Jiyugaoka it isn’t as central to places like Shinjuku and Shibuya as Nakameguro is. I haven’t learnt all of the shortcuts to get around and traffic was a bit frustrating this weekend for me so I decided to hop the train and take the opportunity to take some photos as well.
One thing I have to say about Jiyugaoka…they seem to have their bike parking enforcement under control. Perhaps they manage it with a heavy hand? I always find it interesting how Japan ‘enforces’ some of these laws. In Nakameguro they didn’t want taxis queuing directly in front of the station as it slowed the flow of traffic. Rather they wanted them at the Taxi Stand so they put this giant barrier where the taxi were queuing. What this causes was the Taxi Drivers to simply queue next to the barrier blocking traffic even more. You can see examples of this all over Japan. To try to curb bicycle parking near my office building so they planting this giant row of plants where the bikes park. Now everyone has someone to lean their bike against…
The shot bar next to the station… it closes at 5am. Not that I will drink until 5am it is good to know I have the option.
I miss Nakameguro…
A great look, especially the Cub Scouts shirt…
The Smurfs seem to be making a come back in Tokyo. I have seen them in a few places lately. For those of you too young to know what the Smurfs are, please just humor us and play along…
I saw this guy changing the advertisements on the subway and realized I have never seen someone doing that before…sort of like baby pigeons you know they exists even if you haven’t seen them.
Subway on the subway…
What an understatement…it was like a wind tunnel down there.
I swung by Map Camera in Shinjuku as I thought I was having issues with my Noctilux focusing to infinity but after they looked at it it seems to be a problem with my M9 itself. I never focus to infinity so I never notice the problem before. This is actually good news as if you need to send your Noctilux for calibration it can take 3 months, calibrating the M9 is pretty straight forward and Leica will give me a loaner if they need to keep my camera. What great service.
I did…it was good.
This Indian Restaurant had a Indian Robot to lure customers in…
Japanese Word of the Day: 機嫌が悪い（きげんがわるい） – kigengawarui – in a bad mood
example: あの人は機嫌が悪い That person is in a bad mood.
Dave Powell is a photographer based in Tokyo, Japan who shoots with a Leica M9. He is the publisher of ShootTokyo, a friendly daily photography blog which he calls a “labor of love.” You can follow him on Twitter @ShootTokyo and visit his photo blog site at http://www. shoottokyo.com.
