Tohoku Jukan Line in Tokyo

東北縦貫線

 

JR East has been working since 2008 on a new line to connect Ueno and Tokyo stations: the Tohoku Jukan Line (literally the "north-east longitudinal" line) .

 Ueno and Tokyo are already connected by the Keihin Tohoku Line (which curves through Tokyo from Omiya up north down to a little past Yokohama) and Tokyo's loop line, the Yamanote Line. However, people coming from up lines that connect the north have to change at Ueno to the Keihin Tohoku Line or the Yamanote line to get to Tokyo, making for a lot of congestion on that stretch of those lines.

There are three main lines that join Tokyo with the rest of Honshu, which end at Ueno Station.

The Joban Line runs from Iwanuma Station, way up on the north coast of Honshu, all the way down (except for the section betweeen Hirono and Haranomachi in Fukushima, closed since the 2011 earthquake) to Ueno and then Nippori in Tokyo, although more Joban line trains leave from Ueno than Nippori.

The Takasaki Line begins NNW of Tokyo, in Takasaki, runs to Omiya station, and is connected to Ueno station via the Tohoku Main Line.

The Utsunomiya Line is the section of the Tohoku Main Line between Kuroiso Station in Tochigi, NNE of Tokyo, and Ueno Station.

With the construction of the new Tohoku Jukan Line, passengers coming to Tokyo on these three lines will now be able to go all the way to Tokyo Station (and beyond) more quickly and smoothly than before.

The Tohoku Jukan Line is a stretch of track between Tokyo and Ueno stations about 2.5km long. It's actually not new, but a re-laying of tracks that used to exist before, but had a 1.3km gap put in them in 1991 to accommodate the Tohoku Shinkansen line when it was extended from Ueno to Tokyo. The Tohoku Jukan Line will close that gap by being piggybacked on that stretch of the extended Tohoku Shinkansen line.

I cycle to work every day along Yasukuni-dori Street, and pass under the Hiranaga rail bridge which carries Yamanote line trains between Akihabara Station just 200m to the north and Tokyo Station just 400m to the south. Running parallel to it, separated by just a few meters, is the Tohoku Shinkansen line bridge, also spanning Yasukuni-dori.

Since a few months ago, the "piggyback" track of the Tohoku Jukan Line on top of the Tohoku Shinkansen line has become visible as the construction has slowly made its way from the Tokyo Station direction towards Ueno Station.

Pictured here is the state of the construction about three weeks ago, on April 29. The huge green steel contraption on top is the "piggyback" line comprising the work.

The Tohoku Jukan Line is due to be completed next year, 2014. It is estimated to end up costing about 4 billion yen, or roughly USD400 million at today's exchange rate.

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Masamura old-style pachinko in Tokyo

人形町　東京

Chuo ward in Tokyo is home to the delightful  Ningyocho ("Doll Town") district, official name "Nihonbashi-ningyocho." The Ningyocho district is full of sights and spots of significance that hark back to the time when old Tokyo, still known as the city of Edo, first began its rise to capital city status and the Emperor came to take up residence here from distant Kyoto.

The novelist, Junichiro Tanizaki, was born in Ningyocho (after Edo had become Tokyo, in 1886, but still a long time ago!) The remains of the old Kakigara-Ginza, or mint, where coins were made from 1869 to 1937, can be found here too.

From 1868, when Edo was renamed Tokyo, for the next twenty years, the Ningyocho area was a pleasure quarter, with brothels, theaters, pubs, restaurants and ... doll shops, the latter giving the area its name.

One very colorful feature of Ningyocho is the Masamura Pachinko, which while just as eye-catching as any pachinko parlor in Japan, is somewhat less glitzy in its appeal, exerting a decided old world charm in keeping with the area.

Masamura Takeichi (1906-1975) was the father of modern pachinko in Japan, with Masamura pachinko machines holding a place in Japanese entertainment history.  The Masamura Pachinko in Ningyocho offers a direct link to this father of the pastime, having been built back in the early 20 century - the 1910s or 1920s, when pachinko was beginning to burgeon.

What better way to experience the ghosts of the razzmatazz of this formerly bustling nightlife area than in front of an antique pachinko machine?

