Kawagoe Manhole Covers

For some reason unknown to me, Japan keeps their metal-works and craftsman busy making unique manhole covers. These ubiquitous metal covers are located all over every city covering underground fire hydrants, storm and sanitary sewers, communication junction boxes and underground electric junction boxes. I've taken many photos of these manholes in the past since unique designs are everywhere in Japan. Kawagoe is no exception, and I spotted several that were interesting.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 35 mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/250 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 35 mm, f5.6, ISO 100, 1/10 sec.

Takamatsu Nasu no Yoichi Manhole Covers

On our first morning in Shikoku, we actually decided to take a ferry to head to nearby Shodoshima. Near the redeveloped pier and train station at Sunport Takumatsu, I came across these interesting manhole covers. Both refer to a the famous samurai Nasu no Yoichi at the Battle of Yashima. The first depicts the samurai on his horse, his bow and arrow and a fleeing ship with a fan attached to the mast. The second manhole only depicts the fleeing ship with the fan attached to the mast. Nasu no Yoichi shot down the fan from the fleeing ship with a single shot. If you are interested in seeing more manholes from Japan, head over to S. Morita's flickr page.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf8.0, ISO 100, 1/640 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf8.0, ISO 100, 1/250 sec.

Sewarage in Tokyo

Did you know that in 1987 there were 11,766,000 meter of sewer lines in Tokyo? There are probably more now.

Having this trivia memorialized on a sewer cover in Ginza seems appropriate. Sort of a manhole cover version of a Snapple cap with soft drink trivia.

It's especially interesting to me because it ties Tokyo to Miami, a place that I once considered my home.

Tokyo's city logo is everywhere - Part 2

If you were wondering, I am fine.  The earthquake hit Sendai last Friday will I was at work.  My offices are about 45 km from central Tokyo.  For those living and working in the Tokyo area the earthquake was mostly a big inconvenience rather than a disaster.  If you didn't live close to home, didn't want to walk or didn't want to fight traffic in a car, you were stuck at the office or at the train station.  It took me 7-hours to drive home but I got home, unlike the many unfortunate souls in Miyagi Prefecture.

Anyway, back to our regular scheduled programming.  I am still working on my gingko log of Tokyo.  Here are few more that I captured.  You could walk right over these, if you weren't paying attention.

This is a Toei Subway air vent grating.

This fire hydrant manhole cover is circled with ginkgo leaves.

And this is another random manhole cover.

Finally, this survey marker is located at the base of Tokyo Tower.

Tokyo's city logo is everywhere - Part 1

I'm not sure what the connection is, but the logo for Tokyo is the humble Gingko leaf.  If you pay attention as you walk through this hectic metropolis, you'll find this logo used as a design element in many different things.  Over the last several weeks I taken pictures of a few them.

This ginkgo decorated manhole cover was located in Aoyama Bochi (cemetery).

These leaves were embossed as part of a marble trimmed planter box near the Omotosando Koban (Police Box).

The ginkgo leaf is also the logo for the Tokyo Bureau of Transportation also know as Toei (Wikipedia).  The ginkgo leaf is featured on street cars, buses and their subway lines. This useful "Transfer and Exit Information" chart is displayed in several locations on all train platforms. In addition to having a gingko leaf logo in the top corner, it can save you precious time when making transfers and exiting the station by showing which car is nearest to the exit, escalator, elevator or transfer point.

Here's one of their old but well preserved street cars on display near Ueno Zoo.

I don't like Shibuya...Really, I don't like Shibuya...

The area around Shibuya station is a little too crowded for my liking.  But then again, the very reasons that I don't like it... it's frenetic, chaotic and crowded.. are the very reasons that make it interesting.  It's a beautiful, chaotic, symphony of people, lights and buildings.  A whole orchestra sounding off simultaneously to attract your attention.

Here's the entrance to JR's Shibuya Station.

Not many people look down here, but there's some nice Hachiko hand-hole covers located near the Hachiko's statue.

Here is the famous statue of Hachiko near Shibuya Station.

Here's another view of Hachiko's statue and his admirers.

One more of Hachiko.

Here's the ubiquitous shot of Shibuya Crossing and it's favorite scramble.

Another look at the scramble... The vehicular traffic stops and thousands of people cross every few minutes.