Random photos of stations I have visited

[kuro68000]

  

 

Google's Night Sight is magic. Even in real life this hole in the hedge was pitch black, I couldn't see a thing in there. Somehow the phone can though.

 

 

 

  

  

 

Guess how tall I am...

[kuro68000]

  

 

I know it's childish, but the Sharp What??

 

     

[kuro68000]

 

I'm unsure of the significance of numbers in circles in Japanese, but they have their own Unicode codes so they are considered separate characters.

[kuro68000]

Hmm, I wrote a post but it seems to have vanished. Anyway, went to Yamanashi...

 

              

 

Yamanashi Station.

[kuro68000]

        

 

I've noticed that a lot of Japanese homes have moats. Thinking of digging one.

[kuro68000]

  

 

An interesting set. I hope the people travelling around Europe didn't encounter British Rail...

[kuro68000]

           

 

Sakaori Station and area.

[kuro68000]

  

 

 

Picked up this Neo Geo Pocket Color in need of some minor repairs. The note says that the speaker doesn't work, but the headphone jack does so it's most likely an amplifier issue.

 

  

 

That is one sexy MSX. Could do with that stepper motor tester too.

[kuro68000]

 

Nearly grabbed this but the tape looked a little mouldy.

 

 

For people who like to have an existential crisis every time they use the bin.

 

 

Was very tempted by this version of A-Train for the PC98 series.

 

     

 

Minami-Kofu Station.

[kuro68000]

  

 

Near the hotel. The hotel had a nice onsen with strange but pleasant smelling water. Well worth 5600 yen/night, although the bed wasn't great.

 

  

 

I think it was too bright to trigger astro-photography mode on my phone. You can't do it manually, it just happens when it decides you are taking a photo of the sky.

 

 

Today Google suggested I take the bus, but of course being the 29th the buses were on a reduced timetable so I ended up just walking for an hour. The sign at this crossing says "danger high voltage lines, limit 4.5m".

[kuro68000]

           

  

 

Anyone know what this thing is?

[kuro68000]

        

 

I love ads which just have some random local guy's face on them. This rendering is particularly good I think. It's a car repair/tuning place.

[kuro68000]

 

At Kofu Station.

 

 

This was Japan's first portable computer. It's 6800 based and surprisingly well speced. This one has a fault and I was very tempted to repair it.

 

        

[kuro68000]

  

 

Shiozaki Station.

 

  

 

Mejirodai.

 

 

On the Keio Shinjuku Line. It says "consideration zone", but randomly the word "zone" is in hiragana instead of katakana. I'm not sure if there is some rule for this, like with words such as karaoke which are half Japanese and half English, but written in just one script. But surely "zone" is not part of the same word...

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, kuro68000 said:

On the Keio Shinjuku Line. It says "consideration zone", but randomly the word "zone" is in hiragana instead of katakana. I'm not sure if there is some rule for this, like with words such as karaoke which are half Japanese and half English, but written in just one script. But surely "zone" is not part of the same word...

 

Either the target audience is expected to contain small children who have learnt hiragana but not yet katakana (unlikely, I suspect), or whoever designed this felt the hiragana rendering would be "softer" than katakana, particularly coming after "おもいやり".

[Gunzel]

8 hours ago, kuro68000 said:

Anyone know what this thing is?

Based only on the look and the stylised T logo it might be something like this: https://nickvsnetworking.com/the-role-of-the-humble-telecom-pillar-cabinet-in-the-australian-copper-network/

 

Can’t say I’ve noticed anything like it in Japan but I haven’t been looking. 

[kuro68000]

Thanks guys. I see about the hiragana, that makes sense. And yes it could be a cabinet like that, right next to the pit.

 

 

It looks like my post didn't go through before but was saved on my phone, so here it is from a couple of days ago with a few edits:

 

In Sumiyoshi in Yamanashi. The hotel has an onsen which was really nice.