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Karting in Ueno

上野　カート

I was in Tokyo's Ueno district the other day to visit one of the many museums in big beautiful Ueno Park. On the way back to Ueno Station from Ueno Park, I encountered the very unusual sight of a go-kart on the streets of Tokyo waiting for the lights to change.

The tiny vehicle made up in color what it lost in size. Its bright orange paint job and the orange overalls of the young driver were plenty eyecatching. On closer inspection it turned out to be an advertisement for a rental cart company in nearby Akihabara the pop culture center of Tokyo.

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Miyazaki Culture Park

宮崎県総合文化公園

Miyazaki Culture Park in Miyazaki city is situated close to Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.

The Miyazaki Culture Park is a large public space with wide grass lawns, fountains, mountain art sculptures, a walking/jogging path, a cherry tree avenue and various large trees of special note.

Visitors to the Miyazaki Culture Park may also like to visit the nearby Miyazaki Science Center (Cosmoland), Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History and Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum.

Miyazaki Prefectural Museum of Nature and History
3-210 Funatsuka
Miyazaki City
Miyazaki
880-0031

Access: Access: there are buses to Miyazaki Culture Park from Miyazaki Station, get off at the Bunka Koen stop. Alternatively, the museum is a 15-20 minute walk from Miyazaki Jingu Station..

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Hotel Route Inn Ena

The Hotel Route Inn Ena in Ena in Gifu Prefecture is part of the nationwide Route Inn chain.

This western style business hotel is handy for visitors wishing to visit nearby Ena Gorge, the Hiroshige Print Museum or set out on a hike of the Nakasendo highway on to Nakatsugawa and beyond.

The Hotel Route Inn Ena has wifi in the lobby, a spacious onsen bath and two rather old PCs also in the lobby presently running XP.

Hotel Route Inn Ena
Osashima-cho Nakano
Ena
Gifu
509-7205
Tel: 0573 20 0050

The Hotel Route Inn Ena is a 10 minute walk from Ena Station. Ena is a 30 minute express train ride from Nagoya, Kanayama or Tsurumai stations.

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Japan News This Week 19 May 2013

今週の日本

Women Forced Into WWII Brothels Served Necessary Role, Osaka Mayor Says

New York Times

A Comfort Blanket? Japan Face Masks

BBC

Cannes film festival 2013: Like Father, Like Son - first look review

Guardian

The main question: Why did Hashimoto open his mouth?

Japan Times

After Hiroshima 広島のあと

Japan Focus

Japan's 'secret' trip to North Korea disrupts united stance against Pyongyang

Christian Science Monitor

Last Week's Japan News

Statistics

Passengers per day at major Tokyo train stations in fiscal 2011.

Shinjuku   1.46 million
Ikebukuro 1.08 million
Shibuya     800,000
Tokyo        760,000
Ueno         340,000

Source: Yomiuri Shinbun

Japan fell to 31st place in the the annual Save the Children State of the World's Mothers report. In the previous year Japan was 30th.

Of 176 countries surveyed, Finland was rated the best place in the world to be a mother, the Democratic Republic of the Congo the worst.

The index looks at statistics on the health of mothers and children and uses them to create rankings of nations within three groupings corresponding to different levels of economic development.

Source: Jiji Press

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Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba

つくば

Toyoko Inn near Kenkyugakuen Station on the Tsukuba Express (TX) Line that runs between Akihabara and Tsukuba (Science City) in Ibaraki Prefecture is a decent business class accommodation for travelers and conference goers.

Located just a few minutes walk from Kenkyugakuen Station, the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen is close to a good Chinese restaurant, an adult-friendly shochu bar and the nearby Kenkyugakuen-mae Park.

Other Tsukuba attractions within reach of the Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba include the Tsukuba Cultural Center Ars which houses the Tsukuba Museum of Art and the Municipal Library. The Iias shopping complex is within five minutes walk.

Another nearby hotel is the Mark-1 Hotel Tsukuba.

