A diagram of the Yamanote Line loop (the real loop is an irregular blob on a map). The double track of 34.5 km (21.4 mi) of rail opened in 1885 (138 years ago) and is run by JR East (the East Japan Railway Company).Here’s the new-ish Takanawa Gateway Station (it opened Mar. 2020), the 30th station to be added onto the Yamanote Line, and the first one in 50 years. Construction of large apartment buildings and offices around the station is still in progress— called Takanawa Gateway City, and scheduled for completion in 2025.Here comes the lime green Yamanote Line train. Form over function: the flat front profile is obviously not anticipating bullet train speeds to be attained.Baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani on a billboard for Seiko watches outside the Yodobashi Camera store in Shinjuku. He was actually in Seattle just this week for the 2023 All-Star game there, and is about to become a free agent (his contract with the Los Angeles Angles is ending). ‘Come to Seattle, Come to Seattle’ chanted the baseball fans.Yodobashi Camera has several separate stores near Shinjuku, each dedicated to certain kinds of appliances or equipment. Here is an inside-outside display of binoculars of all shapes and sizes.Out in the blazing heat again in Shinjuku, now on my way to Lemon Camera— located on the floor where the yellow strip runs in the building on the right. My mission for the morning was to try and find the elusive and ever-out-of-stock Fujifilm X100V compact camera (to buy one), but even here in Tokyo all the stores tell me they have none available.Here’s the cavernous main hall in Shinagawa Station, the station close to my hotel.
We had 36°C (97 °F) here in Tokyo today.
I put urban survival gear in my backpack (water bottle, towel, wide-brimmed hat, sunglasses) and made a run out to Shinjuku on the famous Yamanote Line after the morning rush hour on the subway trains was over.