 

Found a few things today. It's always worth coming here. Didn't bring the laptop so photos stillt have to wait.

 

Trying to decide about that Thinkpad... Buy once cry once? Nobody else bid so it will probably get relisted anyway.

 

Edit: they relisted it at a lower price and I was able to get it with From Japan. That site is a real pain to use. Wouldn't let me bid directly, I had to pre-load the full amount into my account. Did manage to get SMS messages from my bank at least. It should be on its way to me now.

 

Only two more Hard Offs to do tomorrow so I might do some more back east, or maybe go south and try to do one or two down there.

 

Edit: went back east and did one more.

 

The case is better than I expected, but I'm not sure it's better than the backpack. My shoulders don't hurt, but my wrist does. It's noisy and stops me filming. The way it opens makes it difficult to use too. It's very hard to get shopping into it, and the front pocket is pretty awkward too. The carrying capacity is unrivalled though. Maybe I could use lockers instead for trips, if I know I'll be coming back through a major station.

[railsquid]

3 hours ago, Gunzel said:

Based only on the look and the stylised T logo it might be something like this: https://nickvsnetworking.com/the-role-of-the-humble-telecom-pillar-cabinet-in-the-australian-copper-network/

 

Can’t say I’ve noticed anything like it in Japan but I haven’t been looking. 

 

The "T" logo is the former TEPCO logo, so presumably contains some sort of transformer or something, possibly related to the traffic lights control box next to it.

[kuro68000]

10 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

The "T" logo is the former TEPCO logo, so presumably contains some sort of transformer or something, possibly related to the traffic lights control box next to it.

 

Ah, that explains it. I guess in that area they must have older traffic light systems that need that kind of big transformer.

 

Since it's the 31st many shops are closed, and Hard Off closes at 5 PM. I did three today anyway, and dropped off some gifts for friends of my wife. No luck finding new shoes though, nowhere I tried has 29 cm size. There is a place in Yamanashi that has them, but they didn't have the ASICS shoes I wanted in stock. I might go to their Ginza store tomorrow, they will have every size.

 

Back at the hotel watching the New Year stuff on NHK. They have a song competition every year, it's been going for decades. Debating what to do later. Could go to Sensoji, they have food stalls, but it's always heaving. Could stay in my room and watch TV. Could go to the bath at Rox, it's expensive (3000 yen plus some fee past midnight) but it's a decent option.

 

Anyway, some photos from today... I have a big movie to upload as well, over 37 minutes. A nice walk instead of waiting for the bus. It doesn't sound like much but it's liberating, having been restricted by health issues for years. It is going to take a long, long time to upload though.

 

 

 

Hadn't noticed these seats on the Tsukuba Express before.

 

  

 

On the Keio line. What is this sticker for?

[kuro68000]

 

The train on the Chuo-Sobu line I was on stopped late and had to reverse, twice, to align with the gates.

 

     

 

Toyoda and eki soba.

 

 

This is the kind of thing you'd see on LGR.

 

  

 

They had Jizz drives so I had to get one. Wanted one since the 90s...

 

 

Hachioji Horinouchi. What's the deal with this bridge? It's not mechanized. Just to allow it to move when the ground does? Or something to do with how it was built?

[kuro68000]

 

I've heard of that guy...

 

        

 

Yanokuchi.

[kuro68000]

           

[kuro68000]

        

 

These really pop on the phone screen with HDR. Hopefully the new OLED laptop will be similar. Goal for next year is to get HDR versions online somewhere.

[railsquid]

38 minutes ago, kuro68000 said:

  

 

On the Keio line. What is this sticker for?

 

From the Covid era, showing how far windows should be opened for additional ventilation. The practice died out sometime in the last couple of years, but the stickers occasionally remain.

[railsquid]

32 minutes ago, kuro68000 said:

 

Hachioji Horinouchi. What's the deal with this bridge? It's not mechanized. Just to allow it to move when the ground does? Or something to do with how it was built?

 

To allow for thermal expansion.