Random photos of stations I have visited

January 10

Eki-Net just doesn't work for me. Looks like I'll have to apologise to the conductor again... It's so annoying.

Anyway, went to Mito today. Only managed to get to two of the three Hard Offs there. The buses are really bad. The one I didn't get to was the one I thought would be easiest too, in a big retail park. The other two were average, nothing much of interest to be honest. The rural ones are usually the most interesting, but not always.

On the way home now. In the morning I took some stuff to the post office. It's not cheap but it is easy.

Photos to follow. Made a video too.

I'm okay when I'm outside or in well ventilated areas, but on trains I get bunged up and need to cough. Not sure what I can do about it. Masks don't seem to help. It's been more than a week and this virus is still not cleared.

January 10

Mito. I wonder what that plaque said.

January 10

I've noticed that since the manufacturers announced that they would be discontinuing production of BD-R discs, prices are shot up. Last year I was looking at 100 yen for a 100GB disc.

January 10

January 10

Omika. Video coming...

January 10

Hitachi-Taga Station.

January 10

January 10

January 11

Poor girl looks a bit worried by the random foreign spy, hood up, filming the neighborhood.

Went to to Kumagaya today. Meant to get back earlier but under estimated how far it actually is. Was thinking about Hamamatsu, but the shinkansen isn't cheap so I might do it as part of a trip to Nagoya next week. Not sure, I'm more focused on tourism now.

Doai might be clear in Monday, I'll see. It's a long weekend for a lot of people, not sure what that means.

To be honest I've kinda filled my boots with Hard Off. There are a few things I want and I do enjoy looking around, but it's mostly big and heavy or very rare.

Photos from today to follow. Wish I had brought my gimbal, but my shoulders are still hurting so no pack. This virus is really nasty.

January 11

I'd love to turn this into a USB joystick. For some reason 99% of joysticks are left handed, but I'm right handed and always had my primary hand on the stick. I suppose it makes sense with games these days that have 20 buttons, but it never feels quite right to me.

Some MSX magazines that I'd love to read, but they were about 2000 yen or more each and I didn't really want to split up the set. I'd like one of those keyboards for my SG-3000 as well.

Me: Okay Paul, seriously, no more Laserdiscs. Maybe just the very rarest and most interesting ones. Really!

Hard Off: Special, you say?

They were mixed in with a load of records so I didn't dig too much, for fear of finding more.

Gyoda.

January 11

Casio Databank Watch. Proper sci-fi stuff, when we were all going to wear our portable computing devices.

January 11

Honjo.

January 11

Kagohara.

January 11

Please take care of yourself and get a bit of a rest! Rick Steves recommends a vacation from your vacation - taking a day in the middle of a trip to slow down a bit - and that might help you feel a bit better.

We usually take a slow day on our trips - though, if suppose if I am completely honest, we don't slow down all that much. But even a little bit might help.

Cheers,

Tony

January 11

That's very good advice, Tony. Tomorrow is a slow day.

January 11

Wise words tony. Pushing too hard at times can get you sick(er) and then loose a lot more of your vacation than taking a slow day here or there. Also not taking some rests just slows recovery from your little illness here. Also being really sick in a foreign place can be really daunting.

We do get into the damn the torpedos mode on vacation as such limited time and opportunity but best to have a slightly narrower but enjoyable experience than a wider but more miserable feeling one. Find some really local things to do that are warm and relaxing. I’ve loved to sit and cafes or park on trips for a couple of hours and read some and just watch life go by and watch the similarities and differences in cultures/places with others I’ve seen. In the evenings I would love to find a small pub type place to eat and have a long slow beer or two and read and maybe half the time a local would strike up very fun conversations. I always found this relaxing and recharging.

Also all the cold weather hiking you are doing, the cold also sucks a good bit of energy out of you. I really notice this shoveling snow where the colder it is the faster I tire doing basically the same job. Standing and waiting for a bus in the cold is the worst (I did that for 3 years in dc commuting).

get well and enjoy your time more!

jeff

January 13

Thank you guys. I took a day off yesterday and do feel a bit better.

Today I'm in Nagano because Google Weather said it was sunny and warm, but when I arrived it was snowing! It's stopped now.

Taking it slow. I'll see if I want to go back to Tokyo or get a hotel here.

The shinkansen ticket machine seems to have improved, but is still confusing. It lets you buy non reseved seats on fully reserved trains, and doesn't make it clear that the reservation is only 500 yen. No credit card payments either.

January 13

Staying in Ueda today. Found a cheap hotel with surprisingly decent bed. Rest of the room is a bit naff... Why do they get fabric sofas if they aren't going to deep clean them regularly?

Anyway, the Hard Offs were above average. Got some old software, stuff that is basically flat and weighs very little. They are nice shops, unique and pretty good prices. Had some nice walks too, although only filmed one because I forgot my battery so had to rely on my charger instead. At 1% per minute for video, it's significant.

Will make my way back on the slow train tomorrow. Buses here don't take Suica, and some of the trains use paper tickets only. No barriers at most of the stations.

January 14

Nearly home... My unbroken run off falling to use the Shinkansen remains intact!

On the way out I didn't realize that the whole train was reserved, and it let me book an unreserved ticket. To Takasaki I was so close to not screwing it up, but put both "tickets" into the gate and it rejected them. Turns out you only need to put the smaller one in, unlike other times when you get two. Finally coming back to Ueno I exited into the JR station and my Suica wouldn't let me out.

I know I'm some kind of idiot, but I usually learn after a while. Is it just me?

Next time I should get a JR Pass and use it like mad for a week.

Edited January 14 by kuro68000
failed to fail