Kabukicho, Shinkjuku at night

Earlier this year my wife and I had a wander around the Kabukichō district in Shinjuku one cool March evening. I am always surprised how busy certain areas in Tokyo can be at almost all hours of the day and night. Kabukichō had all sorts of people venturing out on who knows what sort of adventures...

We were looking for a fabric shop to get materials for some kids costumes. In addition to the fabric shop, we wandered by plenty of karaoke shops, bars, video shops, and the famous Robot Restaurant.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 800, 1/125 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 800, 1/125 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 800, 1/125 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f5.6, ISO 800, 1/250 sec.

Little Details.

In Kinuta Park on Sunday, I noticed this interesting cast iron drain grate below a water fountain and spigot. I found the design quite unique. The unusual thing was that the other drain grates in the park were the ordinary grids, devoid of unique design elements. It makes me wonder why this one was specially made.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f3.2, ISO 400, 1/30 sec.

Hara Model Railway Museum (Part 3)

This will be the last post on our recent visit to the Hara Model Railway Museum.

One of the displays included an exposed interior of the Orient Express Dining Car. The care and detail is amazing. You can see the passengers, attendants, menus, drinking glasses, tablecloths and everything else that belongs in a dining car!

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 800, 1/60 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f8.0, ISO 800, 1/80 sec.

There are two controller stations available. If you get to the museum early, you can sign-up to operate the model trains. The screens are actually linked to a live feed from the engines on the track, and the controls were adapted from an actual electric train!

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 1600, 1/25 sec.

This final detail is from the Chinatown street scene in the Yokohama diorama. As you can see it appears to be set around Chinese New Year's and a dragon is making it's way down the street.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 1600, 1/50 sec.

Hara Model Railway Museum (Part 2)

The detail in the Hara Model Railway Museum's dioramas, engines and railway cars is absolutely amazing and is deserving of more than one post, and perhaps there are few more pictures that I can add for a final post for this visit. So stay tuned for part three.

By the way, it seems that if you look closely there are several surprises (or Easter eggs, not literal ones though, but who knows) hidden in the diorama. We found Ripley from Aliens operating a loader on the docks! Nitendo's Yoshi was hidden in the hills. Perhaps there are more, but I'll need to take advantage of the spotting glasses provided next time we visit.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1/80 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1/30 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1/25 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f4.0, ISO 1600, 1/60 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f4.0, ISO 1600, 1/80 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 24mm f/2.0 Nikkor AI @ f4.0, ISO 400, 1/125 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor Lens f5.6, ISO 800, 1/80 sec.