20 November 2025
First half
Walking the Yamanote line Part 1
Today I walked a full anti clockwise loop of the Yamanote line.
This is a popular activity many people do.
During my journey I took a photo of each of the 30 stations, and many things in between, so there are a lot of photos below.
I did not plan to do this, at about 8:30 this morning I was sitting in a cafe having a coffee working out what to do today. I nearly went to Yokohama but I was unsure if there was enough credit left on my IC card, and I do not want to withdraw any more cash, so instead I picked an activity with a lot of trains, but no riding on trains.
I completed this uninterrupted, but I will split it into 2 parts below so that my website does not break.
I do not consider this a hike, but I recorded the stats with my watch anyway, so here they are -
58,800 steps - not a record, I did over 60k twice before but both times had running involved
45.90km
10 hours and 20 minutes - including breaks, getting lost, taking photos etc.
363m vertical ascent
2,276 calories burned - thought it would record more but feels about right
There are a huge number of photos, too many. They might not all be straight. Descriptions will be brief.
This is the street from my hotel to Okachimachi station, my starting point. The steps and distance to the station are not included, but it is only one block.
Station 1 of 30 - Okachimachi. Not the main entrance. You will see this again at the end (if I make it).
I went anti clockwise, so headed north. Station 2 of 30, Ueno. A major station where Shinkansen trains heading north terminate.
Station 3 of 30 - Uguisudani. This one sounds like it belongs in India. You can go to the museums and zoo nearby from this station.
I had to cross the tracks a few times today. It was often not possible to walk alongside the tracks.
This is the first public toilet visit of the journey. I stopped documenting them after this one.
Station 4 of 30 - Nippori. Another major station with a couple of non JR lines transferring here too.
Station 5 of 30 - Nishi-Nippori. Not every station has a big entrance. I may have been on the lesser side too.
I am not entirely sure why, but a 2nd photo of Nishi-Nippori station. Maybe I was worried I would not take enough photos?
I then headed up hill to the highest point of the day, and then had to walk down and back up these stairs to get the station shot.
Station 6 of 30 - Tabata. I stopped here for a coffee.
Early on it was grey and cloudy, but as you can see, throughout the day the cloud disappeared.
Giant golf bowl. I thought I should take more photos of things that were not station signs.
Nice light for this photo at Komagome.
Station 7 of 30 - Komagome. It's black.
I had to wait to cross quite a lot of roads, this added substantial time to the day.
Oh look! A Yamanote train on the Yamanote line.
A little shopping street across from station 8 of 30 - Sugamo.
Station 9 of 30 - Otsuka. Hard to read the sign. A tram runs in front of the station.
There is the tram.
Station 10 of 30 - Ikebukuro, one of the bigger ones.
Nice trees, suitably yellow.
I got lost a few times trying to stick close to the tracks. If I did it again I would use more main roads between stations.
Station 11 of 30 - Mejiro. I bought a kiwi fruit juice from here.
Sections of road like this were the best, no traffic lights, no people in my way.
Crossing the first drain of the day!
Now for a few shots of Takadanobaba. A busy area that has become a lot busier in the last few years.
There are a few old shopping streets in the area.
Here is the station, 12 of 30 - Takadanobaba.
Things get even busier at the next station, 13 of 30 - Shin-Okuba.
Shin-Okuba is where Korea town is, which is super busy these days.
Shinjuku ahead.
Nearly at the busiest station in the world.
I decided to avoid people and the sun and go under the bulk of Shinjuku.
But I still came up for photo of station 14 of 30 - Shinjuku.
The front of the station, the overpass is off limits.
I walked along the elevated pedestrian areas past Times Square.
Station 15 of 30 - Yoyogi. Very close to Shinjuku.
The back streets of Yoyogi are little restaurant filled.
Station 16 of 30 - Harajuku. Apparently it has been redone? I could not tell.
Takeshita street. No time for me to go down there. Progress was slow due to too many people.
A nice photo ends part 1.