Ekiben and Ultraman!

In mid-January the family took a day trip to explore Kawagoe in Saitama. It's about 1.5 hours away by train from Tokyo Station. This post isn't really about Kawagoe, but the Ekiben shop (or Train Bento shop) that we passed in Tokyo Station. For those who haven't traveled in Japan before, it's typical to pick up a box lunch at the train station before heading out on a journey. Japan has a strong food culture that extends even to the ekiben.
Each region has it's own seasonal delicacies, and favorite foods and flavors. The ekiben highlights these regional and seasonal flavors. Often the dishes in the ekiben may only be available in certain regions. However, this shop in the heart of Tokyo Station seems to have collected many of the regional ekiben to a central distribution point. So if you can't travel across Japan to try them out, you can get a sample of here!
One of the more unusual ekiben was a JR East collaboration with Ultraman. As you may know from previous posts I've spotted Ultraman in several unexpected places.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf4.5, ISO 100, 1/40 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf4.5, ISO 100, 1/100 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf4.5, ISO 100, 1/50 sec.

Setsubun Oni! (or where are my beans)

I should have posted this before Setsubun, but I have been neglecting this blog lately (bad blogger... BAD!). Oh well, while I was in Tokyo Station, there was this large Oni (Demon or Ogre) with glowing red eyes standing guard just outside the wickets. Quick, where are my beans!

Nikon D600 with Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AI-S @ f2.0, ISO 400, 1/125 sec.

Nikon D600 with Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AI-S @ f2.0, ISO 400, 1/640 sec.

0Km Point

Back in February, the family went skiing and took the Shinkansen to Nagano and back. When we returned I noticed this brass marker indicating that the platform was the 0 Km point.

Nikon D700 with Nikon 85mm f/1.4 AI-S @ f1.4, ISO 400, 1/640 sec.

Sorry, the framing is a little off. My son was making attempted to disrupt me while I was taking photos on the platform. I was lucky to even get it into focus (especially since the lens was wide open and the 85 mm f1.4 is notorious for extremely shallow depth of field)!

Tokyo Station Reboot

Last weekend I took some time to visit the newly restored Tokyo Station. The renovation appears to have been a success, but I was expecting somethnig a little more grand... Oh well, it's still a beautiful station and a very busy station.

Nikon 16-35mm f/4G ED VR II AF-S IF SWM @ 16 mm, f5.6, ISO 400, 1/13 sec.

Nikon 50mm f/1.4G AF-Sf2.8, ISO 400, 1/50 sec.