Random photos of stations I have visited

[kuro68000]

 

Hon-Atsugi. My wife lived here for a bit.

 

              

 

Need... Bigger... Suitcase... I seriously contemplated the NEC 6001, because it's a bargain with the tape drive and RAM/ROM cart I think. It was heavy and I already had a full backpack and two bags though. Maybe I'll go back later, there are other Hard Offs near there I need to visit.

 

NEC had too many 8 bit machines and killed most of them off to concentrate on the PC88 line. None of them were compatible.

 

I did grab the National tape drive though.

[Tony Galiani]

12 hours ago, kuro68000 said:

 

I did think about it. Don't you find you get dirty when the wheels touch your back while wearing it? I suppose it's not a huge deal.

To be honest, we use these mainly as roller bags and I don't worry too much about the wheels when faced with the need to use the bag as a back pack.  If I can wipe them off, I do, but at this stage of my life, I don't worry about it too much.  My shoulder is not in great shape due to years of playing a heavy bass.  I have actually improved the situation with regular exercise and finally finding some lighter weight instruments but using a regular carry bag (which I used to do) is not that comfortable for me.

Nowadays, I would say we roll the bags about 90% of the time and that combined with my exercise has made me much more physically comfortable.

Cheers,

Tony

[kuro68000]

Thanks Tony, that's interesting. Like you I have issues with carrying heavy stuff on my back/shoulders. I see a lot of people with roller bags, and my wife took one with her on a trip to London we did this year. I worry about noise and narrow footpaths, and buses, but it's probably fine.

 

Straps for turning it into a backpack would be good for filming though.

[Tony Galiani]

Just FYI - mine came with the straps built in.  My wife and I each have a different one and both have the straps under a panel which either opens up or has a slot to pull the straps out depending on the brand.

Cheers,

Tony

[kuro68000]

@cteno4 thanks for the tip about the down jackets. Got one today and I'm impressed. It's thin and light, but warm and keeps the wind out. I was a tiny bit hot in the shop but nothing too bad, and I don't have to layer so it's easier to open up and cool down a bit. The hood is good too, might not need a hat.

 

Got my bag, still can't believe that PV-2000 was so cheap, and I forgot it... Keeping an eye out for bags as per @Tony Galiani's suggestion.

 

Still in Chiba, one more Hard Off to hit today and then home early-ish. Weather is improving. Buses were not too annoying today, although I note that while Google numbers them they don't have the number on their marquee.

 

Had a nice meal in Chiba for lunch. Saw some interesting stuff but resisted for now. I have plenty of time, no need to rush. Got some nice photos in golden hour.

 

YouTube is being a pain with Firefox at the moment so uploads take forever. Next time I'll upload from my phone. There needs to be a "copy to YouTube" for Google Photos that does it server side, to save uploading twice.

[Gunzel]

21 hours ago, kuro68000 said:

Today was pretty successful. Went to Kanagawa and a couple of new shops. They were excellent, lots of good stuff. If I could carry it...  I'll post photos later.

 

Did you go to HARD OFF Yokohama Ryokuentoshi? That's in my top three. No bus needed either.

 

Love the Tamiya rolling road, and that TV!

[kuro68000]

4 hours ago, Gunzel said:

 

Did you go to HARD OFF Yokohama Ryokuentoshi? That's in my top three. No bus needed either.

 

Love the Tamiya rolling road, and that TV!

 

I have been before, but not on this trip yet. Since it's still snowing up north I might go tomorrow. Still trying to decide what to do, if my northern loop idea is feasible or I should just go to Nagoya on the Shinkansen. Or maybe the slow route to take in all the shops on the south coast. Well, I need to get a roller case first, and probably then think about going to the Post Office to clear out some of what I already bought. I'll have to look for some packing material. If they have those shipping bags that will let me post a few things without repacking them, since I'm not too worried about the boxes getting further damaged. I also finally found an LP case to put Laserdiscs in, although I think I'll need a second one. The thing is the way shipping works it is cheaper to send larger packages, than to send multiple smaller/lighter ones.

 

Anyway, on to today...

 

  

 

Shin-Mobara. The rolling shutter effect is visible here.

 

        

 

Mobara.

[kuro68000]

     

 

Imagine being a cigarette AND littering at the same time!

