Tokorozawa Aviation Museum
Good news, as I type this it is finally raining. Bad news, it did not rain all day until now. In between news, since the rain was coming from the west and the hiking is to the west maybe it was raining there earlier? I will pretend that it was. Now I just need it to hurry up and go away so I can try and pull off two hikes in a row over the next two days.
So sad was I that I did not go hiking today that after the aviation museum, I actually walked from Tokorozawa aviation museum to Hachikokuyama park just because it seemed to have a trail running through it, and it did.
OK, so the main attraction was a museum with planes and plane related activities. This is just north of Tokorozawa station on one of the Seibu train lines that starts at Ikebukuro. Technically this is not even in Tokyo, but in Saitama, but there is really no difference other than real estate prices.
The museum itself is small, and located on the first airfield in all of Japan. There were a few school groups hanging about but it was relatively peaceful. Also, $5 entry and CASH ONLY. Too expensive and too inconvenient, but since it was my rainy day option and I had travelled over an hour to get to it, I reluctantly paid. Handing over cash is much harder than tapping a card.
My final destination in this chronologically all over the place recounting of the almost rain free day was a dam, which on the map is called Tama lake. Not a huge dam, but a dam none the less. Nearby was a spooky but not yet quite abandoned amusement park. There was music and people working, but no customers. I counted 7 cars in the only car park area that was open, there were spaces for 10,000 cars at least.
My journey back to the city centre was via a different route, starting at Musashi-Yamato station, before changing to the Chuo line at Kokubunji. While Chuo-ing along on their special rapid service, a series of alarms went off before the train screeched to a halt. I was the only one standing and was flung forwards a bit but grabbed a handle just in time to prevent a hilarious end to my day / holiday / life. The alarms kept going and as I was at the back of the last carriage I could see into the little area with the conductor / announcer and he was on the radio yelling, then hanging his head out the window yelling. Eventually the screens said Chuo line delayed due to unexpected noise, followed by conducting inspection. After about 40 minutes we were back on our way, with presumably a whole heap of Chuo line trains backed up behind us. The unexpected noise remains a mystery.
OK enough typing, it is time for more grey photos.
Here is Tokorozawa station. It is surrounded by a Seibu department store and mall, as it is on the Seibu line. That is how Japanese private train lines operate.
Home of the lions, the local c grade lacrosse team the people of Tokorozawa are very proud of.
The aviation museum is located in a big park, with a lacrosse field, and this tea house. I was too early (and too cheap).
In case you cannot go to Nara (I have been 3 times), you can always go to this park.
The most impressive aircraft is actually outside the museum - a Curtiss C-46 Commando.
The inside has a lot of black helicopters, some claiming to be the first operated in Japan by the Japanese after ww2.
The current emperor, who was the crown prince at the time, once rode on this one.
Bonus shot of main area of small museum.
Well I framed that perfectly.
What is this I see? A hiking trail map? It is indeed. Hachikokuyama park, it seems to be for mountain bikers. I saw no one at all on the trail that was a couple of km long.
Here is part of the aforementioned trail.
Dams and threatening skies. But still no rain.
I climbed up and down the dam several times, experiencing all the staircases.
The view from the top is nothing special. I was willing the rain to start.
I had the entire dam to myself. That mystery pole in the distance is part of the amusement park, there is an observation ring thing that goes up and down the pole. I saw a similar one years ago on top of a small mountain west of Niigata.
And for my final pic of the day, a blue train at Musashi-Yamato station. This is not the one that did an emergency stop.
Tokyo station and Ginza
Torrential rain. Now the problem is going to be that if there is too much rain the hiking trails will turn to mud. I will probably put up with that though.
It was raining too much for even me to wander around in it, at least before dinner as you shall see.
I decided to head to somewhere big, close and underground where I knew I could get food, so Tokyo station it was. I had the same meal in the same place as a previous visit, also as you shall see.
After dinner I wandered as far as the underground mall towards Ginza will go then came up into the rain and puddles. Now that I did not have to worry about being turned away from food establishments for being too wet, I decided to just walk in the rain and splash in the puddles. I expected Ginza to be deserted, but there were plenty of Russian war criminals hiding their ruble's buying up handbags to trade for bitcoin in China.
I then remembered while standing in the traffic taking photos of the rain that my camera is the most un-waterproof device on the face of the earth, and so I decided to scurry back to my rain proof hotel room and re-check the weather report for tomorrow.
Apparently very little rain after 8am. I will also guess that the further west you go the less rain there is as that is the direction it is coming from. I think that makes about 10 minutes difference in the grand scheme of things but I am prepared to convince myself otherwise if it is raining here when I wake up.
Um-ber-rella-poc-a-lypse is unfolding before my very eyes.
After arriving at Tokyo station I first headed into Daimaru to not buy anything. They really hate cameras in here, they are worried someone will post evidence of their terrible rat problem.
Yaechika on the Yeosu side is large and corridor-y and rain free.
For my dinner, the seasonal omurice. Which means it comes with mushrooms. I believe I had the exact same seasonal special in the same place last time.
Apparently this cafe belongs to Yanmar, who have a store in the Tokyo station underground. Yanmar make outboard motors for speed boats, tractors, battleship armour. So it is important they maintain a nice cafe at the train station.
Here is the start of Ginza, and yes it is raining a lot.
And for my final pic, I stood in the rain in the traffic, in the middle of the road, in a puddle and tried to see how much water I could get in my camera. Remember, I have destroyed 2 of the same model previously via water and dust ingress!