Random photos of stations I have visited

[kuro68000]

        

[kuro68000]

              

[kuro68000]

        

[kuro68000]

     

 

Misato.

 

I noticed that these drainage blocks only have the lifting gaps every few tiles. I think the other openings are just drainage.

[kuro68000]

 

This device lets you connect Sega game controllers to your PC. I actually used to make something similar, but for USB instead of being an internal PCI card.

 

     

[kuro68000]

  

 

     

 

Yoshikawa.

[kuro68000]

     

 

There were a couple of bikes at this bus stop, and one of the women on the bus who got off at the same time as me took one. No locks, no chains, just parked by the bus stop.

 

While waiting for the next bus, this truck pulled up and the driver went the the ramen shop over the road. He had a small pack of dogs in the cab with him.

[kuro68000]

        

 

More street furniture.

[kuro68000]

     

 

Koshigaya.

 

Finally, on the evening news...

 

 

Maybe I'll hold off going north for a bit!

[cteno4]

Yes angry samurai god stepping on snowmen is not a good weather sign!

 

jeff

[kuro68000]

Slow day today because I met a friend for lunch, which turned into karaoke. He sings so well... On the plus side you can request an HDMI cable for your phone and use that for your own songs, which you can find for free on YouTube, so you aren't limited to the selection that they have. That's nice because I was getting a bit tired of the same old songs, and with Western stuff newer ones tend to be a bit rubbish for karaoke because they aren't really designed to be sung live. In fact after about 1990 a lot of stuff wasn't.

 

Anyway, I did my best Jason Paige cover. I'm actually really out of practice, and my singing voice has changed since losing weight.

 

I'm going to bed so I'll post pics tomorrow. The cabin size case I ordered off Amazon turned up, at first look it's okay, but the handling with a case of Laserdiscs in it depressed me. I'll go to the Post Office tomorrow and see if the online international postage thing I did worked. There will have to be at least one more box of Laserdiscs, and probably a box of other random stuff. Actually had a bit of a crisis of faith with the amount of stuff to haul back, but it's not really too bad. I just need to be a bit selective for the next few weeks.

 

Actually I've now managed to get most of the stuff on my main target list. Still keeping an eye out for an FM Towns Marty and I need a new laptop because this one is from 2012 and won't run Windows 11. I have my eye on a nice Thinkpad with OLED screen on Yahoo Auctions, but was thinking that since I don't actually use it all that much I could just get a much cheaper one. Then my wife decided returned her new iPhone 16 and got a 16 Pro Max 512GB, with the reasoning that it will last her 8 years so it's okay... Well, even the nice Thinkpad is half what that cost, and this laptop has lasted me 12 years from new, so... I'll think about it.

 

Which sort of makes me wonder why I'm bothering to push hard visiting far off Hard Offs. I will try to slow down a bit and do some more touristy stuff. I actually really miss the public bath that used to be near the hotel...

[kuro68000]

Coming back fun Numazu now, 2.5 hours... I was planning to stay in a hotel here, but for various reasons abandoned it.

 

Did three new hard offs today, all decent and two exceptional. Took the new case with me and glad to report that it was fine. Copes okay with most surfaces and isn't much of a drag. Even the ultra light backpack was hurting my shoulders, but this case seems okay so far. Maybe a bit of a pain on buses and trains, and it does stop me filming. Had some good walks today that I'd like to have recorded.

 

Faith restored a bit today with some good Hard Offs and a trip to the post office too send some Laserdiscs. I did the form online but couldn't get back to it from my phone. It seems like you need to do it on the phone maybe, unless I missed the "save" button on the computer. Anyway, about 7,700 yen on the slow boat. No room for a tracker tag. Contents only worth about 2,000 yen, but I'll have a lot of fun with them. I'll need to do at least one more of those.

 

Speaking of which, that thinkpad is proving hard to buy. Buyee won't let me bid, and Yahoo Auctions doesn't have any way for my to pay with credit card. I don't want to use that much cash, I need it to charge up my Suica card and a few other things that can't use credit card.

 

I found some other proxy bidding sites so might give them a go.

 

So not what I had planned today but I had a good time. Buses down here are easy to use. I think I really need to book hotels in advance and look at renting a car.

[Gunzel]

How many LaserDiscs does Y7,700 surface mail get you? I’ve bought a few from Suruga-ya using their free postage weekend thing that was running most of the time. They seem to start at Y600 (just looked Y650 now) for ones I guess would be Y110 at HARD OFF so I’m curious how the all up costs compare. 
 

