the gang and i have a planned hiking this monday, november 3rd. it is the first hiking expedition(?!?) this fall season. as the first of probably many, i wanted to be as ready as possible. and that includes training for long and exhausting walks. the path i chose for tonight was made specially for that purpose, google maps said that it will take over 2 hours of walking. but aside from that, i really wanted to get the station stamps of those stations along the way.
the walk started at a very usual route, quite boring really because it ran along a major road in a fairly straight path. but i found the opportunity to take a picture of bicycles. this one in particular was of a student eating a mcdonalds fries from carton to mouth, no hand picking. it is rare to see japanese people eating in public, and quite frowned upon for the trash it might leave on the road. but i guess this student was that hungry to even mind those judging eyes.
finally passed by oku station (尾久駅), so might as well just get a 2nd copy of that station stamp.
but might as well take a picture the public toilet outside which spelled the station's name. probably because of the angle i viewed it the last time, it was not very clear what it really was. it was only when i researched about it for the previous blog entry where i knew i missed the opportunity, so here i am back with a vengeance. you can read that blog entry from below.
crossed the deserted tram station along the way before finally nearing the first new station stamp collection site.
i had to cross this highway and major road system first though. those structure looked so strong, but i do know that regular maintenance plays a huge role in that.
and we arrived at the subway station after some right turns. i also passed by a school and noticed some baseball club activities on the field.
true to other metro stations, the station featured a train type. the series 9000 was used by the train line passing this station since 1991.
this shopping street led me to the station, areas near stations tend to be busy and this one was no exception. i do not know if they had some festival and there were flags all around, but later found out that only 8 countries were displayed.
that station facade was quite different, too. that white facade certainly stood out. but i am not quite sure what the stamp motifs meant. if it were me, probably the station is known for spots with a good view of the train.
there were open spots for sure so i took this one, no passing train though. but it really was a very quite neighborhood.
arriving from the east side, i passed by the shinohara engei theater. opened in 1951, is the oldest in tokyo dedicated to taishu engeki popular theater.
The origins of Taishu Engeki can be traced back to the early Meiji period (1868-1912). Taishu Engeki is a form of theatre that tours all over Japan, and it incorporates a wide variety of plays, mainly historical dramas, including humanistic plays, sword-fighting plays and comedies.
The stage performance comprises of two sections: a “play” and a “dance show”. The contents of both segments change every day. Because the stage and the audience are in close proximity, the actors skillfully ad-lib or modify lines according to the audience's reactions. Therefore, even in the same play, there is always something new to discover each time, and this is the secret to Taishu Engeki’s popularity.
In recent years, attention has been drawn to the gorgeous dance shows featuring the Oiran (courtesans), the dainty onnagata (female roles often played by a male actor) and the elegant otokogata (male roles sometimes played by a female actor). Reasonable admission fees also make it attractive. source
so for history and culture enthusiasts, here is one for the books.
now back to the station, to clearly see the train platform openly at one end, i thought that those only existed in the country side. pedestrians directly cross the train tracks and clearly see the trains awaiting for boarding.
that was how small the station was. it was very unassuming. and the stamp showed the lanterns of the aforementioned theater at the upper part.
the lower part of the stamp is clearly this one, jujo ginza shopping arcade (十条銀座商店街). with more than 400 meters of covered space, this is one of the longest arcades in japan.
after that lively area, we are back to the sleepy areas.
walking alongside the shakuji river was a breather. who wouldn't be able to breathe well after seeing how wide this river was? those sakura trees lining up will surely look lovely once they bloom.
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i was walking in the tightest of roads at some point, i had to rely heavily on google maps. i had to go back and a forth a couple of times before realizing that i was to walk on this very narrow path. at least it was paved.
a few more minutes and i finally reached the station. the motifs on the stamp must be for the many bridges and sakura along the river i just crossed earlier.
and again i was walking beside tiny neighborhoods and small shops before finally reaching the main roads to the final stop, ikebukuro. it took me almost 3 hours of walking, i guess this training will suffice for the hiking this monday.
that was the whole trip, 13.23km in 2hrs and 51 minutes. and here were the 4 newly collected station stamps including oji.
on this hole nightwalk, i actually had a mini mission. i wanted to charge my train card and withdraw some money for the monday hike, but only do it if i pass by a 711 store. why? because my bank is from 711. while at it, i would also buy some hot drinks for the cold nightwalk. to my surprise, i haven't passed by any. well technically there was one across a major street but crossing would defeat the minigame. on the way home after riding the train, i finally passed by this one. there was no need to charge apparently, i still had some load. and since this was on the way home, there was really no point in buying a drink anymore. but yeah, that happened.
as always, AMPING KANUNAY!
all content is by yours truly unless otherwise specified
all photos are taken with a galaxy s23 ultra
Height168.0 cm | Weight71.7 kg | Body Fat% | |||
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