Japanese Gas Stations

[gmat]

Kens asked about taking some pics of the Eneos gas stand next to my apartment, but I decided to take photos of various different gas stands, but not next to my apartment. Unlike the train station the people at stores and gas stands look at any stranger snapping photos of their establishment with a bit of suspicion. So although I will explain what I'm doing it still arouses a bit of distrust. So this will be a roving set of shots but feel free to ask for more specific shots, and I'll see what I can do. Some shots are very difficult to shoot head on, but I'll keep trying.

 

The first is an Idemitsu stand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the first and taken rather quickly as I was a bit nervous.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

 

PS, Kens, if you could send me about 4 or 5 shots of one of your prototypicial buildings, I could hold it in an album to show why I'm taking these shots.

 

My address is:

Grant Matsuoka

Tsurumaki 2-30-15-402

Setagaya-ku

Tokyo, Japan

154-0016

[gmat]

Esso Gas Station:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Last from yesterday is an Eneos gas station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More coming from this gas station.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

The remainder of the Eneos shots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I go out and have the time, I'll be shooting more detail shots or reshoot some that aren't head on or marred by shadows or things like that.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[cteno4]

Grant thank so much these are spectacular reference shots!

 

Jeff

[keitaro]

My experience with gas stations in japan is a bad one.

 

I pull up and they offer to inflate the tyres for free service, i think great why not so i go inside grab a drink from the vending and sit down, they fill the car with gas and start to wash and clean my tyres and then fill em up.

 

All the while i'm thinking great service. Then ......

 

they come in and are like you have a slight leak in your tyre buy tyres off us or pay us to patch it up.....

 

WTF man u think i'm dumb......

 

it happend in kyoto too!

 

 

btw great pics

[KenS]

Great photos Grant.  Those ENEOS signs are going to find their way onto my Tomix Eneos gas station (the stickers that came with it aren't that great).

 

I hadn't planned it this way, but I'm rather glad I bought the ENEOS version of the model now that Tomix has come out with a tanker model labeled for them; I've already got a reservation in on one (due in May), and will make it part of my gas station scene.

 

Once it's done, I'll post photos (but that's likely weeks away) and send you copies.  I only just took it apart this week and began painting, and there's much to do yet.

[westfalen]

Most of the petrol stations in Australia have turned into convenience stores and the attendant wouldn't know how to inflate a tyre, let alone be able to sell you a new one. Places like those in Mat's photos with tyres and oil cans and other stuff for the care of your car stacked up outside alomost belong in another era here.

[KenS]

I've been making signs from Grant's photos, and I thought I'd share them here.  These aren't final, and a couple have problems I may need to fix.  On the other hand, by the time I shrink them down to scale those may be invisible.  I'll need to do a test print before I decide to put more work into them.

 

The big ENEOS sign is a bit crushed vertically.  I think I need to stretch it a bit to compensate; that one's probably going to be re-done.  The number "3" on the gas pump label was a hack job (the sign originally read "5") but it may be too small in the final form to notice).

 

BTW, I figured out that the blue label (レギユラー, or regiyuraa) is "regular", but the red sign (ヴイーゴ yuigo, or ヴィーゴ vigo) escapes me.  Any Japanese-speakers care to enlighten me?  Am I reading it wrong, or is it some kind of abbreviation/slang term?

 

Finally, the green (軽油, keiyu) I'd guessed as diesel, but Google translates it as light oil or gasoline, and my dictionary as light fuel oil (the two "oil" forms could mean diesel and Google's track record on translations isn't great). Anyone know?

 

Update: fixed a bad jpeg and a typo.

[Bernard]

Wow great photos for reference!

Okay in the US years ago ESSO was changed to EXXON......but in Japan it's still ESSO why?

[Kamiyacho]

Okay in the US years ago ESSO was changed to EXXON......but in Japan it's still ESSO why?

 

It is still "Esso" (and/or "Mobil") in the fuels business everywhere outside the US.  In the US we did not have the trademark for "Esso" in all of the states, so "Exxon" was chosen as a single US brand.  "Exxon" (now "ExxonMobil") is used for the worldwide chemical business.

[bikkuri bahn]

but the red sign (ヴイーゴ yuigo, or ヴィーゴ vigo) escapes me

 

It's the marketing name for their "eco" high-octane gasoline, sulfur-free and apparently keeps your car's valves clean.

 

the green (軽油, keiyu)

 

That's diesel.

[traindork]

Most of the petrol stations in Australia have turned into convenience stores and the attendant wouldn't know how to inflate a tyre, let alone be able to sell you a new one. Places like those in Mat's photos with tyres and oil cans and other stuff for the care of your car stacked up outside alomost belong in another era here.

 

Same here in the States. In fact, the stations that do have air have a machine where you have to pay $1 to inflate your own tires. And if it doesn't work, which is about half the time, the clerk will tell you that there's nothing he can do, and can't refund you your $1.

[KenS]

Well, it's not quite that bad. Although most stations are now the gas+store kind, there are still a number with service bays and mechanics on duty (at least in the suburban/semi-rural area where I live).  I can think of a couple near me, including one that had a mechanic on duty at 4 PM on a Saturday when I broke the valve stem on one of my tires while pumping it up with a cheap battery-powered air pump. 

 

But Japan does seem to have more "service" stations.  From looking around Tokyo using Google Earth, they don't seem to have all that many gas stations of any sort though.  So I wonder if maybe the high cost of land there, coupled with the greater use of public transportation, makes it necessary to have other lines of business (like car washes and service bays) in addition to simple fuel sales, to make a station profitable.

[gmat]

There's been a gradual shaking out of gas stations in the last decade or so, from my unscientific observation of stations as I cycle through Tokyo. The high gas prices/shortage of gas from two or three summers ago closed some stations and the same happened after the 3-11 earthquake/tsunami. One Eneos that I remembered because it had a Dr. Drive repair sign that I thought was from another station not only closed last year, but they went and tore up the station and underground gas tank and now it's only a vacant lot with the outline of a former gas station. Many abandoned stations are converted to other uses like auto body shops or auto sales shops, etc. A few are just roped off. I'll shoot some of those stands and other gas stations when I go out tomorrow, weather permitting.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

These are some stations that have been abandoned or in this case, changed to a car dealership, I believe.

This one, near my apartment, was an Eneos. I think it also had a Flying A logo too, when I first moved here about twenty years ago. It later became a car body shop but closed down a few months ago.

 

This was an Idemitsu station and also closed down a few months ago.

 

 

 

 

I don't know how long ago this one changed to a Gulliver car dealership.

 

 

You can see the remnants of the fitting for the gas hoses that came down from the ceiling.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

More shots.This one is an Eneos station  on Setagaya-dori west of Sangenjaya Station.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

Next batch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last batch next.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[gmat]

The last group of photos. I've seen a General and a Cosmos plus an Eneos under a tall building. Will try to get those and others later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for tonite.

 

Best wishes,

Grant

[cteno4]

grant,

 

thanks mucho as always, great reference shots and some signs i can pull off for use!

 

jeff

[linkey]

Grant-san

 

arigato gozaimasu. the photos are great reference points and also amazes me. Your photos are awesome just like the Dr. Yellow photos very helpful indeed. Keep up with the excellent work :)

[KenS]

Yes, great photos here. Definitely several I'll make use of for signs, and all the little detail (like the inside of the service bay) gives me ideas for things I can do to detail my Tomix gas station model.  Very helpful!