28 October 2024
Non stop construction site
Shimbashi to Shinagawa
It is not raining so that is good. Tomorrow it will, a lot. Plans are in tatters. This will likely result in having to double up hiking days on Wednesday and Thursday, a true test of endurance.
Tonight I walked from where I am staying in Shimbashi in a southerly direction following the bullet train line to Shinagawa. this was further than I thought, and quite a boring walk following the white smooth fence of a never ending construction site. Along the way I passed the newest station on the Yamanote line, Takanawa Gateway. Nearby this station is the actual ruins of the Takanawa gate, and that may be the most disappointing google maps point of interest I have ever seen.
All of this lead to Shinagawa, where Americans love to all stay in the same hotel that Elvis and Nixon once stayed at, the Shinagawa Prince. This is actually about 5 or so large towers across a couple of city blocks seemingly behind a walled compound with direct bus service to Disneyland and the airport.
There is no food to be found near Shinagawa station, it is very strange! I ended up eating at Sukiya, which was really cheap and therefore I will chalk that up as a win.
Here is one of the busy streets around my hotel. I should have had dinner here, many many more choices than can be found around the much larger Shinagawa station.
Just a regular back street, but with the Tokyo tower in the distance. Would be better if I had zoom, but I do not.
Stain glass Starbucks. The newest kind of Church. In Australia Starbucks is owned by 7-eleven, which is in turn owned by 7-eleven Japan since earlier this year (Seven & i Holdings Co) which is about to be bought out by the hilariously named Canadian owned convenience store mega conglomerate 'Couche-Tard'. If you were to call someone a couche-tard you might get accused of committing a hate crime.
Here it is in all it's glory, the ruins of the Takanawa gate, right in the middle of a footpath with construction equipment parked on it.
Shinagawa station is a bullet train station, so there are a lot of people. The department store food courts however are pretty disappointing, mainly hamburger places.
My aforementioned dinner from Sukiya. A beef bowl with kim chi, yes I know it is called gyudon. It was so cheap that I added on the side salad, and then tipped it in with the beef and rice. My lunch was expensive so here is the result of that, cheapest dinner possible.
Not many photos tonight, so here is a bonus pic back at Shimbashi where there is an old steam train parked in front of the station. There are a lot of old people playing multiple phones worth at once of Pokemon Go (read that twice). Hopeless addicts.