Toyoko Inn Kenkyugakuen Tsukuba
305-0817 Ibaraki
Tsukuba
Kenkyugakuen D3 Town Districts 7

Japan's Safe Driver Card

セーフ・ドライバー

I recently had to go to the Fuchu Driver's License Center in Chofu City, a little west of Tokyo. I needed a certification of my driving record, called an Unten Kiroku Shomeisho, covering the past five years for a bureaucratic procedure I'm currently going through.

It took the best part of an hour to get out there from central Tokyo. I went to Musashi-koganei Station on the JR Chuo Line, took the South Exit, and caught the bus at stop no. 6, on the far side of the bus area from the station. The bus took about 10 minutes.

I got there a few minutes before the opening time of 8:30 a.m., asked one of the gruff old guides where to go, was told the 3rd floor, went up there, picking my way through the seething 1st floor crowd. Fuchu Licence Center is also where people go if they have to renew a driving license that has expired either because they forgot to renew it before it expired, or because they lost their license for an infringement and have to reapply.

On the very quiet 3rd floor, I filled out the very simple application form for the certificate, and waited along with the only other customer there - an old man.

The counter I was waiting at opened on the dot of 8:30 a.m., but on this particular morning they didn't have the right key to open the sliding windows, so an apologetic middle aged woman came out to where I was and took my form. I had been told that the certificate application would cost 700 yen, but it turned out that in deflationary Japan, this was now reduced to 630 yen.

I was also told that it would take up to three weeks for the certificate to be sent to me, but I received it today, six days later. The certificate is full of wonderfully blank lines, attesting to my very safe driving record over the past five years (during which time I've probably driven for a no more than about once every 3 or 4 months!). However, it also came with an unexpected bonus, a plastic, credit card sized SD Card, or Safe Driver Card.

The back of the SD Card states that I have a clean seven-year record (actually longer - but I moved to Tokyo seven years ago, so maybe that's why), and it was accompanied by a pamphlet that lists scores of businesses and services that I can get a discount with and on using my SD Card during the 12 months following its issue.

These businesses include moving companies (a very generous 20%, useful in December when my partner and I are to move apartments), the Miyazaki car ferry (10% off), Daito Group and Toto Nisseki gasoline stands (from 5% for car parts up to 66% off for tire changes), travel agencies, car and motorbike rental companies, Odakyu Department Store, hotels, and driving schools.

Safe driving really pays in Japan!


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The Panasonic sex appeal challenge

脱いでも男前か

Panasonic is one of Japan’s biggest electronics manufacturers, especially with its buyout and absorption of Sanyo four years ago (Sanyo having been founded by the brother-in-law of the founder of Panasonic just after the war.)

Panasonic, like many other Japanese industrial giants, has been restructuring furiously to keep its head above water, and recently launched an aggressive new “Panasonic Beauty” campaign, for men and for women.

Panasonic Beauty for Men is the more conspicuous of the two campaigns at the moment, and features a striking young Japanese man with his shirt off, his jeans riding way low, and the provocative question “Still looking sexy if you take it all off?” (“Nuide mo otokomae ka”). The sub-slogan is “Full body bath time grooming.”

The Panasonic Beauty for Men line comprises home appliances focused on “hair, face and body,” i.e., electric razors, clippers, shavers, hair dryers, etc.

The above photograph was taken at a railway station in Tokyo this week, offset by a fully clothed considerably older man who, although he removed his jacket, seemed reluctant to fully rise to the challenge.

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Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens Ishigaki

宮良殿内, 石垣

Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens (also Miyaradunchi) in the center of Ishigaki city in the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, is the early 19th century home of a government official, who was in charge of the unification of the Yaeyama Islands.

First built in 1819 the Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens is now designated as a National Important Cultural Property.

Other things to see on Ishigaki Island include Torinji Temple and Gongendo Shrine, just a short way west of Ishigaki Port, Yonehara Beach, the Tojin Baka Memorial, Ishigaki Market, Banna Forest Park, Mt Nosoko, Maezato Beach, Mt Omoto, Uganzaki and Yonehara Palm Grove.

Miyara Dounchi House & Gardens
178 Okawa
Ishigaki
Okinawa Prefecture
907-0022

Admission: 200 yen
Hours: 9am-5pm; closed Tuesday

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