I’ve used Zenmarket more recently, pretty similar to Buyee but the fees are probably a little more. Buyee tends to block a lot more stuff. In the dim past I used dejapan. But it sounds like you may be intending to receive the laptop in Japan, I’d check carefully because I’m not sure that’s a service they offer, certainly Buyee used to not offer it. 

[Tony Galiani]

I have fallen way behind on these posts - planning to catch up today.  Enjoying these and @Gunzel's posts.

 

If you need any extra cats just let me know - at the moment I seem to be caring for our five plus a few strays.  And since my wife has spoiled ours, they are pretty fussy.  They are not entirely pleased with my kibble only regime!  Though she is back from Canada today so I suppose they will have her wrapped around their little paws pretty quickly and back to their catered to lifestyle.

 

Anyway, you may be aware of this but just in case you are not, check out:  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/6045052/

 

A Cat's Eye View of Japan on NHK.

 

Cheers,

Tony

[kuro68000]

2 hours ago, Gunzel said:

How many LaserDiscs does Y7,700 surface mail get you? I’ve bought a few from Suruga-ya using their free postage weekend thing that was running most of the time. They seem to start at Y600 (just looked Y650 now) for ones I guess would be Y110 at HARD OFF so I’m curious how the all up costs compare. 
 

I’ve used Zenmarket more recently, pretty similar to Buyee but the fees are probably a little more. Buyee tends to block a lot more stuff. In the dim past I used dejapan. But it sounds like you may be intending to receive the laptop in Japan, I’d check carefully because I’m not sure that’s a service they offer, certainly Buyee used to not offer it. 

 

I bought some boxes off Amazon for LPs which of course fit Laserdiscs as well. 20 to a box.

 

FromJapan seem to let me bid on it, so I'll register with them and give it a try. They offer domestic shipping too. It could just come direct to me, but there is no way to pay other than cash. Buyee do offer domestic delivery now.

 

 

35 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

I have fallen way behind on these posts - planning to catch up today.  Enjoying these and @Gunzel's posts.

 

If you need any extra cats just let me know - at the moment I seem to be caring for our five plus a few strays.  And since my wife has spoiled ours, they are pretty fussy.  They are not entirely pleased with my kibble only regime!  Though she is back from Canada today so I suppose they will have her wrapped around their little paws pretty quickly and back to their catered to lifestyle.

 

Anyway, you may be aware of this but just in case you are not, check out:  https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/6045052/

 

A Cat's Eye View of Japan on NHK.

 

Cheers,

Tony

 

Our previous cat was like that. Apparently the quality of the food I would offer wasn't up to scratch because when I came in he'd half look up over his shoulder, see it was me, and go back to sleep. Only worth moving for the good stuff I guess, the Prince Charles Farm fresh chicken, warmed in the microwave.

 

I do enjoy Cat's Eye View of Japan. They put the episodes on YouTube. Lovely show. Speaking of cats... 

 

 

 

 

Tokorozawa.

 

  

 

I already have a PD drive so was able to resist, especially given the price of that one. HD DVD though... Never seen a read-only drive in real life, let alone a burner!

[kuro68000]

  

 

Some great hand drawn maps of the local area.

 

 

 

Backup plan if that Yahoo Auctions one doesn't work out, or if I change my mind. There are a lot of cheap laptops around now, and there will be even more when Windows 10 goes out of support. Thinkpads are great because the spare parts are plentiful and they are relatively easy to work on.

 

 

Higashi Murayama.

[kuro68000]

     

  

 

Kouzu.

[kuro68000]

        

 

That dog looks very content.

[kuro68000]

 

Local politician?

 

So what's the deal with the name Karen in Japan? Is it just a Japanese name that happens to sound like an English one, like Hana, or is it imported?

 

  

[kuro68000]

        

 

Mishima.

[kuro68000]

           

 

 

[kuro68000]

        

 

Mishima Futsukamachi.

[kuro68000]

        

 

     

 

Another Hard Off that knows me well. It basically says that even if it's junk, I'll buy it and fix it anyway.

[kuro68000]

 

I'm on the lookout for a trainer computer like this, but this one was not very well supported in its day. Basically the idea is to help engineers understand computer systems so they can build them. It doesn't have any video output and only the basic keypad, as well as a tape interface, but that's enough to run embedded software. The CPU is a special version of the Z80 that supports advanced debugging. Unfortunately Sharp didn't support it much.

 

 

My dream is to be in a position to collect all these and archive them for posterity.

 

  

 

 

See that's how you do a bus information display. There was a little map showing where the numbered stops are next to it.

[kuro68000]

 

The buses had emoji faces on them!

 

        

 

Numazu. Wish I had recorded this walk.