 

 

This Hard Off had some vintage pop bottles.

 

 

Hard to imagine a creepier cover for this Pachinko game.

[kuro68000]

  

 

Goi Station had some windows open so I took the opportunity.

 

[kuro68000]

 

 

 

 

[kuro68000]

  

 

 

 

[kuro68000]

 

 

  

 

Inagekaigari. To be fair, when I was the age these illuminations are aimed at, I too would probably have wanted an xmas Triceratops. It roars and moves its head around.

[kuro68000]

 

An ancient Rick-Roll.

 

 

Ended up buying the cheaper of these two. I am somewhat confident that I can repurpose the LED displays. The bottom part has a multi-colour bar as well. They are made by Sony and are some sort of counter device, like counting people through the door or something.

[kuro68000]

Video from yesterday finally uploaded... Very bright and walking into the sun. At one point I manage to turn the camera upwards, because the joystick on the gimbal is conveniently located right where your thumb rests. I'll edit it later but here is the raw video.

 

 

[kuro68000]

  

 

Togoshi-Ginza Station and Gotanda Station.

 

 

Test run train at Nakayama.

 

 

Rinkan.

[kuro68000]

  

 

The Night Sight is too bright, the normal one is a bit dark but has a nice atmosphere. I think the normal one is more like how it is in real life, at least to my eyes.

 

  

[kuro68000]

Still hate buses.

[kuro68000]

About buses, these ones had numbers but Google Maps didn't report them. The arrival times seem to have no relation to the schedule.

 

Otherwise it was a fairly successful day. Managed to get around 6 Hard Offs, had breakfast (sandwich and coffee), lunch (soba and fried rice), and dinner (okay, another sandwich and onigiri). Got home before 9 PM too.  Went up past Omiya and did 19,000 steps. I'm sure that a firmware update recalibrated my Mi Band 6 to report fewer steps, by maybe 10-15%, or maybe I'm just slowing down...

 

One of them was a new one I've never visited before and wasn't bad. It was a 25 minute walk from the station, through a residential area. Wish I had filmed it but it gets pretty cold in the late evening, even with gloves. I did make one movie earlier in the day though, uploading it now.

 

I've had a look at a few bags. The ones that are backpacks with wheels seem kinda uncomfortable. Maybe I just need to accept that I'll have to drag it, or get a bigger bag and carry it on my back the whole time. Maybe I'll try going to Yamanashi with my larger backpack and see how that goes. I'm still trying to decide how I want to do that though. On paper it might be better to just hire a car in Hachioji and drive over. By the time you paid for the fast train, and a hotel, you might as well just rent a car and do it all in one day. Or maybe I should try to find a better hotel with a bath attached and try to make more of a trip of it.

 

Anyway...

 

     

 

Ageo.

 

  

 

Okegawa.

[kuro68000]

 

 

Been looking for one of these Sord computers for a while. I will keep looking for now. They didn't come with BASIC in ROM so you need a cartridge even for that. They are not great 8 bit machines, but they seem to be fairly rare and command high prices. The keyboard reminds me of the Sinclair ZX line.

 

     

[kuro68000]

 

Been looking for one of these for ages. Decided to grab this junk one. It's missing the battery cover and it needs cleaning and lubricating. I think I can fix it and improve it though. With modern LEDs and a low power autofire circuit I can probably eliminate the need for batteries anyway. They normally go for 5x this price.

 

       

 

Shiraoka.

[kuro68000]

 

 

Edited Friday at 12:32 PM by kuro68000

[kuro68000]

        

 

Namegawa Station.

[kuro68000]

        

 

Sakado.

[kuro68000]

 

Dinner. Today went reasonably well, back home just after 9. Did 4 Hard Offs, went for a 5th but the bus got stuck on traffic so I gave up and walked back to the station.

 

I took my big backpack and now by shoulders hurt. They were actually a bit better when I had some weight in it, so maybe it's not adjusted properly. I think the bottom line though is that I will have to go with a roller case. I'll keep an eye out for one.

[kuro68000]

 

Not much to show today. I like these cute little buses, and they are 100 yen flat fare. They lack numbers but the names are easy to read and displayed on them, rather than just the next major destination.

 

 

I love Japanese houses so I'm going to try to build one.

 

 

Hamura.