. I've listened to the whole thing, I think it's fine, but let me know if you hear any issues.

 

 

[railsquid]

Well it's definitely a kyuko on the Seibu Shinjuku line. At one point in the final quarter you would have passed within a couple of hundred metres of Chez Railsquid.

[mojo]

I believe that is correct, yes. I should have made proper notes. Next time...

 

I should also remember to turn off the vibration on my phone. Maybe I'll look at getting a little clip on microphone too, as I tend to want to use my phone and you can hear a few taps.

 

Still, for the near zero effort I put into it, it's a bit of background noise. Sometimes I leave cab view videos open playing the background for the same reason.

[mojo]

 

Keio Horinouchi Station to Koza Shibuya Station 京王堀之内駅から高座渋谷駅まで (2023-12-21)

 

Second low effort audio recording. This one would have been a bit longer, but for some reason the sound dropped out about 5 minutes from the start, for about 30 seconds. Maybe I accidentally opened an app that took control of the microphone. I mentioned I was thinking about getting a clip on mic, but maybe a separate recorder would be a good idea. I can probably get one very cheap at Hard Off... But then again, it's more one more thing to carry.

 

Might switch from my big coat to a hoodie for next time. It's not really cold enough most of the time to need a warm coat, in fact often I was too hot. The synthetic material it is made of is noisy when I walk, and it comes out on both these audio only recordings and my gimbal video ones. Maybe a lightweight foldable backpack too, as shopping bags get noisy and a bit awkward.

[HankyuDentetsu]

Honestly what an amazing thread this is. I've lost hours scrolling through and enjoying the mixture of train, station, and general Japan-ness of these shots. Amazing stuff @mojo 

[cteno4]

But good lost hours!

 

jeff

[mojo]

Thanks guys, that made my day. I must edit some more audio and videos, and do some wallpapers.

[cteno4]

@mojo it’s always fun to see your odd bits here, you are great at doing more than just train/platform shots and give a nice look at the whole station and neighborhood around it. As a modeler this is really appreciated to help with ideas for scenes. Folks rarely take pictures of the more mundane, but usually some of the most interesting, things in these scenes. Also just give a nice treat of Japan to see more than platforms and trains. Even just seeing the variety of little kiosks, vending machines, sinage, and such is fun and interesting.

 

thanks for sharing all this stuff with us.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[mojo]

Audio from a short visit to Yodobashi Akiba:

 

 

[mojo]

First edited video, walking in Niza.

 

 

[cteno4]

Fun. Are you using a little steadycam stuck? Very smooth video.

 

jeff

[mojo]

20 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Fun. Are you using a little steadycam stuck? Very smooth video.

 

jeff

 

Yes, I have a Hohem Steady XE. I picked that one because it wasn't too expensive, and is fairly compact and light weight. It's decent, it controls 3 axis and the battery life seems solid. The first one they sent had a fault with one of the motors, but they replaced it quickly. Fits into my jacket pocket and is reasonably discrete.

 

My only real complaints are that it can be a bit difficult to get a larger phone into it, and that it doesn't auto-balance so it's easy to end up with the whole video slanted a bit. It's fixable in the editor, but not ideal.

[mojo]

 

 

First attempt at some wallpaper. The sky isn't right but I don't know how to fix it. I'm using darktable to process the raw image. Went a bit mad with the colour. Classic car dealer in Fussa.

[JR East]

The issue is not with Darktable, the issue is with the shooting itself. Either you sky is white and flat or your shutter speed is too slow (too many light)

 

What is  your camera ? 

Edited March 20 by JR East

[mojo]

20 minutes ago, JR East said:

The issue is not with Darktable, the issue is with the shooting itself. Either you sky is white and flat or your shutter speed is too slow (too many light)

 

What is  your camera ? 

 

Yeah, it's from my phone, captured as RAW, and I think the exposure is okay. It's just that the sky was very overcast that day, so there really isn't any detail to recover. The JPEG out of the camera is the same, and usually the Google code does a good job of recovering cloud detail if it is there.

 

Anyway, here's a couple mode. The focus isn't quite right, but I'm not sure it can be improved much with such a small aperture and lens.

 

[mojo]